Q: Beautiful inside and out, the Venetian is the top tier class standard of all casinos / hotels in Las Vegas. From the romantic gondola, to the world class food, the beautiful all-suite rooms, the great lounges / clubs, to the top notch restaurants and the awesome casino, the Venetian scores in all directions. I can't wait for the replica in Macau.

A: positive

Q: So... where are all the slot machines, poker tables and cocktail waitresses? I swear I just walked into a hotel restaurant off of the Vegas Strip... not even keno at the table. What?? No, wait... where are the 4,000 flavors of cheesecake? This IS the Cheesecake Factory, right??? No??? Okay, Grand Lux Cafe is so confusing. I think it is going through an identity crisis because it looks like a cross between a casino hotel lobby and The Cheesecake Factory, but without any personality. For dinner on a Wednesday night, in this great of a location, I was shocked to see this place so empty. Maybe everyone was across the street at Pink Taco. Or, maybe people just do not like being served by a wait staff with a perma-fake smile on their face all night. The one thing I will say for GLC is they have a LOT of options. However, I find restaurants that provide such a variety generally have anything exceptional to offer as far as the meal is concerned. I believe this is true for this establishment, as well. The waitress recommended the Vegetarian Chopped Salad saying she thought it was the best thing on the menu. I found it to be pretty bland and uninspiring. I guess I'm spoiled by the Cowboy Ciao Chopped Salad. But I digress. I would have gotten the tofu dish they have (orange glaze with sesame seeds, I believe) but I was informed that they cook it with a fish sauce. At least the waitress knew it was a non-veggie friendly option, but why serve a tofu dish that is not veggie? My dinner date ordered the BLT with fries. I think she ate about five bites and a couple of fries. She was equally unimpressed. I snuck a fry and they certainly are nothing to write home about. Limp and soggy, just the way nobody likes em. They did have a good Riesling a good selection of coffee drinks as well as an expansive dessert menu. We did not try a dessert (they have baked items that take about 30 minutes to cook.. probably pretty good, but I'm on a diet) but my gal pal did order a Mocha Coffee which she seemed relatively pleased with. We ended up sitting around chatting for 3.5 hours and they never kicked us out or made us feel bad about not ordering anything else, so I would give them an extra half star if I could (Gabi, are we EVER going to get half stars?!?!?). Grand Lux ... I am going to sum you up into one word: Uninspiring

A: negative

Q: This place is steeped in history. You can feel it seeping through the rich dark drapes and ornate furnishings, oozing from the ancient edifice and every dim corner. This is one of the oldest buildings in Montreal (3rd oldest, I was told). My wife and I were invited here for an official dinner, and we were impressed by the ambience and decor. And of course our host regaled us with the history of Montreal, including les filles du roi (daughters of the king). Definitely a place to consider if one is organizing a formal dinner. Or a romantic evening. The place speaks for itself. I like the spaciousness, with only a few tables in each room, which meant one can carry on conversations at a decent volume and not have to shout. I had the grilled salmon which was decent. Service was unobtrusive and servers were polite. Given that street parking in Old Montreal is always a nightmare, one of the advantages this restaurant has is its proximity (less than 5 min walk) to the car park at the Clocktower Quay where there is ample parking. Parking is $12 but it's better than circling the streets of cobbled stones endlessly on a cold night.

A: positive

Q: Who goes to BRGR and orders the vegetarian burger? I do - and it was pretty good, full of Middle Eastern flavors without being a lentil-filled cliche. That leads me to believe that when I go back and order the real deal, whether it's beef or bison, it will be darn tasty. The onion rings were terrific, maybe the best I've had, and worth a star on their own. The minuses? Parking was a pain (though they do have valet), my husband's Shrooms burger was overwhelmed by it's mustard aioli, and my veggie burger completely fell apart after resting for a moment in the basket. And, they were out of 8 or 9 of the beers on their menu, so it took 2 or 3 tries to order a drink. But we'd go back - BRGR is full of potential, and I still haven't had a spiked shake.

A:
positive