Let me start off by saying that there are a lot of better places to play at than the Riviera.

When I arrived I was looking forward to playing at the Riviera since I never played there before. But the 1st table I walked up to and started playing the dealer was pretty rude. So I played a few hands and left thinking maybe that dealer just had a bad day. Then, I went up to the buffet and the lady at the register was really rude as well so I just left and went to the Ameristar Casino and had a great time.

I took my wife to Black Hawk to celebrate her 21st birthday, all I can say is wow.

After calling around to several of the casinos there, I was basically told by every one of them they don't show being booked up, so a reservation wasn't necessary. it definitely would have been a good idea. After arriving we found all of the hotels to be booked up.

I made a call to Fortune Valley and spoke to someone there named Gary. He took very good care of us and helped us book the only remaining room in their hotel while I stood on the corner outside the last option in Black Hawk.

When we got to the hotel they were very polite and even had a special birthday surprise waiting for my wife. They informed us of the players club and the comps they give you as a new player were amazing.

We ate at the buffet when we got there with our food comps then hit the floors. We were amazed that everyone was so helpful even when it got to be 6am with no signs of stopping (and heavy intoxication fading).

While we were playing one of the table games the pit boss came to us and asked if we planned on being here longer, (I was expecting some sort of rudeness since I have been to vegas and experienced it there).

When we told her we were actually there for the weekend she said O.K. and walked away then came back seconds later with 2 comp meals at the buffet for us to have breakfast.

Many of the staff went out of their way to help us and even explained a few of the games to us. Overall, an amazing experience and I will definitely be going back.

While enjoying friday evenings special at the Saddlebar Restaurant my attention was grabbed by a young man doing spin tricks with a bar rag at the very open to the public Fireside kitchen.

Wondering if he could spin a pizza in the same fashion i walked over and approached the man and asked him to make me the "goldmine" after that I sat back at my table in Saddlebar so he wouldn't notice me spying.

He proceeded to "play" with a dough ball as if it were modeling clay, focused and determined to make this ball into something edible. He than began to roll it out on his makeshift cutting board/work table after about a minute he began throwing the dough back and forth very fast between his hands making the dough bigger and bigger then all of a sudden threw the dough into the air and started bouncing it between his hands and then he caught it and maintained a spinning motion for about five seconds. He then turned his back to top the dough then after about ten seconds of acrobatics with a pizza spatula he cooked the pizza for about 6 minutes.

Let me tell you, awesome pizza, awesome show(FREE!) great times. Fireside kitchen is a great pizzeria.

Fireside Kitchen 10-04-08. Beware of the worst Brat & Coleslaw on the Planet.

The Brat was boiled and tasteless and looked pale and uncooked. The bun was cold and dry. The colseslaw was also tasteless. The Brat should be grilled and brown. The bun should be warm and soft. The coleslaw needs more mayo and spices.