Suncoast Opens Stellar William B’s Steakhouse, Plus More Scoop

By Scott Roeben, on January 12 2024
5 min read 4 comments
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Suncoast may not be a regular spot for Las Vegas visitors, but locals like it, and the casino is making some moves.

Suncoast is about 10 minutes west of the Las Vegas Strip and is owned by Boyd Gaming, the company that also runs Aliante, Orleans, Gold Coast, Sam’s Town, The Cal, Main Street and others.

Boyd has big hopes for Suncoast, and is investing in the casino with the not-so-secret goal of stealing customers from another locals-focused company, Station Casinos. Here’s a look at the new William B’s Steakhouse, along with some other Suncoast scoop.

William B’s speaks our love language: Carbs.

The “William B” in William B’s is William “Bill” Boyd, one of the co-founders of Boyd Gaming.

Naturally, we were the first to share Suncoast’s SC Prime would close, back in Oct. 2023. “SC” stood for “Suncoast,” which we are retroactively annoyed by, like whenever somebody uses “DTLV” for “Downtown Las Vegas.”

William B’s Steakhouse is much more visible than SC Prime, and doesn’t feel like a locals casino restaurant, all due respect. William B’s is in the former Salvatore’s Italian Restaurant space.

Next to the oyster place. Not coincidentally, oyster bars do very well for Station Casinos.

Normally, we’d be miffed that anything has taken the place of an Italian restaurant, but William B’s is outstanding, so bygones.

Even when they’re busy, you can hold a conversation without screaming. Huge selling point. The General Manager uses an iPad to control the volume in real time. We love that guy.

There’s a bar that spans the width of the restaurant, serving the full menu, perfect for solo dining.

The newest watering hole at Suncoast. Top tip: Don’t order water, weirdo. It just dilutes the liquor.

We haven’t been to William B’s for the full shebang yet, but the items we tasted on the lounge menu were fantastic.

Everything was really good, and we are a smidge picky.

We also had these sliders, the “Mini Filet Sandwiches.” The cheese was not, in fact, blue. Otherwise, these were delicious.

The truffle fries were also fleek, or possibly bomb.

The prices sit somewhere between a typical locals casino steakhouse and a Strip steakhouse. The closest comparison is T-Bones Chophouse at Red Rock.

The steakhouse at Suncoast blows T-Bones away. T-Bones has lots of fans, we just aren’t one of them, as we are not into “mid.” “Mid” is how the kids say “meh,” btw. And “btw” is the way the kids say “by the way,” btw. Please keep up or we will be forced to call you a “peep” or “fam,” and nobody wants that.

Here’s the Billy B’s menu. No, we would not call Bill Boyd “Billy” to his face.

Yes, the menu is on the Suncoast Web site, but we’d sort of like you to think we’re providing exclusive information, so just play along.

Here’s the other half of the William B’s menu, which you can’t find anywhere else, especially on the Suncoast Web site.

We went back to William B’s for a media event, sampled quite a few menu items and all were top notch. Bonus: Tremendous banana cream pie, and we tend to be in the cake camp, not the pie camp.

The bartenders are awesome, and make some drinks with flair involving smoke. Others involve bubbles and smoke, made with a machine from England that costs $600.


We’d go on and on about William B’s, but you can try it yourself. We’d love to know what you think, as long as you agree with us.

Oh, the bread is awesome as well.

Requested a diving board, they said “no.” Lawyers ruin everything.

Anyway, William B’s is just one of the recent upgrades at Suncoast. The casino also got a new high limit slot room.

Bet big, win big. This philosophy works every single time it works.

Here’s a quick walkthrough. Yes, it’s in the former buffet space. Stop crying, you big baby. Buffets are a money pit for casinos.


Now, the scoop.

Suncoast is permanently closing its showroom. Plans are to build a shiny new sportsbook in the space, we’re told.

The entertainment landscape in Las Vegas is changing dramatically. If we had entertainment journalism, you’d be hearing more about it.

The existing sportsbook at Suncoast will shutter and will become home to the casino’s bingo room.

None of this has been officially announced. That’s what makes it scoop.

Sportsbooks are an amenity for guests, like spas and buffets and poker rooms. Everybody has to have one, though. It’s the law.

Big thanks to our friend Sam Novak for the tip about the showroom going away. Novak got to witness us worming our way into the brains of Boyd executives to extract their top secret plans. We’d tell you how we do it, but then you’d start your own blog and we’d be put out to pasture. We are not a pasture person.

Locals casinos are very much about proximity, so it’s possible you’ll never venture this far west. If you do, William B’s is well worth checking out. Suncoast isn’t flashy, but it’s certainly getting some flashier elements as Boyd sees Station Casinos upping the locals game with the newly-opened Durango Casino, just 10 minutes away.

Bill Boyd’s portrait stands watch over his namesake restaurant. Boyd stepped down from his post on the company’s board in May 2023. He’s 92 and owns about 17% of Boyd Gaming. His net worth is said to be in the $700 million range, or about what Circa owner Derek Stevens made from auto widget manufacturing back in Detroit. We’ve never heard anybody say anything negative about Bill Boyd, which is weird in the casino business.

Station Casinos takes big financial risks (see Palms before it tanked and was sold to the San Manuel tribe), Boyd doesn’t. Station leads, Boyd follows. It’s a cultural thing. Boyd was burned when it demolished Stardust for its abandoned Echelon project. Now, it’s all about slow and steady wins the race. It’s the reason Boyd’s Fremont casino doesn’t have an outdoor bar, the only casino under the Fremont Street Experience canopy without one. The fear is it will tempt gamblers into walking away from their slot machines. Old-school thinking, as these outdoor bars are massive revenue generators for downtown casinos.

If you’re a Las Vegas history fan, and visiting Suncoast, wander into 90 Ninety Bar & Grill and you’ll see restored Googie stars from the Stardust on display. They’re magical. Boyd executives say they have more Stardust Googie stars in storage, so you may see them cropping up in other venues.

If William B’s is any indication of improvements to come at Suncoast, we’ll be visiting much more frequently.