My travel agency has long taken the stance that the best tours to send our clients on are the ones we've done ourselves, so we all take as many tours as we can cram in, and do so nearly everywhere we go. Five of us were headed to Vegas for a managers' retreat, and we thought this would be a unique tour to try. This was the first self-guided tour any of us had ever done, and we had no idea what to expect.
We arrived at location #1 right on time (very easy to find using Google Maps) and were led to a table right away. Zero wait time. We'd all passed on the drink package, so our server took drink orders. Drinks and food showed up minutes later. At this first place, we had three items served family-style: fried chicken skin (like a whole plate of just the crispy outer part of your fave fried chicken), deviled eggs and a baked, seasoned cauliflower. It was all good enough, but probably not anything that any of us would have ordered on our own. There was at least one item that each of us had zero interest in. While we were given plenty of time in the schedule, we left hungry and a little concerned. Off to location #2.
Spot #2 was a short walk and, again, easy to find with Google Maps. We arrived a few minutes early, and agreed that the schedule we'd been given seemed to have the timing down perfectly. Once again, they were ready for us when we arrived and we were led straight back to our table and drink orders were taken. (We had drinks at all three places and I wouldn't say that the extra step of having to pay for them prior to departing each location was a problem at all.) We each received a wooden board with three tasty 3-bite appetizers. Honestly, I can't remember what they were, but we once again nearly everyone had one item that was traded with someone else, and we each ended up with a full board. I think everyone would agree that they LOVED at least one of the items. If that had been the last stop, we'd have headed somewhere for a pizza (or something). No longer starving, but not really full, either.
Before heading to spot #3 we were told to go to Container Park for a 10-minute wander. It was already dark and nearly nothing was open, so I can't say there was much to see EXCEPT for that amazing, fiery Mantis sculpture which we all loved. That alone was worth the short walk to get there.
Then off to our final restaurant. They were again ready for us on arrival. That "zero wait" concept is great! Drink orders were taken and the food started landing in front of us. As I recall, all five of us enjoyed everything that landed in front of us, and there's *no way* even a hardy eater wouldn't be full after this stop! We all loved that we weren't rushed to leave this spot, either.
So in the end, I think this gets a thumbs up all the way around. FOR SURE you need to let them know in advance if you've got dietary restrictions because there's no way the locations could adapt on the fly given the setup of the tour. We reserved and paid for five people, but each spot was prepared for six people. No idea what happened there. That was literally the only thing even slightly off that we could report, though. We didn't expect that everyone would like everything served, and we were correct about that, but with three items at each place, there was always enough to keep everyone happy. Given that tips were included, the price is a great value (particularly for Vegas) and you definitely don't need to get dressed up for this. It's a short walk over to Freemont street afterward, and the dinner tour + Freemont Street makes for a very enjoyable and cost-effective evening out. I'd do it again and would recommend to my clients looking for a low-key, casual way to explore downtown.