Cheers:

For the serious, discreet gambler. No hookers, no unshaven mafiosi, no seedy chelnoki; this place is actually respectable, the clientele consisting mostly of biznesmeni.

Jeers:

Don't come here looking for sex; security dressed like Giulianni cops means you have to check in your fun - and your gun - at the door.

Cover:

Free

M:

YugoZapadnay

Phone:

430-4393

Address:

Michurinsky Prospekt 4/1

Hours:

Daily 13.00-8.00

Cheers:

Split floors, running stream with fish (no golden fish) swimming past the card tables, awesome New Russian interior, with the most comfortable seats upstairs. Got rid of the Vietnamese restaurant, so it's shed a bit of the Deer Hunter feel. Also, great selection of $500 a pop whores (though they can be talked down).

Jeers:

Nervous Russian security with their shotguns pointing at your face. Have to pay the barman for the whores.

Cover:

8.00 - 20.00: 60,000 rubles, 20.00 - 08.00: 250,000. Free for ladies.

M:

Belorusskaya

Phone:

Phone: 212-3909/-41

Address:

3rd Yamskogo Polya, 15

Hours:

24 hours

Cheers:

Discreet upstairs casino good place to take a date or client, or just to blow your hard-stolen cash. Feed on fresh fruit, chat up the croupiers. Offers $5 tables for cheap-O expat gambling addicts. They're working on new promotions and theme nights to rev the place up again and return it to its former glory.

Jeers:

Downstairs bar and mini-dance hall still as dead as the film star.

Cover:

Free.

M:

Mayakovskaya

Phone:

254-4706

Address:

Ul Krasina 14/7