Naturally the first day there we hit the tables! Ariana loves her Sex & the City machine, which now she got me hooked on too! Fun game if you never played, and it keeps you occupied while ordering your free drinks while gambling! It is an interactive slot machine which is way more fun than the old school boring ones! Me personally, I stick to roulette and black jack, and I know what you want to ask, unfortunately NO neither of us won, or even came close to winning! Damn you Atlantic City, but we will be back for what's ours!!!! That night we decided to go to dinner, because one we like to eat (duh!!) and two, we know our loyal readers are counting on us to let them know what and where is good or not good! So yes we keep you guys in mind!
We headed to Cuba Libre, which is located in the Tropicana! Tropicana is the other end of the boardwalk from Taj Mahal, but only a $12 cab ride! We walked right in with no reservation, which was great because we were deciding between here or PF Changs which was right next door, but looked like it had a longer line. Cuba Libre looks like it was straight out of Cuba, well if I had to assume I was in Cuba. It felt authentic to me I guess is what I'm trying to say, and it only added more to the atmosphere of the place! We sat down and took our time looking over the menu and had trouble deciding what to order because Ariana wanted everything. No seriously, she wanted to eat everything, I think including the menu because that looked nice too! First we ordered a caipirinhas each, hers made with guava, mine made with wild berry! We of course traded and tried both, and I have to say Ariana's guava capirinha was better than mine, but mine was very very good! We settled on a bowl of guacamole and empanadas for appetizers. The guacamole came with about five or six plaintains to dip and eat with! They were good, the guacamole was good too, but personally I prefered Rosa Mexicano's guacamole (different place, different style, see that blog!) The empanadas we got were chicken, which was stuffed with chicken cheese and corn, very very tastey, and cheese, which was cheese and onions (Ariana's two favorite things)! After we ate the bread, the appetizers, Ariana might have eaten a table or a chair as well, we drank and waited for our entrees. While waiting for our entrees, an older couple next to us asked us what we went with and made friendly conversation! The older woman order the same dish Ariana had, the shredded flank steak in a citrus garlic sauce, and the lady claimed she could not finish hers! I think Ariana took this personally because she finished her dish and probably could have eaten the other lady's left overs! Im glad she did though because her flank steak was great and was a healthy size portion! I ordered the Ropa Vieja (I know again, but no thanks to Cubana Social, my craving was not satisfied!). The Ropa Vieja here was amazing, the flavor, the meat, the sauce, everything was so tasty and so good! MMMMMMMMMMM thinking about it typing this I want more! I highly suggest you try it here!
That was night one, on to day two! Day two we shopped at the Tanger outlets a bit, then headed over to the Landshark Bar and Grill, which is on the boardwalk, a little ways walk from the Taj Mahal. Am I glad we came here! We wanted to stop and have a drink and sit outside on the beach! We sat down with no intentions on getting food, and shockingly we did not order any. This is because we knew we would be heading back to Il Mulino for another amazing dinner. Ariana ordered a Banana Strawberry Mango frozen daiquiri and i ordered a Mixed Berry frozen daiquiri. Both of these drinks hit the spot. It was a warm day out so we sat outside had our drinks and just talked and laughed with my cousins. Heck we could not win gambling, might as well enjoy drinking! Landshark is really nice, they even have a section on the beach closed off with umbrellas and chairs and a bar, so next time, yes NEXT TIME since Ariana and I promised we would go back, we are sitting on the beach!
Finally, night time in Atlantic City, Ariana and I headed to dinner at our favorite place, Il Mulino in the Taj Mahal. We had to come back, and see when we say we have to come back, we do! Il Mulino was just as perfect this time as it was the first time. Ariana and I ordered different things this time so Ill tell ya about those! Firstly and most imporatnly we decided on wine with dinner, a nice bottle of Barbera D'alba, which was incredibly delicious and had a nice little hint of spice! Of course we finished the whole bottle. We started with an order of tomatoes and mozzarella, something light since again we were filling up on the complimentary appetizers! I ordered the spaghetti in a white clam sauce, and polished my dish clean! Ariana got cappellini (really really thin spaghetti) in a vodka sauce with peas, pancetta, and wild mushrooms. They must have given her like a pound of pasta because she could not finish her dish. Both dishes were great! Ariana had told Il Mulino it was my birthday (technically it was the upcoming Friday) and they brought out three slices of a rich chocolate cake for us and they sang to me! Thanks guys! Also our waiter from our first trip came over and sang, and he remembered us from last time and thanked us for coming again! You can never go wrong at Il Mulino, so take this as another attempt to get you to go there!
Ariana and I love going to Atlantic City, and going with other people only makes it better! Grab some friends or family, and head over even if you do not like to gamble! Ariana and I are already trying to figure out when we can return, and this time may be with her family! If you make your way down there, don't forget the places we mentioned and I promise you won't be disappointed! Atlantic City see you soon!!
Her Take: Nicky and I love to get away sometimes, and our spot of choice is always Atlantic City. We love going there because 1. gambling 2. beach 3. amazing food 4. gambling 5. It's ALWAYS A FUN TIME!!
This time we went for Nicky's birthday with a few of his cousins and of course we stayed at the Taj Mahal; we always, always stay at the Taj! We went for 3 days, 2 nights and we had an incredible time. The Tuesday that we got there we walked in and saw that the Taj was packed because some dance competition was being held there. We checked in went to the room and got settled in. We relaxed a bit and then went back down to play some slots and roulette. Nicky LOVES roulette and I love watching him play, it's exciting. We played for maybe an hour or so and then went out to the boardwalk because the sun was finally coming out! We walked and walked and laughed and took some sun. We stopped to get soft serve ice cream because I wanted some for lunch and Nicky got a Philly Cheese steak. we walked some more and I almost had a heart attack because there were too many seagulls. It was fun, the boardwalk is really nice because there's a lot to do! They have an arcade, there's a mall, there's little shops and everything and you walk for miles and it doesn't feel so far because its so nice out! We stopped into a candy shop that has an old school vibe to it and bought Nicky's mom some Salt Water Taffy! We walked some more and finally went back inside to gamble a little bit more and have a drink and just hang out. We were thinking about what to do for dinner and what time we should all be ready. The Taj Mahal has sooo many good restaurants and among them there is this great Chinese restaurant called Dynasty that we went to for my birthday last year, but now they only open on weekends and we were there Tuesday-Thursday!! New plan.. I suggested PF Changs or Cuba Libre, which are both in the Tropicana. So we said, lets just take a ride to the Tropicana and see what catches our eye! By the time we all showered and got ready, around 7:30 we made our way to the Trop by taxi because now it was raining! Inside, PF Changs and Cuba Libre are right next to eachother, we looked at the menu for Cuba Libre and decided that everything sounded delicious and we went right in! It wasn't too busy in there but there were a few tables and more people at the bar. I had been to Cuba Libre a couple of times before with my family and I'm going to be honest, the first time I liked it a lot but the second time it was just ok, luckily this time was AMAZING. The decor in there is really cute, the lighting is dim and it feels like you're in a cozy house. Our waiter came right away and explained the menu to us. They all said it wasn't necessary because they've got me to explain ;) haha!
We started off with drinks, we all got caipirinhas! I got the guava one, which was delicious, not too sweet but just right and just the perfect amount of liquor. Nicky got the wildberry caiphirinha which was also really yummy!! For appetizers, I wanted literally the entire menu, but we settled on a couple of Cheese empanadas and Chicken with sweet corn empanadas which were good and the guacamole with plantain chips that I really really wanted because I had been craving guacamole, and I basically finished it all myself. They also brought us cuban bread with mango butter. YUM i want some right now, the bread was a toasty and a bit sweet and the butter was perfect!
For entree I ordered the Vaca Frita which is crisped-shredded flank steak, roasted onions and citrus-garlic sauce that comes with white rice and cuban black beans! It was so flavorful and delicious; the citrus gave it all such a great pop and everything together along with the rice and beans, was incredible!!! Nicky ordered the Ropa Vieja, which is a Cuban classic: shredded beef brisket, stewed with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and red wine with maduros and steamed white rice. I was torn between the two but decided on the Vaca Frita and I'm so glad I did! Nicky really really really wanted the Ropa Vieja and he loved it!! I tried it as well and it was so yummy!!
We were all left so completely satisfied and content with our meal! We were all happy that we decided to go to Cuba Libre that night! After an amazing dinner, we went into the Trop's casino and of course played a bit, but we were having absolutely no luck that day and lost so we said "let's just go back to the Taj." We continued gambling there and we were STILL unlucky!! What the heck! At least we get free drinks on the casino floor, so we drank a couple and ended up going to bed early that night!
Wednesday: We wanted to go to the beach but when we woke up and drew the curtains we saw that it was cloudy and blah outside. :( We decided to go to the outlets this time so Nicky could pick out his Raybans that he wanted and I could give them to him as a birthday gift!:)) (yes, i hadn't bought him a gift woops)
We got there and went our separate ways, we walked into the Sunglass Gallery so we could check out what they had and Nicky tried a few styles on, we liked the black aviators the best but we told the guy we'd be back incase we found another store with more variety. We walked and went into J.Crew, Nicky's favorite store, and he bought a nice pair of dark mustard yellow shorts! Yay! we strolled around and walked into various stores and finally went back to the sunglass store, Nicky said he definitely wanted the black aviators! There was his gift! He was so happy and he wore them right away!! He looks so handsome in them :) We walked back from the outlets and stopped to get a $3.50 hot dog each!! (and we thought NYC hotdogs were expensive) Then we got on the boardwalk and walked back. Now it was beautiful out, the sun was shining and it was hot! So we said when we get back to the hotel, we'd change and go to the beach! But something slowed us down, that something was Landshark! Landshark is a bar/grill, part of Margaritaville, that's on the beach and you can either sit inside or outside and they have a small section of the beach for themselves. We had been wanting to try it so we walked right in and asked if we could sit outside and have a drink! They were all very nice and accommodated us. We order a frozen drink each, Nicky ordered a mixed berry daiquiri and i order a mango/banana/strawberry one! They were amazing. Like honestly so good I could have had 4902 of them, but we only had one so we could run and change to walk on the beach. Nicky put on his new shorts that i gave him and I put on a sundress and we walked the beach for a while. It was romantic and fun, we always have a lot of fun together. The water was FREEZING so we dipped our toes in for a second and then we walked and stopped and took pictures. Time went by too fast and we realized that we had to get back to get ready for our dinner tonight. I had made reservations at Il Mulino for Nicky's birthday because we loved it so much when we went for our anniversary (see Il Mulino post)!!! Dinner this time was just us two. We had reservations for 7:30 but we went a bit earlier because we were ready and hungry! They sat us right away at a beautiful table against the wall. I won't get into all the details again because you can just look at our past blog, but this time it was great because I my nose wasn't stuffy and I could taste!! We had a caprese salad, a bottle of beautiful red wine Barbera D'alba, Nicky the Spaghettini alle Vongole and I the Capellini Il Mulino. For dessert I told them it was Nicky's birthday and we ordered the chocolate cake which was sooo rich!! And once again they offered us Limoncello on the house. Everything was absolutely wonderful!!! Just like our entire AC trip :)
After dinner, we wanted to get drunk tonight and gamble!! So we went to the casino and of course started playing and ordering drinks! I've got to admit we got pretty drunk and feeling good!! Although we did not win, :(, we had an amazing, amazing, incredible, wonderful, marvelous, exciting, much needed time!!
I cannot wait to go back already!! Writing this post made me miss it and realize how much fun we really did have together! We always have a great time! But, next time Taj, AC, LET US WIN SOME MONEY!!!
Boardwalk
left: mixedberry right: guava caipirinhas
cheese empanada
chicken and sweetcorn empanada
guacamole
Ropa Vieja
Vaca Frita (didn't use flash woops)
Ariana eating everything
Nicky with his new sunglasses
Landshark Frozen Concoctions
Il Mulino
Happy Birthday Nicky!
Chocolate Cake
<3 :)
On our way home.. (duffel bags NOT full of money)
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