Rio Suite Hotel and Casino
     

Rio Suite Hotel and Casino
3700 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas
NV 89103
(+1) 702 252 7777
www.playrio.com

 
     
Location The Rio is not on the Strip, it is not even just round the corner! It is about 10 minutes by car or the free shuttle bus that runs to and from the Strip from 9am to 1am. You can see the location is not good, but the Rio is a Strip hotel off the Strip which is why I have included it.  
     
Theme Well yup, you have guessed it Brazil. A sort of Brazilian carnival to be precise, though it is not very heavily themed other than the fantastic pool which does look like a Brazilian beach along with the dealer’s loud shirts.  
     
Attractions The Rio is home to the famous “masquerade in the sky” this is worth the drive. Every couple of hours the show starts, floats do a procession through the sky. Like ships suspended from the ceiling with dancers and tourists (about $17.50 for the privilege of taking part I believe) and they throw carnival beads down to us amazed punters. It is good but you only want to see it once. We had our pictures taken here, put on the bodies of Elvis and a Showgirl and turned into mouse mats that was quite good fun. There is also a large wine cellar holding the largest public collection of fine wine for which they hold regular tastings.  
     
Shopping Not bad, it does not rival the Forum Shops or the Desert Passage but then again very little does. There is also a magic shop, sports shop, watch shop, several clothing and speciality shops in nicely themed shopping arcade.  
     
Dining The Rio has two buffets. The carnival world buffet (B:$13.99 L:$16.99 D:$23.99 Sunday Champagne Brunch $23.99) is a general buffet offering a high quality of food for a buffet. It has a queue to match; it can reach 2 hours in busy periods. The system that they have in place is not particularly good and you get a lot of people pushing in. The 2nd is the village seafood buffet which only serves dinner at $27, crabs legs and shrimp amongst other water bred delicacies!! This is supposed to brilliant, I do not eat fish so cannot say from first hand experience but I think that the quality can vary. The little coffee shop is brilliant, cheap and good food though we did have to queue for some time. There are another 10 restaurants which are charging Strip prices, a little naughty bearing in mind the location and, as ever, you tend to get what you pay for.  
     
Gaming 120,000 sq ft, aside from the Strip this is probably the largest Casino in the world. It is massive, noisy and a bit dark in some places. It is easy to get lost but never the less has the atmosphere of being a fun place. It is probably the only casino that has a nearly 50/50 mix of locals and tourists. There are 2,500 slots from a nickel up and there are loads and loads of nickels although we have not really won much here and have heard rumours that the slots are tight. There are over 60 tables and 11 roulette wheels with minimum stakes being $5 however you will be doing well to find a $5 table evenings and weekends.  
     
Drinks Service We found the drinks service to be great except when the masquerade in the sky kicks off. I am not sure if this is because so many people are watching it rather than playing it is not in the Rio's interest to give out free drinks, or if it is because the cocktail waitresses can't get past the crowds of non gambling tourists that fill all walkways to get a better view.  
     
Best Thing The shop that put our pictures on the mouse mat made me laugh for hours.  
     
Worst Thing The location, you are basically at a Strip hotel that charges Strip prices and gives Strip odds. The owners forgot that they are car drive away from the Strip.  
     
Overall Rio is a great resort let down only by its location. The atmosphere is fun and the clientele friendly low rolling folk. We like it here but would probably choose to stay on the Strip.  
     
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