Customer Reviews

Hungry? Thirsty? Las Vegas: The Real Lowdown on the Cheap Eats and Great Drinks On and Off the Strip!

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, and maybe this is cynical of me, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the reviewers who gave this book Five Stars are personal friends of the author, because this book is far from perfect (note: they don't leave their name, they just describe themselves as "a reader"). As for the book, the author clearly thinks that sneering, leering snobbery passes for wit. This author might want you to slum with the "ugly people" as one reviewer phrased it, but he makes a few too many jokes at their expense (i.e. laughing at them not with them) for my taste and I found his prose both boorish and distracting - in other words, it didn't tell me much about the dives I was digging into to. Still, despite the fact that some bars he suggested closed YEARS before this edition came out, I have to say that Mr. Goldberg does have a line on what's happening for a lot of offbeat eats & drinks in Sin City. I may dislike Mr. Goldberg as a writer, but I bet he makes for a good Listings Editor. You can probably find some of Mr. Goldberg's suggestions on the web somewhere, or in some other travel guide, but it's nice to have all this info consolidated for a book. I'll recommend this "Thirsty & Hungry" guide because its listed some fun places, but beware of Mr. Goldberg's witless, turgid style.

The reviews are mostly weird ramblings about whatever, and the little bit of food descriptions are really gross. If things like "pancakes and some dead pig products" or "get the duck if you like eating stuff you can see at the park" or "a hot dog that will sit in your small intestine for weeks" or "Thai that won't burn a hole in your colon or through your tounge" or "you probably don't care which vegetable it sprung from" make you actually want to eat, then you won't have a problem. It makes me feel sick.

A friend bought this book for my birthday - thank god I didn't pay for it. I'm sure she meant well, as did many other friends who gave me a few guides for Las Vegas as I visited there for a holiday last month. All I can say is that out of all the travel books I had with me, this one was by far the most useless. Outdated listings (by a few years I would discover when I asked a few locals) shallow writing and really off suggestions from this writer made this book a real stinker.

Let's be clear here -- this isn't the Zagat's guide. If you want five star dining and classy bars, you've bought the wrong book. This is dives and diners and part of the joy is the author's incredible wit. It's written for slackers and college kids and cool adults, not discriminating diners and drinkers who wear ascots. A great book to figure out where to go to get drunk and pick up ugly people.

This is perhaps the funniest and wittiest, "tourist guidebook" you'll ever read... it's SNL meets Frommers. Who cares about the restaurants, bars, and strip joints in Las Vegas... I certainly don't... you have to read this for the hilarious reviews and hip take on Sin City culture and life under the neon. Don't think of this as a guidebook -- think of it as a collection of marvelous essays on Las Vegas Life.