Q: Casinos off the strip really need to step up because they cannot compete with the strip casinos. Often they need to have cheaper tables, looser machines or some type of novelty to lure people in their casino. Rio doesn't deliver, as with most off strip casino. Rooms are large, but dated. Views of the rooms are boring. Casino, while large and cheap tables, doesn't seem to have any excitement. I guess updating with newer slots is not a consideration here. It's ok, but once you get on the strip, this place is kind of boring and tacky.

A: negative

Q: My wife and I needed a place to grab some lunchtime breakfast food over the weekend, and seeing as how we couldn't find anything better, we stopped by 5 and Diner. I've never been overly impressed with 5 and Diner in the past, and I have to say, they met my mediocre expectations this round as well. My wife ordered the pancake sandwich with two eggs and I ordered a side of biscuits and gravy with raisin toast. None of which was better than what you can make at home, but it wasn't disappointing either. Overall, the service wasn't too slow considering how busy it was and I didn't have any trouble getting refills. However, here's where the problem comes in. When my wife ordered the pancake sandwich the server asked my wife "do you like bacon or sausage", to which she replied "bacon". Normal question when ordering breakfast right? Well, when the bill came, little did we know that the pancake sandwich didn't actually come with bacon and the server put a dollar charge on the tab for adding bacon. When I confronted her about the dollar charge she said "the pancake sandwich doesn't come with bacon, that's extra". Well, we weren't informed that answering a question as to preference would result in an extra charge. We weren't informed that she was in fact adding things to our tab to inflate the price without telling us. I put up enough of a fuss that she removed the charge, and I could tell that she knew she had added the charge in a duplicitous manner and she was just hoping we wouldn't catch on. The food was decent, but I have a big problem with dishonest servers and that's what knocks this place down from being a decent breakfast joint to just another bump on the road of mediocre cuisine.

A: negative

Q: Oh they make it too easy for me. I want to be clever and witty but sometimes they do it for me. And I don't want to be mean either, someone has put a huge amount of entirely and hideously misguided effort into this place. My goodness, it's horrible. The window display contains a pink velour tracksuit. Who wears that?!?! Christina Aquaface circa 2000? I don't know, maybe some people go for this but all looked like cheap tat to me. Am I being too acerbic? It's called lookin' trendy for goodness sake. There's no more to be said.

A: negative

Q: The Christmas Shop is open year round, which I don't quite understand. It seems Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year, to most people's annoyance (when I saw an advert with Santa on it in August, before my birthday, I was a bit peeved. Stealing the lime light old man eh?) I love Christmas. I love the build-up, the excitement. A whole month's worth of festivities. But a year-round shop for Christmas. I mean, I can't fathom any reason people would need to buy Christmas decorations not around Christmas. Even festive props that might be needed for Festive plays, would only be needed around Christmas, as no one shows Festive plays or themed-parties at any other time of the year. Anyway. How they managed to stay open all year defies but, but I'll continue. It WAS close to Christmas, so I popped in here for some decorations. Now, the fact this shop is called The Christmas Shop means you'd expect to be like the scene out of Elf when Buddy is working away building his 1000th etch-a-sketch in a house made of gingerbread and candy cane -Christmas incarnate. No. Instead it's two or three small rooms with a few different hanging decorations, not cheaply priced, and the check-out area is a bit of a shambles. There was a cheap muslin cloth hangings behind the counter covering what looked like boxes and a general mess. The till itself was quite old, there were two people on the till but it took an age and then some to have them wrap the decorations of the people in front of me, process the payment and the like. I am a patient shopper, I expect queues and to wait especially at a busy shopping time of year. But, really. It's Christmas. You run The Christmas SHop. Surely a bit more efficiency wouldn't go amiss? Jeez I feel like a right Scrooge writing a lower-rate review about something for Christmas, around Christmas. But I feel like I could get the same, or nicer,decorations elsewhere in a nicer store. For somewhere calling itself The Christmas Tree, it's lacking a little in that festive magic.

A:
negative