Eldorado’s bargains make downtown Henderson a destination

By Dave Wilson

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 | 4:10 p.m.

Henderson, in its quest to get more people downtown, has quite an ally in the Eldorado Casino right on Water Street.

Note to city planners: They’ve got a one-pound burger over there at the Eldorado. It’s less than $5. Maybe it’s time to immortalize that beast in neon at the entrance to Water Street. That’d get some steering wheels turning in your direction (The fact that draft beer is 99 cents all day, every day, doesn’t hurt either).

The burger special is what led us downtown. Inside the Eldorado at the imaginatively named restaurant, The Café, they almost warn you against ordering it, calling it the Belly Bomber. But as Billy Joel’s “Only The Good Die Young” played overhead, we abandoned any lingering doubt, and went all in.

It didn’t disappoint. With a thick slab of beef wider than the sesame seed bun, it came equipped with lettuce, tomatoes, mayo and onions. It had a smoky taste, a charred crust, nice coloring and was definitely a notch above an average run-of-the-mill burger. And at $4.49 ($4.99 with cheese), it comes with a side of fries.

The Café’s menu, however, isn’t limited to this bargain.

In the name of further research, my supportive wife ordered the $6.99 prime rib special, an eight-ounce cut with sides of steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes. As prime rib goes it was, well, like prime rib, all prime rib-y and stuff. It was unremarkable, but still a good bargain, especially considering it comes with the all-you-can eat soup and salad bar. It’s a basic salad bar, but included Chicken Noodle and Vegetable Beef soups.

Most all entrees include this in the price, and most are around $5 or $6, with a wide range of options including country fried steak, lasagna, chicken teriyaki.

And all of it seems to be exceptionally large. As our friendly server Lupe said, “We don’t believe in small portions.” To demonstrate, she went to the kitchen and retrieved a hubcap-sized platter that she said they serve their Mexican combo plates on.

The Café is a clean little spot, with friendly service. There’s a lunch counter near the kitchen and, on this Saturday night, the clientele was made up of families. And it’s no wonder. Our son was impressed with the grilled quarter-pound hot dog from the children’s menu, although it was so large he could only eat half of it. We were impressed that it came with fries and a drink for $2.99.

The dessert menu implores you to ask your server about the apple dumpling special, so who were we to argue? It’s a crowd-pleasing little apple-stuffed pastry with a scoop of ice cream, drizzled with butterscotch syrup, and we scored one for 99 cents. We also splurged and grabbed a hot fudge sundae.

As overall values go, this was an outstanding dinner. The total check, for three meals, three drinks and two desserts, was $22.03.

There’s plenty more to explore on the menu. The Eldorado also gives the option of adding a pound of crab legs to any entrée for $5.99. Add one to the Belly Bomber, and you’ve got two pounds of food for about $11. Or, for about that same price, you can get a steak and lobster special for $11.99 with a player’s club card. There are also daily food specials for $5.99.

We’ve tried the ginormous steak and eggs for breakfast before, and it’s worth its own entry, so we’ll elaborate on that in the future with a closer look at the rest of their breakfast offerings.

The Cafe is open from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Friday & Saturday.

Dave Wilson is a designer at the Las Vegas Sun.