Specials, coupons help stretch dining dollars

David and Elizabeth Roddy and Tim O'Brien are pretty good at rooting out bargain dining spots, but they take somewhat different approaches to finding them.

The Roddys check Web sites and newspaper ads, looking for coupons, and remember to make use of their player cards at valley casinos.

O'Brien, on the other hand, keeps in mind a few reliable, inexpensive restaurants that have become his go-to spots for bargain meals.

In an era when Las Vegas has gone from being one of the most inexpensive restaurant destinations in the country to the most expensive, both approaches -- plus a few tips, for good measure -- can help their fellow residents stretch their dining dollars.

The Roddys, for example, recently celebrated Elizabeth's birthday at The Melting Pot, and made use of a coupon for a free dessert -- a $15 savings. Anyone who's interested can go to www.meltingpot.com and sign up for Club Fondue, upon which you'll be sent a coupon for free chocolate fondue for two, just for signing up, and will receive information on future specials, plus wine tastings and other events.

David Roddy says he also signed up for a club membership at Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon and estimates that they receive a coupon for a special deal about once a quarter.

They also clip Olive Garden coupons from the paper, have gotten "great discounts" for Benihana by using their Las Vegas Hilton players' club card and keep their eyes open for other specials.

"We try to go to different things," Elizabeth Roddy says. "We hear or see about it and give it a shot."

When O'Brien thinks about bargain dining spots, he thinks first of Ellis Island at 4178 Koval Lane, he says. He likes the steak special in the Ellis Island restaurant, which runs $6.99 and includes a 10-ounce top sirloin, mashed or baked potato and vegetable and a home-brewed beer or root beer.

"It's a halfway decent steak and a little meal and I just like the atmosphere of the place," O'Brien says.

Steak specials seem to be a favorite of his; he also notes the $7.77 off-menu steak-and-shrimp special at Mr. Lucky's at the Hard Rock Hotel, 4455 Paradise Road. (O'Brien also favors Mr. Lucky's Kahlua milkshake, which is a vanilla milkshake with shots of Kahlua.)

And O'Brien notes that graveyard specials -- common in this city with a 24-hour work force -- can be particularly easy on both the palate and the wallet, such as those at the Crown & Anchor British Pub, which is at 1350 E. Tropicana Ave. and 4755 Spring Mountain Road.

The specials, O'Brien says, are "a burger and ... I can never get past the burger. I think it's one of the best burgers in town."

That would be a half-pound hamburger with Stilton, Swiss or American cheese, for $3.95. The other Crown & Anchor graveyard special is a charbroiled or blackened chicken-breast sandwich, topped with cheese, also $3.95. They're available from midnight to 8 a.m.

Other ideas:

* From the Roddys: P.F. Chang's China Bistro ("basically, we just get the lettuce wraps," Elizabeth says), Claim Jumper and Baja Fresh, which, she notes, is "a little better than fast food."

* Ethnic restaurants -- especially new ones, or those from less-popular ethnicities (although there still are bargains to be had in neighborhood pizzerias and taquerias). A selection of cold mezzeh at a Middle Eastern restaurant, for example, is one of the great bargains of our time. Expand your horizons, patronize the mom-and-pops for a break from the chains, and you probably will have some really great meals at surprisingly low prices.

* Also keep in mind counter-style restaurants, which generally are a step up from fast food but still more inexpensive than full-service restaurants (and, OK, are chains, for the most part). Examples are many, and include Zaba's Mexican Grill, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Pei Wei Asian Diner, Spicy Pickle and Ma Barker's Eatery.

* Keep your eyes open for coupon books. Even if there's a cost for the book, you should be able to recoup it by using just a few of the coupons.

* Remember those players' club cards. Even if you gamble infrequently (or not at all), sometimes just signing up for a card will qualify you for a discount.

* If your schedule is flexible, take advantage of lunch prices. Go late and have "linner," (or "dunch"). The lunch special at Olive Garden, for example -- a perennial reader favorite in Best of Las Vegas -- involves unlimited refills of soup, salad and breadsticks for $6.75, and it's available until 4 p.m.

* And speaking of free refills: This is, after all, the land of the buffet, and while prices have gone up on the Strip, they're still pretty reasonable in the neighborhood casinos, and the quality has improved in the past few years. And if you take a late lunch, it's tantamount to an early dinner.

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0474.