Top Of The World
At: The Stratosphere

I'll start with the good, because there's less of it to get in the way. The view is AMAZING from this rotating restauraunt. Over the course of 1 hour 20 minutes, the place spins 360 degrees, giving you a fantastic view of the entire Vegas area. Go at night, because during the day Vegas looks dingy and dirty, and you can see the guys pawning their cars for bus tickets. Service at the tables was also quite good, and the deserts were delicous.

And that's it for the good. This place is so full of itself I'm surprised there was room for my family.

First off, after being told via phone (when I made my reservation) that a buttoned shirt was optional, I was told I would have to wear a "loaner" button-down shirt to get in. Now, I stand 6'6" tall, with a 19" neck, and the Size Medium shirt they were telling me I had to wear would only have fit me as a turban. To add insult to injury the wonderful open views of the diners inside let me see at least one patron wearing a tshirt similar to mine. While the manager did eventually relent and "allow" me and my family to have dinner without a wardrobe change, this place needs to realize that it is not a 5-star eatery by any sense of the imagination (other then cost anyway.)

Second, to get to the front door you have to walk through the mall-from-hell that is the ass end of The Stratosphere. If I were dressed well enough to get into this place I'd be afraid for my safety taking this death march past the hordes of souvenir shops, put-your-face-on-a-magazine shops, and for some reason, a hooka-ria (Yes, a hooka bar. No, I don't know why.) If you want to act like a 5-star joint, get your own freakin' entrance!

Third, the food itself. For a cost of more then $100 per person, we ate a meal consisting of overcooked steak with canned "pan sauce", a couple of sprigs of asparagus, and bread service consisting of supermarket breads. (No, not the good stuff that supermarkets are baking fresh these days, I mean the cheap stuff that comes in a plastic bag with a twist tie.) I go to restaurants to eat BETTER FOOD then I could at home, and that wasn't it. In full disclosure, my wife did enjoy her lobster tails, but you couldn't get one without ordering it as part of a surf-and-turf with a steak.

For some reason, we had to pass through a metal detector. It's a minor thing, but in a state with very liberal concealed carry laws, in a restauraunt that charges more then most thugs can afford, why go through the trouble? Are they worried about some kind of rapper-bling-bling-gang war breaking out? Last time I heard business men buying dinner for hookers with company expense accounts were not on any kind of terrorist watch list.

Finally, while the wait staff was very good and efficient and helpful, the other staff members were anything from apathetic to abusive. The elevator "doorman", whose sole job seemed to be to hit the "up" button as soon as we came into view, gets big points for yelling at me "SIR! YOUR ELEVATOR!" to hurry me along while I was waiting for my wife to get through the metal detector. Not happy to do his job half-assed, he made sure to yell at me AGAIN, even after I indicated that I was waiting for my family.

The view is amazing, but you can get the same view (or better) on the observation deck while eating a hot dog you snuck up in your pockets. It'll save you a lot of cash, and you'll like the food better.