Fremont: Personal Review

In my quest to visit every Boyd property, I stayed here on a three nights free offer recently. I really like the property. I would rate it on my personal scale as good as Main Street or Gold Coast, and better than Orleans. (I haven't stayed at Suncoast, Sam's Town, or California yet.)

All the rooms are renovated, and the casino and common areas are redone, too. It is very attractively done, with a kind of understated Asian/Hawaiian theme with dark woods, running water and bamboo. There are about 400 rooms. Check-in is in the back in an nice lobby area next to the valet. (There is no self-parking, only the valet, which leads to interesting tipping situations. I tipped every other car :|)

These rooms are small, maybe the smallest in Las Vegas next to the Golden Gate. That said, they are attractive, and functional. Like Main Street, they use shutters instead of blinds, which is a nice touch. The TV are puny tubes with almost no channel selection. The bathrooms are tiny with Sloan valves on the toilets and older plumbing (but very nice water pressure). The beds are pretty hard.

Noise is an issue, no matter where you are in the hotel. There is always something going on on Fremont Street. That said, it didn't bother me that much personally. The noise reduction keeps things to a dull roar, though some high sounds like saxophones can break through. For someone more sensitive to noise I can see it being a problem, however. Better to stay at Main Street or Cal if you don't like noise.

I like the food options. They have a Dunkin Donuts on property, as well as a Tony Roma's, a high-end restaurant (Second Street Grill), a snack bar (Lanai Express), and a buffet/cafe. You cannot use your Boyd points at Dunkin Donuts and a cup of coffee there is $2.00. At Lanai Express, you can get a cup for $1.50 and use your points (so the net cost is $.90). Their coffee is crap, however. There are no coffeemakers in the hotel rooms. I ate mostly at Lanai Express. They do a good Chinese combo at $6.99 with two entrees plus fried rice or noodles. Fills you up right, and is fast and fresh (they have high turnover). Spam Musubi is $1.99. Across the street at the Cal Club you can get fried Saimin off a more extensive Hawaiian menu. Saimin might be the best food ever. I'm surprised it took me so long to discover it.

There are five elevators to the rooms, which is more than enough. I never had a wait. The elevators lead right to the center of the casino, and there is never a long walk to your room. It doesn't get much better than this for room/casino convenience. Good video poker is available right by the Keno lounge, including Pick 'Em Poker at 99.95% return. I like to play video poker in the mornings while drinking my coffee, so this was welcome. Beverage service is very frequent. Smokers are a problem. If you play between 5-9 P.M., you will hear constant announcements for Tony Roma's "your table is ready" announcements. That's kinda annoying.

On thing I have to mention is the music choice in the casino. It is some of the best casino music I have heard, ever. I have no idea what Musak package they have, but I should have asked. It is some kind of mix of contemporary, oldies, classic . . . and fit my tastes perfectly. I heard "Tom Sawyer" by Rush twice, a song I almost never hear on commercial radio. I also heard an obscure David Byrne song that I've never heard on any radio station. It got so I would sit anticipating what the next song would be, and then be surprised by another awesome song.

All in all, I enjoyed my stay at the Fremont, and would stay there again. My interaction with staff members consisted of maybe 2 minutes at check in, and a few beverage and food orders. Nothing went wrong. My suggestions for improvement would be some kind of self-parking option, and being able to spend your Boyd points at the Donut shop.

The Fremont has crawled inside my mind. I just can't get over their music selection. This trip: "Jack-Ass" by Beck, "True Faith" by New Order ... really? Deep album cuts from alternative records and secondary new wave hits? Does keno playing Maria Jesus Martinez from Rancho Cucumonga really listen to this stuff? Not that I'm complaining, but it is weird and cool at the same time.

Quote: teddys

My suggestions for improvement would be some kind of self-parking option...

If their lot is the same style as the lot at the D (Fitz), then I can understand why they don't have self park.

The D's parking lot is the absolute smallest footprint you can have, but it spirals skyward for about 20 stories. I stayed there in May. You go in and just keep making a left every few yards. Pass about 6 cars, make a left. Continue until you get to level 8 - passing the valet's reserved area. Then continue making lefts until you find a spot.

Oh by the way - pray that nobody is going down at the same time. There ain't much room to pass.

Frankly, if I knew it would be like that, I'd have used the valet!