The Truth About MGM Grand: Love It or Hate It?
In this conversational YouTube review, Josh and Rachael Fillbrandt share their four‑night stay at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which they received as a casino comp for an executive suite. They walk through the check‑in experience, describe the renovated suite’s layout, large TV, king‑size bed, double vanities, and a new oversized shower that replaces the former jacuzzi. They note construction and pool‑dayclub noise, as well as the lack of a view of the nearby Sphere. The casino floor is praised for its size, low $15 table minimums, but criticized for mediocre game selection, heavy smoke, and inconsistent drink service. Dining options span high‑end restaurants (Joel Robuchon, L’Atelier, Morimoto, Craftsteak) to food‑court staples, with mixed opinions on newer concepts like Netflix Bites. The pool area, lazy river, and plentiful free seating are highlighted as major draws, with tips about bringing a physical ID for room charges. The on‑site gym is modest but functional, and nightlife includes bars like Losers and Hakkasan, plus live music venues. Entertainment offerings include shows (Jabberwocky, David Copperfield, Kaa), a comedy club, the upcoming Friends Experience, and Topgolf. They discuss the convenience of the MGM monorail connection, nearby retail (Target, CVS), and future improvements such as a potential baseball stadium. Overall, they find the MGM Grand a good value—especially for comped stays—while noting noise, smoke, and some service lapses as drawbacks.
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Hey everybody, I'm Josh.
And I'm Rachael.
We just spent the last 4 nights at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
We're gonna tell you about our experience including what we loved.
And what we hated.
And hopefully this video can help you decide if MGM Grand is the right hotel for you. Let's go!
All right, so like we said, we just spent the last 4 nights here at MGM Grand. This was on a casino comp offer, which if you want to know how much money I have to lose to stay here, there's a video from back in January. But we were able to stay in the executive suite, and check-in process has been great at MGM Grand for us.
Agreed. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they have a Gold and Up check-in, which also not just for Gold and Up, but it also includes your credit card holders. So I think that's a good piece for An easier check-in.
Yeah, when you walk in the lobby, it's on the far right side. It's very easy. There was nobody there. Now, there was nobody in the lobby either when we arrived, but it was still very nice and we were able to grab some waters. As far as the room goes, this is a renovated executive suite and it was awesome.
It was very awesome. Very clean and fresh and felt modern and updated.
Yeah, there's a huge couch with a big 60+ inch TV in the living room. There's lots of plugins. There's lots of storage. King-size bed with its own TV on the other side. So there's like a little partition. Uh, good-sized closet. The bathroom gets weird.
Bathroom is odd.
Yeah. So I think this is where you can definitely see some changes in the renovations.
Yeah.
Because I believe that there probably used to be a large jacuzzi tub in there, which we had on our prior stay.
Yes.
And now instead they replaced it with one shower, with one shower head that probably covers the entire area that used to be the Jacuzzi tub and the shower.
It's huge and ridiculous.
It is. It gave me Hannibal Lecter vibes.
It did.
From Silence of the Lambs where it was like his entire prison cell was that shower.
It was weird.
But it was very nice and there was double vanities, which is great, as well as a separate wash closet.
Yeah, and the shower itself had great water pressure and it got hot. So that was good news.
Yes, I— the last time we had stayed at MGM Grand was just 2 to 3 years ago and it We ended up seeing that it took us 8 minutes to get hot water.
Yeah, not this time. It was much easier. Now, I did notice some issues with the room. In particular, the noise. I don't know if they were starting construction at 6 AM on purpose and the pool noise was bumping in the afternoons. Like, I don't know, but you could hear that and we weren't on a lower level floor.
Right. I think the construction was starting Way earlier than 6 AM even.
It was so loud.
And we were on this— on the wing that is closest to the parking garage, and we were looking towards the Sphere. Unfortunately, MGM Grand— MGM Signature was in our way, so we couldn't have a Sphere view. Yeah, but straight down below us was an area where there must be a lot of projects getting done. Yeah, and there was just constant noise.
Constant.
And then when we tried taking a nap in the middle of the day, the pool Dayclub was really booming right into our room. It felt like it was somebody like close to us or underneath us, above us, below. I don't know.
It was, it was just a lot more noisy than it should have been for a renovated or even a hotel room in general.
Outside of the noise, I felt like the room was really nice.
I did too.
You know, I thought the shower was weird. It's unique. At least it's not tiny.
And it's functional.
It was, yeah. One of the things we've always struggled with at MGM Grand is the casino floor.
It is so big.
Yeah.
I was gonna say wide, but it's just big in general.
Yeah, it is, and it doesn't always have the newest games.
No, we struggled this time. There were some newer games, but not brand new games.
Right, and there also wasn't like old games. There was just mediocre, middle of the road kind of games that We didn't really want to play. So unfortunately that didn't work well for us. As well as the drink service. Drink service was dang near nonexistent.
I was gonna say nonexistent. I think maybe one night we had decent. It was, um, yeah, it was the first night we were there. We had decent service. But the entire place was extremely busy. And I don't know if we were just in a lucky spot. But we had decent service. Otherwise the other 3 nights we had really bad service.
Yeah, I feel like multiple areas was kind of like a dry zone. We did actually Actually play some table games.
We did.
And they had table minimums of $15, so that was actually very nice.
Yeah.
You don't see that all the time, and I know when we've stayed at like Bellagio or Aria, it's like $25 plus.
Plus.
Yeah, so that was really nice. Got to play a little bit of Let It Ride.
Even blackjack was, um, the $15 minimum, so that was nice to see. The other thing I will say about the casino floor is I feel, and maybe it's just because how busy it is, maybe it's because MGM is an older casino, It gets smoky. It does get smoky. It gets really smoky in there. And I don't know that the ventilation has necessarily been updated yet for MGM. So to me, that's a downfall for MGM Grand.
And as far as the atmosphere, it's got a very— I'd almost relate it to Bellagio where there's constant traffic.
Yeah, there's people moving all the time.
Yeah, MGM Grand is, I believe it's the largest single building or single hotel in the world, or at least it used to be. So it's huge. And it also appeals to all ages. So there's a lot of times there's going to be children as well as families, parents, senior citizens, whatever.
Yes.
Wide ranges. But you end up seeing a lot of people constantly flowing back and forth from the Strip side all the way to the elevators, which let's talk about that now. It is something I hate.
It is.
From the MGM Grand elevators to the Strip is an easy 7-minute walk, I would guess. At least. It is— I don't know why there isn't a little bit of a— well, I know why. They want to keep you in the casino. Yeah, they're aiming to keep you. But it's a pain in the butt. As a person who, you know, if you want to get out to the Strip, if you want to like just get back to your room quickly, you're not gonna.
Yeah.
It's a long walk. And that gets tiring and boring.
It does. I think that's one of the bigger things. And that's I guess it could be a plus as well. MGM Grand is one of those casinos that if you don't want to leave the hotel, you don't have to.
That's true.
So yeah, there could be a plus side to it too.
From the dining perspective, MGM Grand, it may not be the flashiest, but it has such a wide variety of things to eat. Yes, from one of the most expensive restaurants in the whole Las Vegas to food courts.
Yes, and there's in-betweens. There's also options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night. Yes, I don't think you can get that at all hotels anymore, and that is something that I think MGM does not get enough credit for.
I would agree. Yeah, so as far as like places that we've enjoyed eating there, Joel Robuchon is easily one of the best restaurants in all of Las Vegas. Uh, L'Atelier right next door is another— is basically the same but less stuffy.
It's the same but different.
Slightly cheaper French food. Uh, we did go to Morimoto this last time, had a great dinner there.
Yes.
We've been to Craftsteak before. We've had a good experience and a bad experience there.
Yep.
Uh, Nelly's, which we weren't a big fan of, but it was a nice mid, mid-price point.
Wolfgang Puck is there as well. In addition, there is a noodle place. Uh, they still also have the buffet at MGM Grand.
Uh, there's also a place called Crush, which I think is an American thing.
I think so too.
Uh, Tap, which is a sports bar. There's Greek Sneak inside of that Crush one, which we haven't done before.
Yep.
They also have a new place, Netflix Bites, which we thought Bites. Yeah, that we did not enjoy.
Do not recommend.
Yeah, the— I believe it took over a breakfast cafe type area, which maybe it would have been better to save it as that and just take $5, $10 off each item.
Yeah, who knows? I don't know.
There's a video on that if you want to see it, but we weren't a fan.
In addition, there is a food court that had multiple options that was open late, multiple Starbucks. I know of at least 2, possibly 3. I know for sure 2 Starbucks in there.
As well as Krispy Kreme, which Rachael always— Krispy Kreme.
So there's this little kiosk for Krispy Kreme, but at 10 AM when you walk by it, it's not open. But at 2 PM it is.
Yeah.
I mean, I'll eat a donut at 2 PM, but who's to say I didn't want one at 10 AM?
Yep. And over by that, there is also another Pizza by the Slice place.
Man, there's a lot of Pizza by the Slice places there.
Yeah. There's a huge arcade area that nobody ever goes to. It's at the very front right before you get to the I don't know what's going on there. There's also Hakkasan, which is a nightclub but also fancy Chinese food. Mm-hmm.
We've not been there yet. It's on the list.
There's probably more.
Trust me. I think, yeah, I would say we probably have missed something.
Yeah. If I did, I'm probably putting scenes over right now because there's so many different places to go.
There is.
If you're enjoying this video and you want to see more like it, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. We have over 200 restaurant reviews and 20 different hotel reviews in Las Vegas alone. As far as the pool, The pool is why we were back.
That's what I was gonna say. We came to MGM just to come back to the pool.
Yeah, so about 2, 2 and a half years ago we came, but it was in February and the pool was closed. And so we were like, we've heard lots of good things about the pool, we need to eventually make it there when the weather is better. So this was the time.
This was, and I really enjoyed it.
Yes.
There is a lot of seating, a lot of seating, but it also looks like there's a lot of options to purchase seating. There were daybeds, There were cabanas and there were more elevated lounge chairs in specific areas. But I did find that there were plenty of seating options that you didn't have to pay for as well.
Right. And the lazy river.
Yeah.
So we had thought that the Mandalay Bay lazy river was good. No. This one's even better. This lazy river is great.
Yeah.
We even bought inner tubes at ABC, which you can get for like $6, I think.
Yeah, they'll even inflate them for you. Yeah.
But get it in or two, go around that thing for an hour or two. It was a good time.
It was, and it looked like they had plenty of servers. Now the one thing about that pool area that I— we didn't test, but it did say you had to have a valid ID on you.
Physical ID.
Your physical ID card on you to charge anything to the rooms. We didn't give that a try, but if you are gonna go to the pool, know that you should take your valid physical ID with you in order to charge anything to your room.
Right, which we have not always done.
No.
We've been able to get away with it.
With the pool size and as many options as it has, you will notice there's many kids there. It's not as overrun, I want to call it overrun, with kids as Mandalay Bay was, but it definitely, you could tell that there were kids there enjoying the pool.
We did go to the gym and the dumbbells are up to 100 pounds, which I know you wanted to know.
And I think for that size of hotel, especially with it being so close to a convention center area, Um, it was a smaller gym than I was expecting.
Totally agree. It was enough for us. We were able to get on a treadmill right away, but I could see that getting very crowded very quickly.
Yes.
As far as nightlife goes, there is a nightclub. As I said before, Hakasan is there. Uh, we don't really do the nightclubs, but that was there. There are also some very nice lounges and bars though.
Yeah, with live music.
Right, like there was a whiskey lounge which did have live music in it. There was also the lobby bar, I think, had some live music. I might be wrong on that.
I don't remember that.
But it was there.
Yeah, the lobby bar itself is there.
Yeah, there are several bars that are right off of the casino floor and they look nice. We did not partake in them, but I like the idea of it. Losers—
I was going to say, one of our favorite venues is Losers.
Yeah, we actually really enjoy Losers. It is a country western bar. It's out of Nashville. As far as overall vibe, it's generally busy.
It is. We've been there during the week and we've been there on weekends and I think it's busy all the time.
Right. And it's a wide range of customers. So anyone and everyone will fit in. I think the big key is if you want to fit in, just carry an inner tube with you.
We saw so many people with inflated inner tubes.
It's so funny.
Gambling at breakfast.
There was some guy with kids at breakfast.
It was odd.
But yeah, just carry an inner tube and people will be like, that guy knows what he's doing.
Yeah, they're going in the pool. They're good.
As far as shows that are available, there are 3 large shows. So Jabberwockies, David Copperfield, and Kaa, which we did see that Kaa now has a matinee.
Yeah.
Which I love the idea of a matinee show.
I do too. If we wouldn't have had other plans that night, I think we would have probably checked that out. In addition, they have Brad Garrett's Comedy Club.
Right.
There as well.
And there is a Friends Experience coming, which it might be out by the time you see this video.
That's true. We don't know when it— it didn't say a specific date.
And something else from an entertainment perspective, we went to Topgolf.
Yes.
Which is, you can walk indoors for most of the walk.
Yeah, it says it's MGM Topgolf. That thing is a ways away. It's about as far away as the Strip is from the hotel.
Oh sure, yeah, it's a decent walk. But if you want something to do that's other than gambling, other than going to the pool, um, or just wandering the Strip, like, it, it was convenient. It was fun.
It was. And oddly enough, They have a pool there that you can use that you don't have to pay for.
Yeah, so if you're tired of the MGM one, you can go there.
Or if you're wearing your swimsuit while carrying your inner tube.
Yes.
Going golfing, you can do that.
Uh, something else, MGM Garden Arena does have shows. We have gone to a concert there before. It was very easy to get in and out.
Yep.
And it's a large venue. I believe that they also have boxing matches and probably a bunch of other concerts. The other big thing about MGM Grand is The monorail, yes, is connected to it, which I think is very important. And it's the only one, like, the true monorail is connected to MGM casinos.
Yeah, it doesn't feel like you have to walk behind the casino to get to it like some of the other options. You truly are on your way to the pool and it has the monorail entrance, so it's very conveniently located.
Yeah, I think when I— when we pulled in with our taxi, like, I looked over and there was a monorail like just Arriving. Yeah, so it's right by your entrance. It's not very far away. No, and you can also rent a car at the desk over by the Gold Lounge. Yeah, so very convenient. Appreciate that. Speaking of all this, the location. Location's not great. It's not bad.
But if that baseball stadium goes up like they're anticipating, that's gonna be an amazing location.
Yeah, because now that that Tropicana site is It is leveled. It actually— there's some digging going on. So if they are building a baseball site there, it's gonna be great for it. And if you are an MGM Grand casino loyalty program person, MGM Grand is good.
It is. It's pretty close to quite a few different locations. So if you want to casino hop, it's easy to do so.
And from a perspective as far as like getting water, food, snacks, it's a really good location. We were able to stop. There's Target that's nearby, ABC Store. There's a CVS, Walgreens, all within like a couple city blocks. So you don't have to walk very far and just buy the overpriced stuff at the hotel.
Yeah, absolutely. But if you don't want to have to leave the hotel, there are Mini Sundries locations throughout. At the base of the elevators was one main one I saw, and then throughout the hotel there's multiple options. Plus they kind of do these little kiosk stands that you can buy tall boy beers, waters, Anything else that you might need randomly throughout the casino.
Yeah. One thing I did forget to talk about is that there's something new, is that they have like live virtual gambling.
I think so. It was weird because it's like they're in this bubble on display.
Yeah, where they're doing like roulette.
I think blackjack. Yeah, I don't know what was all in there. It was interesting to see.
Yeah. So if you are gambling online and there's like a real dealer and they say they're at MGM Grand, they probably are.
They really are.
Yeah. On that note, I'm glad we went back. There's still pieces I definitely don't enjoy about MGM Grand.
Sure.
But I had a good stay. And if you're going to go again, make sure you get to that lazy river.
I agree. And I think for the cost, even when you're looking at it not from a comped view or a comped perspective, it's a reasonable and Affordable option for Las Vegas.
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