Tinoco's Downtown Closes, Opens Door For Another Renovation?

Where: 18 Fremont St. [map], 89101

News out of downtown has been so overwhelmingly positive from new restaurants opening to casino remodels and expansions that word of a business closing caught us on our heels. Not that the quickly growing downtown should be immune to shrinkage, but for an area we're pulling for, we shed a tear when one of the good guys goes down.

Las Vegas Club's Tinoco's Kitchen, a frequent fav of VegasChatter's that served fab chowders alongside strong sandwiches, seafood, steaks, and Italian dishes, has shut its doors. Reader seanb first alerted us to the closure which appears to have happened at least a week ago.

While the restaurant was never close to capacity on our visits and its location at the back of the LVC had to be challenging in luring traffic for a hotel whose rooms were primarily open only weekends, we'd always hoped solid food and service at a good value would keep Tinoco's alive.

VegasChatter is trying to track down whether Tinoco's closure is part of a planned, but still yet to be announced Las Vegas Club renovation. In reaction to the news, we'd suggested visiting the original location, but that appears to have closed long ago after the LVC location opened. Oops.

Adding to the are they or aren't they chatter, Pokeraddict reports the hotel was closed over the weekend of May 12 while several video poker and slot machines have been relocated or removed altogether. He describes the back of the casino as completely deserted. No word on where the lobster claw tank game ended.

Hopefully, this all points to further evidence of a Las Vegas Club makeover which could leave hope for Tinoco's fans. In the meantime, LVC patrons (Bueller?) looking for a bite will most likely be directed to options at sister property, Plaza.

Comments (3)

Return to » Tinoco's Downtown Closes, Opens Door For Another Renovation?

According this Facebook post, Tinoco's was "there one day and gone the next" so perhaps its closure isn't part of any planned renovations after all. Or, the communication on that plan just plain stinks. Ahem.

Tinoco's offered a good product at a decent price, with good customer service and a pleasent setting. Everything the Vegas Club lacks.

Anyway, in the past year or so, Tamares Group let both the Plaza and the Western run into the ground, they fixed one and closed the other. Seems like Vegas Club is next on the list..........for something.

It has actually been closed (both the main restaurant and the "Express" area) for about three weeks. Prior to the closure, it had virtually no business (according to one of my readers who really loved the place). We decided to check it out a couple of days later and found it closed.

The hotel portion has only been open sporadically. The pit is still seeing OK action, but the machines seem to be collecting dust.

Also an interesting note: The bar is running out of liquor bottles. As they go empty, it seems like they aren't being replaced. I know this because instead of ending up with the tiny shot they pour out of the gun, I always point to one of the actual bottles on the bar so I'll get a hand pour. Every couple of weeks, there are fewer bottles.

It would be great to see it made-over and running at full speed. But my hunch (and it is just a hunch) is that they'll probably let it limp along until they see how The D remodel does. (As I believe Binion's is doing -- they are ready to go but need to show investors the ROI). Flooding downtown with too many "new" rooms with higher price tags all at once could be risky.

VegasChatter

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