Hecho En Vegas in MGM Grand Hotel (Las Vegas)

After basking in the breathtaking beauty of the Grand Canyon, we headed out of that wilderness into a different kind of wild... the lively Las Vegas strip. After a few hours on the road, we finally arrived at our hotel, the MGM Grand.

The main reason we selected the MGM Grand Hotel? It was listed as having one of the top 10 pools in Vegas!

Presenting the long and winding lazy river in the Grand Pool Complex...

Even without tube rentals, you can easily ride the gentle current while traversing the various areas including the simulated rain droplets or occasional spouting fountains. We would have gone the day we checked in but the one hour wait for check-in starting 3-4pm gave little time for play before it closed at 5pm! The other pools were open longer but we decided to hop in the moving waters first thing the next morning for two hours of relaxation.

Our room in the east wing was modern and infinitely more comfortable than sleeping bags/tents in frigid weather. We've heard that the west wing is much older and the ~$10 difference seemed worth the upgrade.

That cozy room and blue water paradise wasn't the only perk... we also had a $50 food credit toward any of the restaurants in the hotel.

After casually walking by every hotel restaurant option and peeking at menus, we decided to try out Hecho En Vegas, a cantina & mexican grill.

We asked our waiter about serving size and he suggested "you can handle it" to Dennis and to just "add an appetizer" to me. It turned out the portions were very generous!

Our first choice was the Viva Las Fajitas combo, with our selection of the achiote-marinated shrimp and the seasoned skirt steak meats. The audible sizzling and aroma of fajitas made me so excited to be there! The steak had a noticable char to it but was still tender and juicy despite being cooked "well done." We enjoyed the savory spices on the shirmp combined with the grill characteristics. The peppers were softened but a tad oily.

Our only complaint were the tortillas. These came wrapped in foil but seemed to dry up within 1-2 minutes of removing them from their wrappers! We asked for a 'fresh' batch, and while these lasted a few minutes longer, they still broke apart too rapidly!

The side of beans and rice seemed fancy in their cast iron griddle bed. The cojita cheese was a pleasant addition to the otherwise simple beans.

Our other meal selection was the Chimichanga Bandera style. This monstrosity was about a foot long and quite thick. The wrapper was the thickness of a tortilla and lightly fried.  Three different sauces were sectioned out plus topped with queso fresco! The flavors ranged from green tomatillo verde to a more buttery white sauce to the red enchilada sauce. It was beautifully done, visually stimulating as well as darn tasty!

You can order the popular house guacamole which is made fresh in front of you but our items already came with guac, saving us a pretty penny. The complimentary chips seem fresh and the two salsas were impressive for what we'd expect in a casino! The red was downright delightful with a hint of heat while the green was more mild. I believe it was a different green sauce than the sauce on the bandera.

We thought this meal was more than satisfactory (except tortillas) and after the food credit, only paid $10 plus gratuity for our meal. Our stay was for only one night, otherwise we would have splashed around more in the pool. I rarely swim but if I had a pool like this... Stay tuned for our next Vegas post!