Casino Reviews

Starbucks at the Aquarius hotel and casino in Laughlin is now closed as of March 2013. It was replaced with a new coffee shop run by the hotel which will be opened in a few months.

They still have Subway and now also a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s does not have wi-fi. However, the hotel has replaced the Starbucks wi-fi with a guest wi-fi service for people to use. The McDonald’s is pretty nice as these restaurants go and are a great place to meet. They offer the traditional free refills of coffee, which we enjoy a lot. They have a limit of two refills per customer.

Aquarius WiFi

I am using free WiFi now to prepare this post. During construction it has been intermittent, however, once the construction is finished, hopefully, it will be better. The new restaurant or coffee shop will be ready in a few months.

There is no guarantee that they will keep the free WiFi going, however many clients of the hotel have come to depend on it and use it to stay in touch with their friends and families, make reservations and update blogs as I am doing. Since we wrote this post, they opened the new Duet coffee shop, and the WiFi is operating as it was when Starbucks was in operation.

The Aquarius appears to be on a general upgrade program that is slowly improving their property. They have been changing a few machines and expanding the nonsmoking areas, which is a huge improvement as far as we are concerned.They still have the great buffet as well as the ala carte restaurant, however in our opining this could use some improvement. It is a little depressing to eat in this particular restaurant.

I cannot wait to see what they do next.

We have visited the Golden Nugget Laughlin Nevada several times over the past few years, but never have actually stayed at their hotel. My wife and I plan to remedy that in a month or two. We thought that in preparation for our visit we should do a little research even though we have been their several times. The Golden Nugget is situated at the south end of the board walk along the Colorado River.  It is all white on the outside and has a tropical flavor as you enter the main lobby. There is a waterfall and tropical gardens with the check in counter to the right and Harlows restaurant on the left. We will write more about Harlows in a moment.

Golden Nugget Laughlin  – Visitors Enjoy this location

We spoke to one patron who is staying at the hotel. They have stayed at this hotel many times in the past and enjoy the hotel very much. The rooms are apparently clean with period furniture and most if not all look out onto the river which is a nice view to have. We will confirm this and update this report in the next few months. Stay tuned. The pool looks great too judging from this picture that we were able to find.

There is ample surface parking and there is a large parking garage as well to provide protection for your cars from the sun and any wind that sometimes comes up. We always prefer to park in the garage to protect our car from the hot sun. The parking lots are also observed by security with regular rounds being made by security guards.

Casino Facilities

The casino itself is on par with other casinos in the area, however the ceilings are low compared to many others which might bother some people. They have all of the common machines and tables that many people will look for and we also noticed a lot of penny and nickel slot machines. In particular they have lots of poker and keno video slot machines which the writer likes to play. Unfortunately there is a lot of people smoking and the low ceilings do not help with regards to removing it.

While we have only played at this casino several times for a hour at a time we have already received an offer for two free nights at the hotel, which we plan to take them up on during the spring.

Golden Nugget Laughlin  – Restaurants in the Casino

On the river side there is Joes Crab Shack that is on a deck that extends out over the Colorado River. On a sunny warm day this is a great place to spend your afternoon or evenings over a few drinks enjoying a meal and watching the boats go up and down the river. It is a casual environment, with shorts and sandals welcome. You can also observe the distant shore which is actually Arizona and in a different time zone as well.

Harlows is a restaurant that we have been to several times. The service is excellent and the meals are large and of really good quality. You get real home fries and not those frozen cubes that a lot of places like to serve. It is always busy and that tells a lot about the food and the service at Harlows Golden Nugget.

We will add to this post later this spring. In the mean time if you have stayed at the Golden Nugget Laughlin Nevada, please leave a comment. Let us know what you thought.

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We visited the AVI Casino again this year and thought it would be appropriate to give an update to our previous post. You can refer to the previous post by, clicking here.

For those of you who have not been to this casino before, the picture on the left gives up some idea about the property.  It is located on the banks of the Colorado river. It is a sprawling property with a show area for conventions and entertainment. There is also RV parking and a golf course all within walking distance of the hotel and the casino.

We visited the casino on two different days and enjoyed ourselves both days. We even participated in a slot poker tournament. You start with 1350 credits and have 10 minutes to see how well you do. I ended up even, which is not very good as it turns out. Several players were up over 500 credits and this is on jacks or better video poker.

Pool Area

One of the comments we made last time was how much we admired the pool area and the beach along the Colorado river. Since we are not guests at AVI, we cannot enter the pool area, however we did take a picture and also made a short video of the beach and pool area. Since a picture is worth a 1000 words here it is.

 

The Beach on the Colorado River

The following video shows the beach area on the river during off season.

AVI Casino – Environment

One of the issues we had with this casino along with many others is the amount of smoke from smokers that you have to deal with. We are not sure if there are less smokers or they have a better ventilation system. But the air in the casino was much better than previous times we have been there.

Visitors should note that there are smoking areas in the restaurants since this casino is in Nevada. It is also on Indian tribal lands were they make their own rules. I wish someone would bring them up to speed about the problems with smoking and the impact it has on cancer rates. Their machines and casino would be a lot cleaner as well.

All you can eat hot juicy crab legs,at the Aquarius buffet on Friday or Saturday nights, or perhaps you like prime rib or both! We just ate at the Aquarius buffet for two for the huge price of  .92 cents. Can you imagine what a deal this is. We also had  4 glasses of wine! There was a choice of red wine, white wine, beer or margaritas and we could have had more to drink, however this was enough for us.

Nice View at the Aquarius

We sat by the windows along the Colorado river, had our meal of crab legs, desert and coffee, and we could have also had all of the other selections such as mashed potatoes, gravy, prime rib, salads, soups, buns and a hundred more items from this fabulous buffet. So how did we have such a fabulous buffet for only .92 cents. Well it is all about using the casino slot card while you play and then taking advantage of your comps! Some of our other posts have talked about the advantages of using slot cards, however this just demonstrates why everyone should have a slot card and use it when they play.

The following is a short video of Laughlin Nevada, taken from the eastern side of the river in Bullhead City, Arizona. Click on the following link.

Colorado River in Laughlin Nevada

We are also taking advantage of a free rooms offer from the hotel while we stay here. This is  because of the slot card that we use. We have had breakfast as well on the comps which was also actually a brunch. We had one of the best omelets we have had on our trip.  For more information about slot cards and why you should always carry and use them when you are playing the slots at any of the hotels, click here.

If you would like more information about the Aquarius Hotel and our original review of the hotel and casino, click here.

Aquarius Hotel Casino Updates

There has not been a lot of changes at the casino or the hotel. We noticed that the elevators are being updated. Some of the rooms have been redone since we here last. There seemed to be more poker and keno machines around the floor. We spend most of our time in the non smoking section of the casino. However there are just as many people smoking as ever. So if the stale cigarette smoke bothers you, then this is the place to be.

We noticed one new penny slot machine which was getting a lot of action. This is the wheel of fortune with 6 seats or slot machines sharing a giant 10 by 8 foot TV screen were you get to watch everyone’s wheel of fortune wheel spin when they get the free spin award. It is fun and exciting to see people win, however as with all of these machines you must be careful about how much money you bet. The maximum is $2.70 per spin, so you can go through a $100 in a hurry. We watched one lady work her credits up to over $300, only to lose it all over a period of 30 minutes.

As the saying goes, know when to fold them. It was fun to watch these players as well as play. Unfortunately for us we did not win anything on this machine.

Buy Gas on the Arizona Side

A note to readers if you drive to Laughlin, Nevada. While you may be tempted to fill up with gas on the Nevada side, take the time to drive over to Bullhead, Arizona. It is just on the other side of the river. Gas is a lot cheaper on the Arizona side. You can even get better deals if you wash your car at the same time. When we filled up, gas was selling for $3.09 on the Nevada side, while it was $2.91 on the Arizona side . I also got my car washed and while the car wash cost $10.00 for the works, the gas was further discounted to $2.71 a gallon for regular gas. A great deal!

They even scrubbed the car  first with a brush to get the worst of the dirt and bugs off the bumper before we went through the car wash. They gave us a cloth to dry the car and an air  freshener, what a great deal.

There are water taxis along the Colorado River which you can take for $6 a ride or $10 a day. check with the local taxis to confirm prices, since they seem to change on a regular basis.

Satisfied with the Aquarius Casino

We were very happy with the service and the quality of the food and drinks that we received at the Aquarius casino. Although we did not win anything at the slots, our room and food was comp’d and we had as much as we wanted in terms of drinks. All in all not a bad deal.

We are off to Vegas next, staying at the Mirage Casino and Hotel. If you would like more information about the Mirage, click here.

Your comments are welcome, to assist our readers enjoy their vacation in Laughlin Nevada. Spam comments will be auto-deleted. For more posts about Laughlin, click here.

The AVI casino and hotel is a rather nice place to visit as well as stay at. Although it is a bit far from the other Laughlin Casinos, it is definitely worth the 30 minute trip. The casino is lively , the restaurants offer good value at the right prices and there is always some form of entertainment at the AVI.

Patrons who book a room at the hotel will find then very reasonable both on the weekend and during the week. You can also enjoy the pool area, which is fabulous or actually swim or boat in the Colorado river. There is actually a nice sandy beach to take advantage of. Take in a movie at the movie theater or some of the live entertainment that is booked there on a regular basis.

RV Owners

RV owners can find lots of room to park their RV’s while enjoying the Casino , the restaurants or just taking in a movie in the middle of the desert along the Colorado River. We had dinner at the buffet one night and found the food and the service to be excellent. We also had the 99 cent breakfast which is available to all slot card members and found that to be excellent as well. The restaurant also offers free coffee to any veteran that comes into the restaurant for breakfast, which we thought was a nice patriotic thing to do.

AVI Casino & Resort Hotel – Slot Machines

There are over 1,100 slot machines of all types in the Avi Casino, with more than 530 penny and 2¢ slots, including over 80 penny GameKing multigame machines, plus we have all of your favorites in reel slots such as Double Diamonds, Red White & Blue, Five Time Pay and Blazing 7’s.

Video Poker is one of the most popular forms of machines, with all the most entertaining versions of poker available; Bonus Poker, Double Double, Triple Double, No Aces Pay the Faces, White Hot Aces, and hundred play machines that let you play one hundred hands at once.

Table Games

There are 27 table games at the Avi Casino,  including Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Let it Ride, Three Card Poker, Hold’Em Fold’Em and Pai Gow. Avi has some of the most liberal table odds offered in Laughlin, triple odds on craps and double down on first two original cards in Blackjack.

Restaurants

Feathers cafe, Moonshadow Grille, Restoriante  Avianos, Native harvest buffet, a fast food area and several bars including the poolside bar.

What We Liked

Variety of slot machines

Free drinks while gambling

Buffet

$.99 breakfast with your AVI slot card

Pool area and spa free to hotel guests on the Colorado River

Take your pick, swim in the cool waters of the Colorado or lounge by the adult pool or spend time with the kids at the pool dedicated to the children

Fabulous pool as well as swimming and boating on the Colorado River

Multiple pools with palm trees and lots of lounge chairs to relax on.

Drinks and food can be obtained at the poolside bar

Hotel rates are very reasonable

Covered garage parking and surface parking

Easy access from all highways

Safe environment in the casino, hotel and parking areas

Movie theater showing current movies

Fast food area for a quick meal

Huge RV parking area

What We Did Not Like

There are no real complaints about the AVI Resort hotel & casino.

It is a 3 star hotel in our estimation and quite adequate for our needs

As usual with Nevada casinos, the quality of the air can be pretty bad at times due to the heavy number of smokers that seem to enjoy this casino as well as other Nevada casinos.

AVI Casino – Slot Player Card

They are part of the AVI Resort  casino slot players card system. Slot members can take advantage of benefits offered by the AVI Resort hotel & casino.

If you have not taken advantage of slot player cards, there are a number of benefits that many slot players should consider. Free or discounted rooms, email mailing list of promotions, free or discounted meals, access to entertainment, and a tax report outlining your losses and wins for tax claim purposes.

Parking

There is ample parking at the AVI Resort hotel & casino in a large parking garage beside the hotel. There is also surface parking that we observed for cars and there is also a large RV parking area as well with full hookups. You can access the hotel from the garage via an elevator from all levels. The parking garage is also patrolled on a regular basis and it also protects your car from the weather.

AVI Casino – Directions:

Kingman :

Take Hwy 68 South 35 miles to Hwy 95 South, BullHead City. Continue South approximately 11 miles to Aztec Rd. and turn right. Continue on Aztec Rd. 2.5 miles to the Avi.

Laughlin & Las Vegas:

Take Needles Hwy South 11 miles to Aha Macav Pkwy. Look for the AVI sign. Turn left and continue 3 miles to the AVI.

Needles :

Take I-40 to River Road Cutoff , which becomes Needles Hwy, North 14 miles to Aha Macav Pkwy. Look for the AVI sign. Turn right and continue 2 miles to the AVI.