Suncoast Opens New Food Court Featuring Huey Magoo’s and Steak ‘n Shake

Suncoast has unveiled its petite but handy Quick Bites food court with two initial concepts, Huey Magoo’s and Steak ‘n Shake.

We know it should be “Steak ‘n’ Shake,” but we are not in charge of everything yet. We can only fight so many fights.

The food court is one of the few remaining elements of Suncoast’s three-year phased renovation, and guests (largely gambling-focused locals) will be thrilled to have a quick, cheap way to get back to their machines and table games as quickly (and cheaply) as possible.

Rick Goldstein, Sr. Vice President of Operations and G.M. of Suncoast, performs the mohel duties at the perfunctory Suncoast food court ribbon-cutting ceremony.

We are a Suncoast regular and enjoy the restaurant offerings there, including Du-Par’s and the underrated William B’s Steakhouse.

However, we don’t always have time for all that.

The casino’s forgettable Subway and Bagel Corner Deli & Bakery have been MIA for some time now, so there’s been a definite need for some fast-food options. Sometimes, we’d have to resort to getting an $8 hot dog at the movie theater. Hey, when Double Double Bonus calls, we are all business.

Suncoast (owned by Boyd Gaming) has brought in two reliable partner brands for its food court. Huey Magoo’s and Steak ‘n Shake are also in Fremont’s food court. Note: These are licensing deals; Boyd’s food and beverage team operates the venues.

It’s not spectacular, but they spent more than they needed to, so that’s something.

Inexplicably, the Steak ‘n Shake at Fremont Casino always has a line.

Huey Magoo’s success, however, is explicable. It’s delicious.

The Huey Magoo’s name is a combination of the founders’ nicknames. Co-founder Matt Armstrong was called “Huey” by his aunt, co-founder Thad Hudgens and a friend were called “Magoos” by Hudgens’ father.

It’s mostly chicken tenders, and they’re among the top tenders in Las Vegas. The Texas toast, not so much, but the fries are excellent.

We got up at the ungodly early hour of 11:00 a.m. to attend this media thing, so we’re damned well going to share some food porn.

Here’s the tenders part of the menu, but they also have sandwiches, wraps and salads.

Weirdos get their tenders sauced, normal people dip their own.

Suncoast’s new food court is starting off modestly, but there’s room for more concepts if demand is there. Our prediction is tacos and pizza. Give it a minute.

Here’s a panoramic shot if you’re into that kind of thing.

The new food court sits where the casino’s buffet used to be, next to the casino’s fancy new high-limit slots room and shiny new cage.

We miss that buffet. Las Vegas buffets, as we’ve discussed often, died during the pandemic. COVID provided the cover casinos needed to dump these loss leaders.

Burgers. Fries. Shakes. You know the drill.

Here’s a portion of the Steak ‘n Shake menu.

Good luck figuring out which part of a cow is the tallow.

Suncoast is in the home stretch of its multiyear renovation, and if you haven’t visited in a while, you may need to hold onto something.

Boyd saw the writing on the wall and has invested heavily in updating this 26-year-old resort in Summerlin, about 20 minutes west of the Las Vegas Strip.

The last remaining upgrade is one of the most anticipated. It’s the casino’s center bar. Here’s an unauthorized construction update. (By “unauthorized,” we mean we wouldn’t have known curtains were up around the center bar if Boyd executives hadn’t mentioned it to us. Boyd is finally starting to see the value of social media buzz, and we couldn’t be happier.)

This new bar is going to be Boyd’s pride and joy, and deservedly so.

If you plan to swing by Suncoast to check out the renovation, make sure to visit the bingo room and sportsbook. They also got a shiny new digital marquee. It’s not particularly impressive by Strip standards, but you can’t compare a locals casino to The Strip. On The Strip, people gamble with disposable income. At locals casinos, they gamble with their rent money and Social Security payments. Different vibe.

Some of Suncoast’s additions are what we refer to as “aspirational,” where they’re building offerings for a customer who may not exactly be there yet. But Boyd has transformed Suncoast dramatically, putting it in the same group of locals casinos as Red Rock and Durango, along with keeping pace with its closest neighbor, The Resort at Summerlin, despite some recent additions.

We’ll keep an eye on the center bar construction and keep you in the loop about all the things you didn’t know you wanted to know about Suncoast.