The MGM Grand was amazing! First of all, the bathroom was out of this world. A flat screen TV, dual sinks, and completely walled in tile. The walk-in shower was huge! We were there for Sweetest Day, so room service put chocolates on our pillows. Fresh flowers were lovely. The bed was very comfortable. This is definitely a five-star hotel...

The hotel and the rooms are very, very nice and the staff is eager to please - but for the cost, you just can't justify it. The telephone and alarm clock are so difficult to figure out, I finally wound up just calling the front desk and asking for a manual wake up (and I work with computers so you'd think this was easy, not). I never did quite get the alarm clock of the phone system working the way they say it's supposed to work. The restaurants, Puck and two Michael Mina eateries are first class with great food - and they should be for the prices they charge. The two Mina places, with run of the mill wine could easily set a couple back 150-200. Again, a great meal but you can get great meals in metro Detroit for far less. My guess is this place is trying for one word, pretentious.

First things first - if you can't drive there, don't go. It's not worth flying to. But if you can drive there (I drove 2.5 hours from Cleveland) then it's an entirely different story. As far as first impressions are concerned, the MGM Grand Detroit is clearly 5 stars no questions asked. In the middle of a very dumpy downtown, the MGM Grand is a pinnacle of excellence. Starting with the free valet parking (or free self parking as I chose to do), through the check-in process, to the private "living room" for hotel guests, going to the MGM Grand reminded me of Las Vegas in every possible way. It was like I drove to Nevada. The room was nothing less than awesome. The size was similar to a typical hotel room, but it was luxury head to toe. Plasma TV, comfy bed, phenomenal design - and the bathroom (with TV in the mirror) was nothing less than spectacular. Two showerheads to boot! We ate soon after at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant, abusing a $50 credit there that we gained through our 'Big Game' package deal (also included two really nice hats and two just-ok t-shirts). The credit was supposed to be for breakfast but we confirmed you could use it any time. The restaurant was great, the menu included the Chinois chicken salad (a must-have every time we go to Vegas) and all the classic Puck pizzas. We were in heaven, but hadn't seen nothing yet. The pool area is part of their spa, and is spectacular. The bathrooms near the pool are more like spa suites, including a hot tub, steam room, and (for men only) sauna. We were loving every minute of it. Some gambling later, and it was already time for our dinner at Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak. Bourbon Steak was a fantastic restaurant, but *not* the best steak I have ever had, as they will promise you it will be. It is not cheap, but it is typical for a high-end steakhouse, and I knew the prices going in. I would recommend it, but I would also recommend checking out their buffet, which we snuck into and seemed to be quite amazing. Vegas-style, to be sure. Even their area of fast-food cafes seemed very impressive. The bars are also Vegas-style. Really, really nice. The nightclub V, however, was the beginning of the end for us. $20 a person to get in, it wasn't special, the only people dancing were the hired go-go dancers, we tried to dance and get others to join but to no avail. Very disappointing - although to be fair, Vegas sometimes suffers to the same effect. After that the only thing left was gambling, which in Vegas we only do a little bit, then move to the next casino, repeat. In Detroit, when you're done, you're still in Detroit. We attempted to visit the other casinos, what a joke, don't even bother setting foot anywhere else! The last problem was cigarette smoke, it's much better at the MGM than other Detroit casinos but still a problem (yeah yeah I know it sounds whiny, but I hate it). In Vegas they must have some high-end air exchangers because we never smell smoke there. Nonetheless, our extraordinary day ended on a low note with the lame club and running out of other things to do. The following day we went to the spectacular pool again, ate at Wolfgang Puck's again, and drove home. I would happily go back again, but I most definitely would never bother going for two nights. It's an amazing facility, but unless you are a hardcore gambler you will eventually run out of things to do.

Just an update. You can get into the Casino now with a green card or foreign driver's license. Security was very nice and informative. Hotel and Salt Water was out of sight.