I visited the Gold Coast briefly today. It was my first visit in a very long time. There have been some changes that would affect most GC fans.

When I first walked in towards the lounge where the dixie band plays, I noticed it was boarded off. The signs said TGIFridays coming in the Fall 2008. So I walked around towards the Monterry Room and Cortez Room. Again more walls and TGIFridays signs.

So I headed towards the front of the casino where the seafood bar used to be. More walls and some kind of noodle shop coming soon. I walked towards the showroom, where Forever Plaid used to play and it is all opened up to the casino. The dixie jazz band was in there.

Going deepeer into the casino, it looks like Ping Pang Pong got a facelift and opened up to the casino a little more. I can't swear on that because it's a part of the casino I never spent much time in.

In the back of the casino where that nice Italian restaurant used to be is the new Cortez room. The lights were off. It does not appear to have been remodeled at all. It is still pretty much open air to the casino and appears to just be a name change.

Next to the new Cortez Room, is what used to be the buffet. It is now sectioned off to be the buffet and the cafe. The cafe takes up less than half of the old buffet area.

As I left the place, I noticed the Keno lounge was gone, replaced with slot machines. There may be a new keno lounge somewhere and I just missed it. Or it may be completely gone.

It's nice to the dixie band with a nice room. The sound seems a little better in there. I really did like the atmosphere of the old Cortez Room. Even if the food is exactly the same, the big atmosphere of the new place is 2 strikes against it. I thought the food in the old seafood bar (which was fairly new) was good. Service was spotty though. I'm not sure what to think about the buffet and cafe. The cafe looks like it could be a temporary set up and it has a much much smaller menu than the old Monterry Room. The buffet appeared to have all of the stations it always had. There just isn't any buffet seating on the north side of the room.

So Wendell, are you gonna give the new Cortez Room a try? If you look on the Gold Coast website you can see a couple of photos of how bright and open the new room is. The menu doesn't look terribly different. It still has the Chicken Cortez.

JMT; Thanks for the info, now I will know what to expect during my Aug visit. You bet, I am going to "check out" the new Cortez room and the new location for the Dixieland Jazz band. We cannot have a trip to Vegas without at least one meal in the Cortez Room - maybe you can join us???

We'll see. Day of the week is the biggest factor. While the good company is the biggest attraction, I really did like the atmosphere of old. I'm pretty sentimental for old Vegas style steakhouses. Boyd has steadily declined in popularity in my book in the last few years.