Walt D.
Yelp
This must be the most boring looking casino I've ever seen, and I grew up in Las Vegas!!
I finally had a chance to stop by and see what was going on. This used to be the Hard Rock Hotel. Frankly, I think that's what hurts my grade so much. The Hard Rock was SO exciting. So entertaining. You WANTED to come back again and again to see what was new. Now, I've seen this place. I have no reason to go EVER again.
I entered through the north parking garage. It was actually pretty nice because even on a Saturday afternoon, there were PLENTY of parking spaces AND parking was free. Bonus points! Love it!
I guess this north entrance is where they have lots of convention space now, so it's just boring plain walls. Gone is all the rock and roll memorabilia. There's hardly any signage or artwork. Nothing say about the history of Mohegan Sun Casinos, or really anything. The only reason I think it's the convention space is because I saw well-dressed people walking around with lanyard badges around their necks.
There's a snack bar/convenience store. Of course, there's no more gift shop. I don't even recall the restrooms near where Vinyl used to be, which used to be INCREDIBLE to see. The famous restaurant with the amazing name, Pink Tacos? Gone. It's been replaced with Casa Calavera. It looks nice. Maybe it's good. I could see trying it out. It doesn't appear to be anything near as good as Pink Tacos, though. I didn't see them making homemade tortillas near the entrance.
The Vinyl concert venue and bar seems to have been replaced by an ice cream shop.
Now, you see the casino, which is: a casino. Think of the most boring casino you can think of and this is it. It's new. It's nice. It has no pizazz. I don't expect it to have dancing rock and roll girls like the hard rock (or even The D Hotel), but there aren't any beautiful plants/flowers like The Mirage. It's brightly lit, which is a plus, as well as very clean, but it had nothing which made me walk around. There were people there, but like another reviewer said, it was all very quiet.
The casino looks like a big box room like a warehouse or convention hall. Paint the walls a pretty color, then put a bunch of slot machines around. Maybe a few tables. That was it.
Now that I think of it, by this time, I should have seen where the Joint venue was. If it's still there, I didn't see what they're now calling it. I saw a sign where they have upcoming concerts: Carly Rae Jepsen and Steve-O (from Jackass, I think?). No one else I'd ever heard of. Maybe they're now calling The Joint "The Theater", since that's where those people are performing but they're not really looking to have any acts worth watching.
I walked through the entire casino floor, past NOBU (still there! ) and back again. There weren't any restaurants exciting to try. I'd heard Mohegan Sun's in other states might have a Bobby Flay or Michael Jordan restaurant. None to be seen here.
I also walked through the pool area (open to the public, apparently). It's no beach club, but a simple hotel pool. Lots of families there looking like regular everyday people, rather than supermodels and Chippendales. It had a fair amount of people there and everyone looked like they were having fun, enjoying themselves. There's an nice-looking bar there, but I didn't stop to see about drink prices (I was kind of scared, actually). I also didn't observe any signs on the bar advertising drink/cocktail specials, so maybe they're just a simple bar serving beer and regular cocktails: no specialties.
I exited the pool area, complete with grass, went back through the convention area, and got back to my car very easily.
Mohegan Sun was the first casino I've ever been in which was operated by a tribal nation. As I think I've explained, it is very ho-hum and not worth seeing. Again, full disclosure, I really believe part of the unappealing quality is because the Hard Rock was SUCH an experience. If you're going to gamble, maybe you enjoy seeing a plain-jane, quiet, boring but clean casino.
The Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas is the same: very plain-jane big box room with slot machines, BUT it's not as clean as Mohegan Sun. It's not as brightly lit. So, sure, Mohegan Sun is better than the Silver Nugget, in that regard.
I wonder if Mohegan Sun has the same great food, prices, and specials?