Lanai Express

Surprisingly affordable and hearty fare given that downtown prices are usually jacked up, also your source for late night owl specials to eat while surrounded by drunkies.
Overnight $ 3.99 «The Deuces» special (11pm-​7am) is all steam tray food that is very comparable to a Lee’s Deli if you’ve ever been to one, but it’s edible and they do give you a HUGE pile of everything. 2 sausage patties, 3 bacon strips and a huge amount of eggs and potatos or rice. Lots of other stuff for $ 5 – 6 as well including a burger/​fries.
During the day, burgers and Asian food with lots of stuff at the $ 5 – 6 price point. Also the .99 cent shrimp cocktails which somehow still exist in 2016.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas was hungry and was craving some Chinese food and came across this place and I must say that I wish I hadn’t, this place is one of the worst I have ever been to. First food tastes like it’s been out all day, poorly cooked and very poor quality, service not good and over priced for what you get… heck they even charge you .50 for a cup of ice water. Avoid this place at all costs…

My friend drove all the way here from LA to get oxtail at California Hotel’s café. Having had it 4 nights earlier I really wasn’t looking forward to it. But we went and ate. It was not that good. It wasn’t salty enough as Saturday, and the carrots, etc., were not cooked long enough. Some of the oxtail were chewy as the meat did not fall off the bone. Not to mention, the fat was not trimmed at all. I stared into a bowl of heart attack. So, instead of ordering a second bowl we decided to go for stop #2…Fremont Casino.
My Hawaiian friend has been telling me about Fremonts competing oxtail for months but I’ve never dared diverge from the old reliable. It’s been close to 10 years since I’ve eaten at the Fremont’s Lanai Express café. If you want old Vegas, come here. You will reek of cigarettes like you were the poster child for chain smokers.
The oxtail was not too bad. It’s served in a classy Korean ramen plasticky bowl and a separate bowl of rice. The rice is really sticky and clumped together. I didn’t bother to try it. The oxtail is cooked with cilantro on top, and shitake mushrooms. Problem is that the mushrooms probably would have enhanced the flavor but it was cold and thrown on it as garnish more so than taste, or else they would have cooked it in the broth. I did get 2 Heinekens for $ 2 tip as there were slot machines right next to the long line. So, as my friend waited, I played $ 0.05 poker. I was confused by the screens of 3 – 6 row poker and how to hold cards. I pressed all over the screen but nothing happened (I assumed it was touch screen, yeah?) So, the beer came before I even lost a nickel. Yup, this college grad got out-​smarted by the numerous seniors chained to the machines who figured out how to lose their social security checks while I sipped a beer and stared dumbfounded at the screen. (Just as well, I won’t get a SS check when I retire anyway. No need for the early practice.)
Aside from a smallish bowl, plastic, and lacking the magic ingredient of ginger, the broth was tasty and the oxtails were generous. If you don’t want to wait until 11pm, this is a viable alternative. It’s not a restaurant environment like California so it’s weird eating it amongst the hot dog eaters. Almost all of the the tables were sticky and had the previous occupants eating utensils. I was amazed at how many thoughtful people must have came before me who believed in recycling utensils for the next guy to sit down. Thoughtful. Not deserving of their thoughtfulness, we trudged to the Dunkin Donut side and planted our tookishes on there. I looked at other peoples food and it looks like they were pretty good and were large heaping portions. The foot long hot dogs used to be $ 1.50 for weiner and soda but it’s now at $ 2.99 I think. The old $ 0.99 shrimp cocktail is still there, minus the celery that used to be underneath it looks like. It used to be served in a plastic wine glass and now it’s served in a plain plastic urn looking contraption. Oh how the mighty have fallen, just kidding.
So all in all, it was not a horrible alternative. It was pretty good but it’s just too smoky. Personally, I hate smoke and try to avoid them whenever possible. California has been remodeled to look like the Golden Nugget, and doubled their air intakes, but Fremont is still panning for gold in plaid shirts and long johns.

This place is a small food court inside Fremont Hotel and Casino. I was too exhausted to walk to California Hotel for their popular oxtail soup as part of their graveyard special. I’ve landed here instead since it’s been a few years I’ve had their oxtail soup.
I received my order almost instantly since there was no line going into midnight. The soup was served in a medium sized disposable bowl with a scoop of rice on the side. I was impressed that there were ample portion of oxtail meat (big and small) with lots of cilantro and portobello mushrooms.
The meat was surprisingly very tender but were not falling of the bones which I like. The broth was really good and not too greasy or salty, but having lots of portobello mushrooms does change the flavor of the oxtail soup due to the woodsy flavor from the mushrooms.
The only downfall with this meal to me, the bowl was not the right size to enjoy this meal. I had to put some of the meat to the side to give more room for my spoon to move around. The soup was warm and not hot and that shouldn’t matter what time of day someone would be dining in. This soup can use more broth and that would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, I still prefer the oxtail soup at the Market Street Café inside California Hotel, but this does the job as an alternative. If they just pay attention to the small details, this would be a delicious soup to savor and I may go out of my way to dine in frequently when I find myself at Fremont Street Experience with all the interesting crowd around.

Chinese employees and trump supporters refused me service and called me wetback.
Boyd gaming invoked!

Good place to get something to eat without going into a restaurant. They got oxtail soup $ 9 something whenever they are open. The two choice plate special for $ 6.99 is good too. The choices are chinese fast food kinda like panda express. For a quick bite to eat you cant beat the hotdog special for $ 3.50.

This place is hit or miss. A good place to get on the go meals/​snacks for some what decent prices. I come here to get lunch every now and then and I usually get the Chinese plate combo. Not upset but a little disappointed, I ordered beef with broccoli and when I got back to my office, I had only ONE piece of beef in my meal. Their sweet and sour pork is always crunchy and tough.
So if you ever try this place and get beef with broccoli be sure you tell them to put beef with it.
With that being said, happy eatings!

I loved the .99 cent shrimp cocktail! Shrimps are small, but there are plenty of them! The cocktail sauce was spicy, which I loved. I got in line just for this item. The workers are slow! Took me at least 12 minutes just to get my item. I wanted to enjoy my shrimp cocktail with my drink upstairs in my room, but my drink was half gone by the time I got upstairs! Still enjoyed everything though.

Our family friend recommended eating the oxtail soup here. They claimed it was just as good as the California’s Market Street Café. Me, being very defensive about my oxtail soup from the California as the best I’ve ate, was taken for lunch by my grama and uncle.
Anything free tastes great in my book! So, when my bowl of oxtail soup came I was excited. The first thing i noticed when I opened my bowl (it came in a container), was that there was a lot of shiitake mushrooms and a good amount of fresh cilantro. It smelt amazing too! Ok, at this point I was pretty impressed. I open my chopsticks and now I’m ready to dig in… well, this is where my «in awe» kinds of stops. Now, I’ve already waited at a table for about 15 minutes for a line of about 7 people and I waited even longer for the food to reach my mouth! The oxtail was a bit hard to get off the bone (sad face). So I did as my uncle did, grabbed it by the tail, and man handled the meat off with my lipstick smeared mouth. It came off surprisingly easy which just made me mad that maybe the restaurant gods didn’t want me to eat it. Oh well~ Now before I forget the soup was good, but if I had to nitpick (which, yes I do) it tasted too much like shiitake mushroom water mixed with shoyu. It sorta tasted like salty mushroom water, but I still downed half my bowl. Like I said, free tastes good.
The only reason I am giving 3 is because of:
1) The wait. It seemed like the cashier (although she was great, patient, friendly, and kind) didn’t really know what she was doing. Maybe she was new?
2) Salty soup. Nuff said.
3) Seating. Not good for groups of 4 or more. Luckily, we only had 3 which was still a little hard to find seats as it is. It’s like cafeteria style seating.
*just as a side note, my California oxtail soup wins*

Craved for oxtail soup around 2am. Market Café is usually where I go whenever I want a large portion of oxtail soup that’s super meaty. However as always, there was a long night on a Tuesday at 2am… Did not have the patience to wait. Decided to Unilocal & found this place! Perfecto! Short line and express service. Got our food and finished it within 30 minutes. Ordered oxtail soup, it was just as meaty as market café, however the broth was a little more salty, but no problem! Eat it with rice and it will balance out. Also tried the loco moco… Not a fan. It was salty. I wanted spam musubi but they didn’t have so we opt for the loco moco. I enjoyed the oxtail soup though and prob would be coming back if I ever crave oxtail soup again.

«You Get What You Pay For»
My previous review was a little over the top for this cafeteria. This time we had egg roll and saimin. The saimin is overpriced, and tasteless, even with added soy sauce. The egg roll, average. We would think twice about going back, even though the location is convenient for us.

I came here on a previous trip to Vegas and thought the food was ok. I decided to give it a second try, but was once again disappointed. The teriyaki chicken had little flavor and was very fatty, the orange chicken did not convince either. The only acceptable item was the chow mein.
The only reason this place deserves 2 stars is for its friendly personnel and the low prices.

Pass on the Chinese food but snagged some OX tail (BULALO) soup. Huge portions, good flavor and just in general can’t go wrong with it. Quick food. Again pass on the Chinese food!

Despite my mid range rating, I highly recommend this spot to anyone trying to stick to a budget… Which is near impossibly in Las Vegas I quickly realized.
I shared the 2 entrée combo, which came with rice, shrimp cocktail and a musubi.
All were decent for the price. Our whole meal for two people cost us $ 12.
Everything was lacking flavor, including the musubi which wasn’t marinated at all… But still I was pretty into it.
I wasn’t even drinking…

Cheapest meal in Vegas. 2 hot dogs, 2 Pepsi, 2 shrimp cocktails for $ 10. I said cheap, not the greatest. Just to hold you over.

If you don’t want to wait until 11pm for the Market Street Café at the California Hotel to offer oxtail soup, come over to the Lanai Express at the Fremont Hotel. Served all day.
The Express is located in the food court. So it’s cafeteria style.
We took ours to go. We purchased 4 orders of oxtail soup to go. You also get white rice with each order. The worker scrapped the bottom for the 4^th order of oxtail soup. So we thought all out for the night. She didn’t say she could go to the kitchen for more. We paid at the cashier. I happened to take a look, and behold, a whole new pot! Now why couldn’t she go and get a fresh pot while we were there?
We could have bought a 5^th order for sure. The oxtail falls off the bone and is very flavorful. Has shitake mushrooms in the broth. Make sure you have them throw in the green onions and cilantro.
If you like oxtail soup prepared Asian style, this is the place.

Ox tail soup and 99 cent shrimp cocktail. How can you go wrong? The egg drop soup was great as well. :)

After attending the second day of LIB (Life if Beautiful festival) we were starving
the three of us didn’t quite know what to eat since almost every restaurant on Fremont Street was either packed to the walls or there was a long wait to get a table. On the suggestion of Minh’s finding, we decided to try this joint out. Walking through Fremont Hotel, you really get to see just what kind of people downtown Vegas attracts after midnight (bleh). We arrived at our dinner destination. A) It was not to busy. B) there were a lot of seniors, local folks and some sketchy people either in line to order or already seated and enjoying a hearty meal of congealed slop.
We looked over the menu and then at the hot plates of hopefully editable food. Prices are definitely budget friendly. After saying a quick prayer to the food gods, we grabbed a table then got in line to place our order!
The lady behind the counter reminded me of an ex cafeteria worker as it was her business to get the order and slop whatever it was onto a plate then send you on your way to the cashier!
Taking my chances, I ordered Orange Chicken and some Eggrolls. She handed me my plate and said you can pay at the register.
The orange chicken had a funny taste (as it was old or reheated) the sauce was super thick and sticky. I still ate it and was sort full after six big pieces. Now the eggrolls looked pretty inviting but sadly, they fell short of taste. To me the roll tasted like an old shoe mixed with off brand spices. People of Unilocal,whatever you do… do not get the sauce!
The only thing I can report about our little adventure is that the three of us did not get food poisoning!
If you are hungry, skip this place and just order a dozen donuts from dunkin donuts, which is next door to them!

Went to this place for lunch. Had a 2 combo meal with half fried rice & noodles & beef brocolli & sweet & sour chicken. Food was ok. It came with a drink. Drink refills aren’t free. Rip off. California doesn’t charge for refills. Noodles were bland. It was just ok.

This place is located inside Fremont Hotel in Downtown Vegas next to Dunkin Donuts.
I had the 2 choice meal with half Chow Mein/​half Fried RIce, Orange Chicken, and Beef with Broccoli. The chow mein and fried rice was good, the orange chicken had too much batter, and the beef with broccoli was alright.
It definitely doesn’t beat Panda Express, but it’ll do for late night food! If you want something that’s inexpensive and a pretty big meal, this is the place to go!