Casino Reviews


Agua Caliente Resort Casino

April 21st, 2015 ernie Posted in Palm Springs 1 Comment »

Agua Caliente Resort CasinoThe Agua Caliente Resort Casino is located at the corner of Ramon Road and Bob Hope drive. I10 also intersects at this point as well with Bob Hope drive. This provides easy access to the casino and of course Ramon road. Most consider it to be part of Palm Springs although it is actually in Rancho Mirage. The Spa in down town Palm Springs is also part of this casino group and patrons can use the same slot card at both locations.  This is the better of the two casinos in terms of size, convention space, entertainment space and also a first class hotel attached to the property. There is ample parking as well with both surface as well as above ground parking garage for many customers.

Agua Caliente Resort Casino – Restaurants

They also have several restaurants to dine in from the standard coffee shop to high end steak restaurants. They also have a buffet which is very good and priced about average for any buffet that you might go to.  We enjoy a restaurant that leads to the pool. You can dine inside or out on the patio. We particularly enjoy sitting on the patio and having our lunch while gazing at the pool and the tropical setting that is before us. If you want a nice relaxing lunch while sitting outside, this is the place to go. It is also shaded and very comfortable.

The casino itself is quite large and has all of the standard casinos slot machines and tables. There are over 2000 machines to choose from with lots of space. They do allow smoking in the casino and there is a small non smoking section as well for those people who are looking for non smoking areas. The Agua Caliente Resort Casino also sponsors a variety of entertainment from time to time. If you are interested in seeing one of these concerts check the main casino web site.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Spa Resort Casino Palm Springs

April 7th, 2015 ernie Posted in Palm Springs No Comments »

Spa Resort Casino Palm SpringsThe Spa Resort Casino Palm Springs is located in downtown Palm Springs, two blocks from the main street which is Palm Canyon Road.  The Spa Resort Casino up until last year also had a hotel on the property that patrons could stay at. Apparently the owners felt that it was getting quite dated and needed to be torn down. It closed in late 2014 and is in the process of being gutted. The owners have yet to announce what will be built in its place. It is owned by the local Indian group. They are as usual quite secretive about their plans for properties in and around Palm Springs.

Spa Resort Casino Palm Springs

As a casino, the Spa Resort Casino Palm Springs is an excellent yet small casino. Patrons in the Palm Springs area can enjoy. Many people who live downtown or within several blocks of the casino can easily walk to the casino. They can enjoy an evening out for a few drinks, dinner and gambling. It is a modern building built-in desert tones. They have lots of the popular slot machines that most patrons like. They also have a number of table games that will appeal to the black jack, roulette and craps players.

There are lots of free surface parking and many people also take advantage of the valet parking available at the entrance. We have also seen movie shoots for advertisements as well as movies set up at the entrance and the parking lots. These are very interesting to watch. It is amazing given the attention to detail and the number of people who are involved. We have not had a chance to be in the background of one of these movies yet, but are looking forward to it. You never know which stars you will see in one of these.

Visit the Spa Resort Casino Palm Springs and also spend some time in downtown Palm Springs. There are many restaurants that you can enjoy and many also provide happy hours with reduced drink and food prices.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Agua Caliente Casino

June 7th, 2014 ernie Posted in Palm Springs No Comments »

Agua Caliente CasinoThe Agua Caliente Casino is a great place to spend a few hours. Patrons can even stay over night. There is something for everyone including several very nice restaurants. There is a beautiful pool area. Shows with many big-name stars and of course the casino. There is a very nice hotel situated on the property. It is attached to the casino and the pool.  There is lots of surface parking right off the road. There is a parking garage as well which takes overflow cars or if you just want to get your car out of the hot sun.

Getting to the Agua Caliente Casino

The location of the Agua Caliente Casino could not be easier to get to. If you are coming from Palm springs just go straight out Ramon street towards I10 until you see the casino. Visitors from other desert cities can take either Bob Hope drive or I10 to get to the casino. If you are coming from Banning or other points west, take I10 and take the Bob Hope exit.

The Agua Caliente Casino

The casino itself is large and well laid out. Second-hand smoke, which is a big issue for many casinos is not too bad due to the high ceilings and good air circulation. Customers smoke cigars in the casino. But they have not gone this route yet. There are lots of machines to try. They have all of the popular machines that everyone is looking for these days.

They have four restaurants. There is a buffet restaurant, a deli where you can get something quick, a coffee shop, a small restaurant with outdoor dining if you prefer and a steakhouse. All are very clean and very acceptable as restaurants. The coffee shop is pricey.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Spa Casino Palm Springs

May 21st, 2014 ernie Posted in Palm Springs No Comments »

Spa Casino Palm SpringsThe Spa Casino Palm Springs is located within two blocks of downtown Palm Springs on Amado road. There is ample parking for both valets and for people who wish to park their own cars. It is all surface parking. There is also a hotel located next door and there are many smaller hotels and motels in the immediate area along with condos for rent within walking distance. The Spa Casino Palm Springs is not really a  great spot to go for dinner, it is mainly for gambling at both tables and slots. They also run outdoor concerts once a month in one of the parking lots.

They charge $30 to get in and they block off anyone from the street from seeing the performance, although you can hear the music. It does not really build loyalty and many tourists refuse to spend their money in the casino as a result. They just are not building brand loyalty with this approach.

Spa Casino Palm Springs Sister Casino

The same slot card can be used at the Agua Caliente casino located on Bob Hope Drive and Ramon Road at I10. This hotel and casino require a car to get to and patrons can rack up points on their slot card regardless of which casino they frequent. We happen to like the Spa Casino Palm Springs because it is so convenient to get to. Patrons can go for dinner at one of the many restaurants in downtown Palm Springs and then head over to the casino for a drink after dinner and also a little gambling.

The smell of smoke can be pretty heavy at times. They recently opened a nonsmoking area. However, it is actually pretty small. They have a deli where you can order basic meals such as hamburgers and hot dogs, salads. Customers can also order breakfast. They also have a buffet, however, it does not seem to have a good reputation for the food and also for the service. Recently a group of people went for breakfast. They were charged 18% gratuity because they were part of a large group. The service was much less than normal.

The only service they received was their coffee was brought to them, so we are unclear why there should be a tip at all for this poor level of service let alone 18%. We think that this is pretty cheap on the part of the casino and will not be spending any money at their restaurants as a result. There are much better places to go to where you get better food and much more service.

Comp’s Not as Lucrative as Las Vegas

Since they have limited competition, the comps are not as good as locations where there is a lot more competition.  They still have some comps for food, free play, etc, but you can do much better at other casinos. Of course you must travel much further to get to them. It really comes down to how you want to spend your money.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Tortoise Rock Casino 29 Palms

May 7th, 2014 ernie Posted in Palm Springs No Comments »

tortoise rock casino 29 PalmsThe Tortoise Rock casino 29 Palms just opened for business in April 2014. We decided to visit it and see if it measured up to the advertising they were doing on TV.  We are staying in Palm Springs. Going to the Tortoise Rock Casino 29 Palms takes about an hour to drive there. We left temperatures in Palm Springs at 80 degrees and found the temps much lower in the high desert, down around 60 degrees. This is just something you need to get used to when you head into the high desert around 29 Palms.

General comments about Tortoise Rock Casino 29 Palms

They have a really nice bar area at this casino that is bright and lots of room to sit and enjoy a drink. You can also play the slots at the bar as well.

One problem or at least a surprise was that the slot machines at the Tortoise Rock Casino 29 Palms are all old machines. We could see where they were marked and worn due to lot’s of previous use. They were not paying very well on the day we were there. We did not hit any jackpot and we did not see anyone else hitting any jackpot’s.

Patrons and have free non alcoholic drinks from two stations in the casino including coffee. You can also have an attendant bring you your drinks as well.

The ceilings are high giving a nice airy feeling to the casino and also there was lot’s of air movement which also helped deal with anyone that was smoking. Some casinos are really bad for not dealing with smokers and their smoke, but this one was quite good.

The View is Great

There is a great view from the front of the casino looking out over the valley and although the landscaping is not completed yet, we are sure it will look great in another few months.

This is a relatively small casino, however it has everything that you might look for. On busy evenings it may be difficult to obtain your favorite machine. They also have a small deli which was unremarkable.

Believe it or not but beer costs more than a glass of wine. A glass of wine costs $3.50 while a draft beer costs $4.00. Usually it is the other way around.

The Tortoise rock Casino 29 Palms is a local casino which will be attractive to locals in the high desert. We do not think it is worth the drive from Coachella valley to visit this casino.

For more posts about the casinos in the Palm Springs area, click here.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


?>


Web Content Development