GOLDEN GATE 99-CENT SHRIMP INCREASES FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1959

First the news about Tropicana, now the sad news that the 99-cent shrimp cocktail is a goner.

For almost 50 years, Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas had been holding steady its delicious shrimp cocktail at a cost of only 99 cents. We always enjoyed picking up two whenever visiting, both of which were cheaper than the higher priced jumbo shrimp cocktail (pictured above).

Not anymore. Our beloved shrimp cocktail is now $1.99.

We can’t say we weren’t warned. The first sign of a price increase came in reduced hours for the deli that’s served over 30 million of the things. The next sign was part of the casino being purchased by the family who owns part of the Riviera and the Las Vegas 51s. And the last sign was no one playing the classy piano the past half-dozen times we’ve been there.

But we thought Golden Gate would keep the budgeted shrimp as a loss leader. It’s a casino, after all, and enticing players with cheap shrimp gets ’em in the doors, then forces ’em to walk through the casino before reaching the deli.

Even us. We found ourselves playing a few hands of $5 blackjack after our bellies were stuffed with shrimp. Those “few” hands often resulted in ramping up our shrimp cost average to $100.

Fear not, there’s still a bright side. If you flash your Golden Gate player’s card, you’ll save a buck and get the shrimp cocktail at the original 1959 price of $.99.

But heck. The shrimp is so delicious that it’s a bargain even at twice that.