Four Queens Hotel and Casino

Located off the Strip in the area known as downtown, or "old Vegas," the remarkably basic, 690-room Four Queens opens via wide entrances to Fremont Street Experience, a high-traffic galleria/tourist trap with a canopy of LED lights and vendors selling T-shirts and customized casino chips. Conventional wisdom holds that downtown is for seniors, and the Four Queens, in operation since 1966, plays into that stereotype. Families with young kids are rarely seen here, and a good majority of the clientele come from retiree tour groups who come to the hotel by the busload. Most guests have a simple need: An affordable room to sleep in between gambling sessions. (In addition to the gaming floor, there are slot machines across from the front desk on the ground floor, which is lit by incandescent bulbs arranged in grid formations on the ceiling.) 

On Fremont Street in Las Vegas' older downtown section, the Four Queens is surrounded by more densely arranged, smaller hotels than those typically found on the Strip. Guests are just across the street from the Golden Nugget, Binion's Gambling Hall (which closed its hotel section in 2009), and the Fremont. With the exception of the Golden Nugget, which has spent more than a decade undergoing renovations, the Four Queens and its neighbors generally look like the 1960-70s relics they are.Most of the hotels toward the western end of Fremont Street (Four Queens included) offer immediate access to the Fremont Street Experience, a pedestrians-only street mall with a 90-foot-high canopy of LED lights. The 24-hour tourist attraction offers nightly light and sound shows, as well as regular concerts. It's about a 20-minute cab ride from McCarran International Airport. The Strip is about 10-15 minutes away in a car.

The rooms at the Four Queens are an unremarkable 250 square feet -- they're smaller than the rooms at many other downtown hotels (including the Golden Nugget and Main Street Station), and are significantly smaller than most hotel rooms on the Strip. Despite renovations throughout 2016 that added new bathrooms with walk-in showers, rooms still largely look dated. Beds come with comfortable pillow-top mattresses, but the thin bedspreads feel like plastic. Each room has a coffeemaker, ironing equipment, and a flat-screen TV with 24 channels (including four advertising hotel and casino services), and pay-per-view movies. In-room Wi-Fi costs a daily fee. Bathrooms are smaller than those that at the Golden Nugget (40 square feet vs. 54 square feet) and are bathed in cold fluorescent light. With off-white countertops, toilets, tiling, and bathtubs -- and generic toiletries -- they're fairly bland. In our reporter's room, the metal tissue dispenser was off-kilter, the bathtub bore circular markings from a since-discarded bath mat, and there was some discoloration in the shower tiling.Prospective guests should watch out for potential noise disturbances from the Fremont Street Experience right outside. Rooms in the north tower look directly on the Four Queens sign at the casino's entrance, as well as Fremont Hotel & Casino, Binion's Gambling Hall, and Fremont Street below. Those looking to avoid Fremont Street's nighttime noise should request a room in the hotel's south tower. Higher-floor rooms have wonderful mountain views (windows actually open here).

The Four Queens isn't long on features: no fitness center, no spa, and no pool, though guests can use the pool at Binion's Gambling Hall for free. There's also no business center except for a desk in the lobby with a computer and a printer. Decorated with elephant and Buddha statues, as well as autographed guitars and posters of past performers, the hotel's Canyon Club theater is a draw, with its nightly schedule of comedy and Elvis tribute shows. The hotel cashes in on its downtown real estate with Patio Bar, which offers prime seating for taking in the flashy, frenetic spectacle that is Fremont Street Experience. The hotel's lack of kid-friendly attractions and tiny rooms mean it is not a place for families (though it does provide cribs). 

The casino floor takes up 32,000 square feet. In addition to slots, there are table games like blackjack, as well as keno, a sports book, roulette, and craps. The clientele, which tends to be an older crowd, gravitates toward the slot machines and video poker.

Hugo's Cellar, the hotel's on-site steakhouse, is a delightful throwback to the pre-Strip glory days of old Las Vegas. The downtown staple's service is so doting, it borders on theatrical. Every table gets four servers, free Mountain Valley Spring bottled water, and a single rose for female guests. Its menu of ribeye steak, veal chop, and roasted duck (which is flambeed table-side) is as timeless as its ambience and decor (picture Tiffany lamps, brick walls, wood-beam ceiling, and a fireplace in the corner). All entrees come with salad, which is prepared table-side. Hugo's wine list has more than 400 selections.Other options are limited. The casual Magnolia's Veranda, just off the casino floor, serves both American standards (hot and cold sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, steak, seafood) and Italian dishes (spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna). Chicago Brewing Company, a cigar lounge and sports bar where every flat-screen TV is tuned to sports, features in-house microbrews, thin-crust and deep-dish pizza, and standard pub fare. There is no buffet at the Four Queens, but there is a small fast-food court with a Dreyer's Ice Cream, a Noble Roman's Pizza, and a Subway.