text: The Riviera suffers from a serious case of Old It is not just that the structure is old it is that its spirit seems to be merely lingering waiting to die as do much of its staff That is not to say that it is bad It is just old It is various lobby and casino displays are themed around really cool events that happened there fifty years ago when brass and mirrors were in and nothing about what is going on there now Because there is nothing cool going on there now Riviera Look how hip we used to be is a great slogan to sum it upnnMy experience at the Riviera started out with extreme annoyance at how long it took to check in There were maybe twenty people in line yet it took about minutes to get to the counter And then I discovered that they had lost my reservation After waiting another thirty minutes while the clerk was investigating the situation in a back room she returned to say that they were able to work something out and offered two free tickets to some crappy comedy show in their theater Needless to say I would never heard of the comic and just tossed the ticketsnnIf you are going to Vegas for other reasons and do not plan on being in your room or the casino much then you could do worse than the Riviera If nothing else it is cheap We were in town for the NAB Show and just wanted cheap lodging for which Riv came throughnnThe Queen Victoria pub is pretty good and they have a lot of great beers and ales on tap We had crappy service the first time we ate there but the servers on the other two occasions made up for it The fish and chips are excellentnnI also got a kick out of the pool area because when you step into it from the hotel you could have just stepped right back into It kind of made me feel like Frank I would say that the period decor is spoton but it is not decor it is original period If you are shooting a movie and you need a Rat Packera pool setting get your ass to the RivnnWill I stay there again Probably not since I have decided that my life goals need to be moving forward instead of stagnating Next year I am aiming for Treasure Island Not Bellagio yet I should not get ahead of myself But if someone were to tell me it is the Riviera or nothing then sure I would not mind staying there again I could use the fish and chips as an excuse