**Please read the whole review before labeling me as a downtown hater** Each year I travel to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show and this year we decided to stay at The Golden Nugget. Having stayed here several years ago, I was curious to see if it's still as nice as I remembered. The hotel did not disappoint. Check in went smooth with very nice customer service at the front desk, the walk to the room is relatively short, and the elevators were quick, with little wait (maybe it's just me but long elevator waits and rides are infuriating). We stayed in the south tower(furthest from the Fremont Experience) and between the front desk and our room was a busy bar(I believe it is called The Ice Bar), the pool(more on that in a minute), the hotel cafe(again, more on that in a minute ) , clothing store, japanese restaurant ,convenience store, and a starbucks. The room was nice and is comparible to any standard room on the strip, unlike most of the other rooms downtown, which can be quite small and dingy. Most importantly the room was clean, quiet, and the beds were very comfortable. The bathroom is...well, a bathroom. It is clean with soaps, lotions, shampoo and conditioner. The only issues I had were the air conditioning unit which rattled a little but a piece of paper wedged in the vent fixed that easily, and while the coffee maker was a Kuerig, which was nice, they charge for the coffee (I guess the days of free coffee are over at the Golden Nugget...booo!). The tv is a nice flat screen but I don't watch much tv so, not a priority for me. Being that this was winter, we didn't spend any time at the pool but it is very impressive looking for such a small area. There is a bar outside near the Jacuzzi and fire pit, as well as gaming tables. There seems to be plenty of seating and lounge chairs, though in the summer it might be kinda tight, as well as a pretty awesome looking water slide that goes right through a huge shark tank! If we ever stay here again (more on that below) I will definitely try it. The hotel cafe is great. The service is friendly and quick, (except for the keno girl, she seems to be on sloth time) and the food is great, though the prices are a little expensive. The snack bar next to the sports book is great too. I highly recommend the hot wings, they are pretty awesome. The casino is nicely decorated, not too crowded, and a lot less smokey than most places downtown. Though, my two main interest, the sports book and poker room, are unfortunately only average. They are both small, crowded and smokey (yup, even though the poker room is smoke free, it is right next to a very busy bar and people like to hang out near the rail and smoke, ugh). Overall The Golden Nugget was again a great experience. Unfortunately I probably won't be staying there again ,and I blame the downtown experience. I have always loved downtown and almost exclusively stayed there (I have stayed in every downtown hotel many times) when I visited. It was busy, loud, kinda rough, walkable, had a real party kinda feel, and was just a lot of fun, but it has spiraled into just a weird freak show. 1st, the zip line is kinda cool but the structure is giant and kills any view looking east on fremont street. 2nd, there seems to be a lot more unsavory types, homeless people, and worst of all, character peddlers. It used to be a handful of characters, most of them pretty funny, an odd looking Mickey here, a grubby Buzz Lightyear there, but now it has degenerated into dozens of them and most of them are just nasty and are becoming quite aggressive for tips. The final straw came when I saw a family with small children (Vegas with kids!? No thanks) wedged between a dominatrix leading a man in a bikini with a leash and an old man dressed as cupid wearing nothing but wings and short shorts with the butt cut out. And while they are down on the strip, they can easily be avoided unlike in the small area of downtown. Lastly, downtown was a great deal. That doesn't really exist anymore. You can still find cheap stuff but the quality of what you get has tanked. No more cheap gambling, food can be had for cheap but don't expect much, and room rates keep going up, yet the hotels aren't improving. As nice as The Golden Nuggets is, I will be taking my dollars back to the strip.

We stayed here in December and I liked it a lot. I loved how beautiful but affordable it is. I loved how it's free to swim in the pool (if you're staying there), hot tub, slide, etc. The valet and front desk people were super nice.

I didn't care for the food much at all, it was way too expensive for what it was. The people working at the pool weren't very nice any of the times we were out there.

If we are ever on Fremont st again, we'll definitely stay here again! It's right in the heart of Fremont st and close to everything!

Yeah, we loved it.

We stayed 3 nights at Harrah's before moving to GN for a change of pace and to check out Fremont Street at night, as we've always stayed on the Strip. So glad we did.

After reading the reviews, we decided to try it for a couple of days - made reservations with our Landry's membership and got a free upgrade to Gold Tower room. At VIP check in we were offered choice of Carson or Gold Tower so looked at Carson first. Carson rooms are great but beware; If you like to drink and gamble, you need hiking shoes and some provisions to make the trek as it is a LONG walk. A very long walk.

Conversely, the Gold Tower rooms are right off of the casino floor and near the pool and the valet entrance. Our room overlooked the pool, was quiet and so .... choice. No king beds were available so we had doubles (NOT queen, but full size beds) but the room was perfect.

Although the bathroom was relatively small, the room was clearly larger than the "mini suite" we stayed in at Harrah's and the furnishings were much better. Leather club chairs, granite topped dresser, end tables and vanity, 40+ inch flat panel TV etc... I loved this room.

Overall, the service was very good, and Damien at the VIP check in is a consummate professional, incredibly patient and cordial. All of the staff were great but it was a little tough to get a drink on Friday evening if you were at a machine.

The restaurants are all a little pricey, but you've got to expect that. But it doesn't matter since you can run over to Binion's, Fremont casino, Las Vegas club or the like and find specials all day long on the cheap.

For non-strip gambling, the location is great. Binion's, 4 Queens, Fitz, etc... all had plenty of lower end games ($3 craps tables, for instance) and the machine payouts seemed to be radically better than the Strip.

Even though it was 70 degrees, people were at and in the swimming pool. Wish we had been prepared as the pools are amazing but too crowded to enjoy in the summer.

Next trip we're probably going to spend all 5 or 6 nights there. We've stayed at 8 of the casino resorts in Vegas, and so far Golden Nugget is acutally the nicest and the best value. If you have never been to Vegas before, you may prefer the Strip - otherwise, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. I can almost guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised.

The room I stayed in was stunning (small but very beautiful.) Because the Golden Nugget is in "Old Town" I was expecting a fairly dated room and hotel. What a surprise when I walked in! The bed was so comfortable I really struggled to get out of it to leave. I travel a lot so this was a rare pleasure. I loved the shrimp bar downstairs. The staff were friendly and helpful. This is my new favorite hotel in downtown Vegas. Good Luck!