OFF THE STRIP, WORTH THE TRIP: THE COFFEE SHOP AT THE GOLD SPIKE HOTEL AND CASINO

Occasionally, one might just be short of El Presidente Muerta.

You know.

Cash.

That, in and of itself, is bad enough. Now. Add hunger.

Yikes!

Fret no more Flaca.

Fret.

No.

More.

Nope.

Now there is a place smack dab in the middle of my part of Le Village Las. A place that has undergone the kind of transformation that would make Joan Rivers cry.

If her tear ducts weren't currently located on the nape of her neck.

This place of city chic?

Hold your hats and hallelujah, The Style Guy is gonna give it to ya!

The Gold Spike Hotel and Casino is the kind of place that used to make fleas think twice about stopping in. I jest you not. Back in the day you used to be able to smell this place from LAX. The sharp scent of skank would assault you like a Panzer division visiting a small Polish village.

No. Mas.

Someone obviously took a heavy duty steam cleaner and a course from HGTV and turned this former dump into a rather swell little gem for travelers on Le budget.

But, unlike The Strip which we locals avoid like Lindsay Lohan avoids a urine test, The Gold Spike has something that works for us too. The Coffee Shop at The Gold Spike is where the $4.99 Prime Rib of yore went to reinvent itself like Cher on a budget.

Everything about the place is, well, pleasant. The staff is extremely friendly and the decor is modern in a David Bromstead sort of way. White plastic chairs look perfect next to bleached, jagged rock walls. Unlike many coffee shops, you aren't assaulted with nasty fluorescent lighting that makes you feel like Marilyn Manson on the walk of shame after a hard night. It's bright and airy.

Oh.

Yeah.

The grubbage.

You can enjoy the food here. What I mean by that is, unlike other cheap places, you aren't eating here only because it's cheap. The spaghetti and meatballs is old fashioned somebody's mom made it good. The salads are all huge, with crisp, fresh ingredients. The fabled $4.99 Prime Rib may not be like the Prime Rib at Ruth Chris's, but, you also have change from a twenty after buying a cheap date a good meal.

And who doesn't like that?

A cheap date.

Dumbass.

THE GOLD SPIKE HOTEL AND CASINO COFFEE SHOP
217 LAS VEGAS BLVD N
89101