Hotel Guide

Location:  5255 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas (Greater Las Vegas)

What makes it Special? The Eastside Cannery Casino Hotel opened in 2008, making it east Vegas’ newest major casino resort

Entertainment Attraction: Latina singer Claudine Castro, with occasional bigger-name performers

Number of Rooms: 307

Overview:

Only open since August 2008, the general location of the Eastside Cannery Casino Hotel is obvious from its name, but your broader question will be: yes, but how far east? You won’t like the answer: it can take a half-hour to drive to the Strip and only slightly less time to hit downtown Vegas.

Given the lengthy round-trip to some of Sin City’s signature attractions, the Eastside had better boast facilities sophisticated enough to stop you wanting to venture into town. The hotel certainly makes a valiant attempt to satisfy guests.

The Eastside features a state-of-the-art swimming pool with cabanas. After you’ve got your daily dose of sun, you can enjoy the hotel’s two non-casino bars, Marilyn’s Lounge or Pin-Ups. Both of these establishments feature live music from less well-known performers, such as Latino music from Claudine Castro and her band as well as musical tributes to Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks. Infrequently, bigger stars appear: Kool & the Gang and Billy Ocean are scheduled to perform.

If the lack of A-list musicians disappoints guests, at least they can take solace in the hotel’s sophisticated casino, which offers gamblers an impressive range of betting options – from bingo and blackjack to slots and video poker.

While guests may take solace in the Eastside’s gaming space, they’ll find less comfort in the resort’s restaurants. There’s the Cannery Row Buffet, which manages to make world cuisine seem unworldly, or a Tex-Mex eatery called Tres Olés that many guests will leave with three adios and a promise never to return.

While its rooms are new and affordable, the Eastside Cannery Casino Hotel is too far from the Vegas action, and, even worse, its various attractions, though reasonably diverse, aren’t enticing enough to make up for the letdown of the resort’s location.

Hotel website: Eastside Cannery Casino Hotel

*Key to Rates

$ – Up to $100

$$ – $101 to $130

$$$ – $131 to $190

$$$$ – $191 to $250

$$$$$ – More than $250

*All nightly rates based on first weekend of October (excluding resort fees).