Biloxi novices arrive 10/19; any suggestions?

All: Arriving Sunday 10/19 for our first-time visit to Biloxi. Comped at the Grand for 3 nights; car through Thrifty ( not thrilled with the price, but hey that%26#39;s what the market will bear); signed up for Boomtown player%26#39;s club online. Looking for a reasonable non-casino restaurant, reasonable liquor store/convenience type store , and any suggestions for any not-to-be-missed destinations once we get there.

Have already eaten at the Bellagio Olive in Las Vegas, Isle of Capri and Hard Rock are here in Florida, just looking for something that perhaps I shouldn%26#39;t miss.

Basically penny slot players looking to get away without sitting on a plane or in an airprt for 8 hours each way, so we picked Biloxi, as it is only a 2 hour flight each way. We%26#39;ve already been warned that Biloxi is not Las Vegas, so expectations for awe inspiring are not high; just want to have a good time. All suggestions are welcome :-) Mark

Biloxi novices arrive 10/19; any suggestions?

I%26#39;m bumping up a post from an August Trip Report which gives you some suggestions for those local restaurants. :)

Biloxi novices arrive 10/19; any suggestions?

If you don%26#39;t mind driving just a few miles to the West on the Beach Blvd., you will drive into Biloxi%26#39;s sister city of Gulfport. There is a lovely casino there also on Beach Blvd. called Island View Casino Resort. It%26#39;s a big beautiful new casino/resort that was rebuilt from an old Grand Casino that was destroyed during Katrina. It has alot of entertainment (concerts, etc.). You could check it out along with the casino/resorts in Biloxi.

Also, up Hwy. 49 in Gulfport on past I-10 intersection, a couple miles further is a delicious restaurant called Look Out 49. It%26#39;s in an unassuming white building with royal blue trim on the left next to a big box store of some sort. The food is out of this world.

Have you eaten at Mary Mahoney%26#39;s yet? It%26#39;s kind of accross the street from Bellagio to the East a little back behind an open lot area. You can see it from Beach Blvd. We have eaten there and thought it was pretty good; but thought the little room they put us in was noisy...sound bouncing off the walls like crazy...especially with a happy tipsy lady with the VERY loud voice sitting at a table in the corner near us...lol.

There are several liquor stores sprinkled here and there....especially, in the small store front strips....just keep an eye out.

Good luck on your trip to Biloxi/Gulfport casinos. It%26#39;s a quaint relaxing slow beach town that%26#39;s beginning to recoup from Katrina thanks to the casino business now going pretty strong. Sounds like you have been there already; so, I don%26#39;t have to tell you that. Just hope Gustav didn%26#39;t eat away again at Beach Blvd. since they have been working SO hard the past few months at getting it in good shape and attractive.

Animluver and SuthernBell: Thanks for your suggestions. Not huge foodies, just want to be able to get out of the casinos to eat once in a while.

Oaklandpark,

I believe I got the same offer from Harrah%26#39;s as you. Is your airfare included? Seems almost too good to be true doesn%26#39;t it?

Let me know how it goes as I am going early November.

vegasgrandpa: No, the airfare wasn%26#39;t included :-(. We had gotten offers that included the airfare right after we got back from Vegas in April, but at the time that we got those offers, we weren%26#39;t in the market to go to Biloxi.

As the summer wore on and we didn%26#39;t snap up any airfare-included offers, the offers stopped coming. I figured it was because the jet-fuel was so high and we were only penny players from Ballys/Flamingo/Rio.

We got some web-special seats on AirTran for $250 r/t but that didn%26#39;t include seat assignments lol. $6.00x4 later our seats were purchased, then the car rental prices were twice as high as Vegas. We go this Sunday, so I will post a report when we return.

Oakland can I ask why you are renting a car? Most of Biloxi I found to be walkable. One night we took a cab to dinner. No, Bilxoi for sure not Vegas but was fun and the first time I ever ate flounder %26amp; marinated crab it was GREAT.

LIG

SIWS, it would be a far trek if you walked to the Imperial Palace, Palace, and Boomtown from Beau Rivage and Hard Rock. True, you can walk between the Beau, Hard Rock, and maybe Isle of Capri. Also, the Grand is a bit of a smaller trek from the Beau. I think it%26#39;s spread out enough among some casinos to need a ride. There is the casino shuttle, though.