Which do you want first: the good news or the bad news? Let’s keep it positive and go with the good news first. The good news is that Mal and I had a blast at Mohegan Sun. The bad news is that I am sooooo hungover today! I guess I had a little too much fun last night.

The folks at Mohegan Sun invited Mal and me to spend a night at the hotel and enjoy dinner at BALLO, so Mal and I drove down to the casino yesterday afternoon. As soon as we arrived, we checked into our hotel room for the evening.

The room included a really comfortable king bed. Typically, hotel beds are all the same to me (unless they’re really uncomfortable), but this one was especially comfy. The mattress was the perfect combination of soft + firm and the bedding (the sheets, in particular) were incredibly soft. Thanks to the booze, I slept great last night!

There was also a nice big TV, a desk, and a seating area.

The bathroom was fancy and modern and offered some fun toiletries. (I’m such a sucker for hotel toiletries!)

Once Mal and I got settled, we headed down to the casino for Happy Hour. First stop: SolToro! The last time Mal and I visited Mohegan, we went to SolToro and liked it a lot, so we went back again.

SolToro is a “tequila grill” that offers an impressive tequila list of 80+ varieties. Neither of us are big tequila drinkers, so I’m not sure what attracted Mal and me to SolToro in the first place, but we love the atmosphere of the bar. It’s open, airy, and not too crowded, so it has a chill, laid-back vibe to it. The bartenders are also really friendly and always willing to make a recommendation, which was especially helpful for people like us, who don’t know much about tequila.

I ordered a spicy Tequila Bloody Mary (aka Bloody Maria), which tasted delicious and made me sweat because of its spiciness— just the way I like ‘em!

I also shared some chips and salsa with Mal. A huge bucket of chips + salsa was just $2! What a deal!

Mal and I spent about an hour at SolToro before heading out to explore the casino. We did a little gambling (Black Jack) and lots of window shopping.

We also checked out the massive 24-foot life-size gingerbread house on display.

Rumor has it that it includes more than 6,500 gingerbread bricks made by the pastry team at Mohegan. Isn’t that nuts?!

Inside the gingerbread house was a bunch of tiny rooms, which were decorated for the holidays. It was really cute.

We had about 2 hours to kill before our dinner reservation, so Mal and I headed up to our room, changed into nicer clothes, and then stopped by Bar Americain for a cocktail.

The bar at Bar Americain is absolutely gorgeous and, from what I remembered from my first experience there, the cocktails were really great— they were this time, too!

I ordered a dirty vodka martini with olives. I loved it.

Part II coming next!

After learning all about the in’s and out’s of Mohegan’s dining services, Mal and I quickly stopped by our hotel room to freshen-up and change our clothes for dinner. We had about an hour to kill before our reservation, so we stopped at SolToro Tequila Grill for a pre-dinner cocktail.

SolToro is a contemporary Mexican restaurant/bar serving classic Mexican cuisine with a modern twist. SolToro has an impressive tequila list that features 80+ varieties as well as fresh margaritas and signature tequila cocktails.

I pursued the drink menu at SolToro for a good 10 minutes without making decision. Luckily, our bartender, Kenny, was more than willing to make a few recommendations. After listening to my taste preferences, he suggested a cocktail made with sangrita and Don Julio Blanco tequila. I had never tried sangrita (let alone heard of it), so Kenny gave me a sample to taste before I committed to the cocktail.

Sangrita is a tomato juice based drink that is often used as a cocktail mixer or drunk alongside tequila as a chaser. Not to be confused with “sangria,” a fruit and wine concoction, this beverage is a tangy mixture of tomato and orange juices, usually spiked with hot chiles and lime juice. Sangrita is considered the perfect accompaniment to good quality tequila, like an aged añejo or a good reposado. There are many recipes for sangrita, but most contain tomato juice, lime juice, pureed onion, salt, and chili sauce. (Text from Wikipedia.)

I was very, very happy with my drink decision! The sangrita had a wonderful fiery kick to it. My mouth was en fuego! I love that! I will definitely be ordering this drink in the future!

My handsome husband thought the sangrita was tasty, but it was too spicy for his liking. He stuck to Mexican beer.

The Longhouse Steaks & Seafood

In addition to hooking me up with a hotel room for the night, the nice PR people at Mohegan also treated Mal and me to a complimentary dinner at The Longhouse Steaks & Seafood restaurant. The Longhouse is a traditional steakhouse that offers a variety of beef, seafood, and poultry dishes.

The decor inside the restaurant was rustic with its natural-looking wood furniture and deer antlers lining the room. The colors and lighting were somewhat modern, but I got the impression that the restaurant hadn’t been updated in many years. The fabric on some of the booths and chairs were faded and worn, and the employees uniforms were a tad out of style.

Our dining experience started with a basket of dinner rolls. I was famished, so I immediately helped myself to one. I ate about 2/3 of the roll with a little smear of butter.

Mal selected a bottle of wine for our meal. Being the wonderful husband that he is, Mal picked one of my favorite Chardonnays: Robert Mondavi Private Selection.

I love how wine buckets make a bottle that much fancier!

The wine glasses at the Longhouse were enormous! Holy moly! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a wine glass so large!

On our tour with Chef Lynn, Mal and I were introduced to the head chef at The Longhouse, so when we arrived for dinner, he treated us to a couple of appetizers: Short Rib Dumplings and Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes.

The Short Rib Dumplings were pan-seared with cheddar cheese, fried green tomatoes, spicy bacon, and green onion crème frâiche. The dumplings were a bit on the greasy side, but, overall, excellent– tender, flavorful, and interesting. The green onion crème frâiche was especially nice. I ended up dipping my bread into it, too.

The Crab Cakes were made with a citrus aioli and topped with crisp taro root. They were just so-so in my book. The consistency was typical of crab cakes, but the flavor was off. It seemed like there was too much aioli mixed into the cake. Each bite seemed to have a strong mayonnaise taste to it. I just wasn’t a fan of these crab cakes. 

I started with a dumpling and a crab cake, but I ended up eating less than half of the crab cake and eating a second dumpling instead.

Even though we had already shared two appetizers, Mal desperately wanted to try the Grilled Brie & Escargot. He’s a Frenchman; he loves escargot.

Typically, I like escargot quite a lot, but this particular dish looked and tasted burnt. The food was just too charred for me.

Mal enjoyed the escargot a lot. He said they were perfectly tender and flavorful, and he ate every last one. However, Mal was disappointed about the quality of the brie, which he described as “bland and plastic-y.”

After taking a sneak-peak at the dessert menu, I knew that I needed to save room for the Best Darn Carrot Cake Ever. I filled up on bread and appetizers, so I decided to forgo a traditional entree and order carrot cake for my main course.

I was shocked when a LOAF of carrot cake was served to me! This portion could have easily served 4+ people! Mal and I both made a valiant effort, but by the end of the meal, we barely made a dent in it!

The carrot cake was decent, but not the “best darn ever” I have eaten. I loved that it had big chunks of carrot, pineapple, and coconut throughout, but the cake itself was much to dense for my liking. I prefer a more “classic” carrot cake– light and soft, reasonably-sized. I enjoyed the cream cheese frosting, but it was pretty average compared to the others I have tried over the years.

After dinner, Mal and I hit the Black Jack tables for some gambling. We played for a few hours before we decided that we should quit while we were ahead. Mal had luck on his side and ended up leaving with a good amount of money. I, however, made a $20 profit. But, at least, I didn’t go home in the hole, right?