Well, we took my trip to Chicago, and we had planned on going to a Harrahs property, on Saturday night, but it was snowing and I just did't see myself going for a 60 mile ride in that weather. But this morning (sunday) we got up and drove to The Grand Victoria in Elgin, Il.
Well, we arrived hungary for breakfast, no way. only the deli is open, I settled for a Krispy Kream and some bad coffee. It's a river barge for a casino. Everyone was nice, but cocktail service was poor, very poor. We didn't think the paytables where bad on the VP, However, VP is clearly not a big thing here. A grand total of 8, 25cent vp machines. They had more triple play however, and even more VP at the dollar level.
The place was empty when we arrived at 9am and when we left, at 1pm it was coming alive, but plenty of self parking.
Sharon broke even, I lost only a couple hundred. It was fun and if I head this way again, I'd go back.
Buffet only opened at 11 am for brunch. And we skipped that, for a real late lunch away from the casino. Limited food options, the smallest min table for BJ was $20. plenty of seats available!Grand

Lee - Hope you survived all the cold and weather. Your experience at the Grand Victoria is a perfect example of why I rarely hit the casinos in Chicagoland - limited VP choices and high table limits.

It sure was cold! Walking Michigan Ave, I was surprised how many people where out and about, Metra (train service) was a nice, but slow way to get to the city. And I have no idea what JAMBA Juice is, but Chicago seems to have a lot of them! LOL We also tried Ginos pizza, Sharon loved it. I was still full however from the meal we ate in the Handcock building!
It was nice to only drive 25 min to the casino, but it isn't las Vegas, and it ain't never going to be. Elgin seems to be a dying town, lots of vacent buildings and store fronts. I would have rather visited a Harrahs property, but I just wasn't up for the long ride in a car that just wouldn't get warm. We had ice on the inside of the windows!

Last week I heard that it was colder in Chicago than the North Pole.

WOW

We had 2 days last week where the temperature never got above zero. One of the mornings it was 17 degrees below zero and the wind chill was minus 32. My beard froze walking from my car to my office building. I don't think I've ever felt cold like that. Luckily, I have a garage and my car started. Many of my neighbors who park on the street, however, weren't so lucky. Many schools closed for "cold days" those 2 days.

Lee - glad you made it downtown. Metra is somewhat slow and is mostly used by commuters who work in the city during the week. But it's much faster for them than driving.

Jamba Juice is a chain that offers "healthy drinks" like juice mixtures and smoothies. I think the chain originated in California and it's only in the last few years that they sprung up all over Chicago. I've actually never been in one.

Gino's has excellent pizza and I'm glad Sharon enjoyed it. The one thing Chicago doesn't lack is good pizza places. We have very few Pizza Hut's because the local chains are so good. Gino's is among the best and was a great choice!

Mike, I'll take my juice in the form of a lemon or lime wedge, with my Bacardi & coke! Jamba juice isn't going to see my wallet any time soon! LOL
We did see a shuttered pizza hut, and a lot of other restaurants on our travels. I've only been to Chicago in the winter time, in warmer weather, I'm sure I would have made the drive to Harrahs or the horseshoe. Thanks for the pizza tip! OH BTW, an hour wait for pizza did seem a bit long, but we where told about the time wait up front, so it was on us. Is it normally that long for a pizza???

Lee - yeah, depending on what type of pizza you order and how busy the restaurant is, it can take up to an hour for a pizza. I'm going to assume that since you were at Gino's, you had a pan pizza. That has a real thick crust and takes longer to bake. There's another kind of pizza called a "stuffed pizza" which other places offer (like Giordano's or Edwardo's) and those usually take an hour. They let you call ahead and order prior to arriving at the restaurant, if you want.

mike-years ago i can remember going with my aunt and uncle to i think was joliet ill.casino.we payed to park,we payed to get on the boat for (four hours) and we actualy paddled up the river for a mile or so made a turn and returned to the dock for the rest of our time on board.does this still exist or make any sense to you?

Yes, DAG, that's the way it used to be. You had to pay to get in and the boats were required to leave the dock for a few hours. They had actual "starting times" that you had to be there for or you'd miss the boat! Those were the laws at the time but they don't exist anymore.

One time I went with a friend to see Patty Loveless (country singer) down in Joliet. I suggested that we hit the casino before the show so we went early to gamble. But I had forgotten about the fact that you couldn't get off the boat when you wanted. We got on the boat at around 6PM. The show was at 7:30PM. It was only a few blocks to the theater so I figured if we left the boat at around 7:15PM we'd be fine. So when we went to leave, they said we couldn't get off until 8:00PM!! My friend was so mad at me. Luckily, Patty had an opening act so we didn't miss her set!!