There will come a time during your Las Vegas vacation where you will no longer be able to eat another crab leg from the buffet, one more seared eel in lamb pee from the celebrity chef restaurant, or an additional 99 cent shrimp cocktail. This is about the time that will need to have one of the hotel maids pump your stomach in order to actually roll yourself to your room. In other words, you will be full beyond the actual meaning of the word “full.”
Yet, you’ll still be hungry. Not so hungry that you’d plop down another $24.99 for the all-you-can-eat squid buffet. Just peckish enough to fill that last centimeter of space in your belly. So, what will you do? Well, you can always dine at one of the many 24-hour cafes that dot the Las Vegas landscape. But even those may tip the scales between you being full and actually needing an enema. Luckily, there is a solution. See, not only is Las Vegas the home to gambling and gluttony, but also every single fast food concept invented.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how the hell fast food can be any better for you than $2.99 20-ounce prime rib special (complete with soup, salad, potato, desert bar, and Pepto Bismol). Well, fast food is cheap for the most part, which helps you save some money for the penny slots. Plus, it won’t fill you to the point of extreme bloatedness (just partial bloatedness). Most importantly, it will give you a feeling of normality after over-indulging over the last few days.
The good thing is you don’t have to leave the Strip, or Downtown, to find your favorite fast food hangout. In fact, many hotels feature food courts with restaurants you would find in the rest of the country. For example, McDonald’s is featured prominently in hotels like the MGM Grand, Harrah’s, and The Plaza. Nathan’s is also a big player (for some reason gambling and hot dogs are connected) with locations in New York New York (obviously), MGM, Bally’s, The Venetian, and Fashion Show Mall. Other big players on the Strip and Downtown include Subway, Sabarro, and Panda Express.
If you want to venture away from the bright lights and big crowds into Las Vegas proper you’ll find a wide variety of fast food establishments, both national and regional. On the national scale you’ll find the well-known McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, as well as the lesser known Fatburger chain. Then you have the West Coast standards Carl Jr.’s (known as Hardee’s on the East Coast), Jack in the Box, and the ever-popular In-n-Out Burger. Sorry Midwesterners and South Easterners: no Steak n Shake to be found.
If you’re not interested in burgers and fries there are plenty of other alternatives as well, both on the Strip/Downtown as well as on the outskirts. Del Taco, for example, has 22 locations in the Las Vegas area, including a number on Las Vegas Boulevard. Chipolte’s is also a big player, with locations at the Sahara, Harrah’s, and Sunset Station. El Pollo Loco also has a number of locations around Las Vegas. Heck, there are even a bunch of Capriotti’s, which is a Delaware standard for subs.
Needless to say, there are plenty of options for you when you just can’t eat one more jumbo shrimp. Just make sure to drink some water and walk a little bit after you eat so you have room for the midnight haggis and mutton buffet.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Jul 22, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Rich,
There is one mistake in your article. You listed Sabarro as a restaurant. Aren’t restaurants places that serve food?
I don’t know what it is Sabarro sells, but it ain’t food!