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If you are a Borgata black label and are thinking of trying this place out, you should read this review first. I am well travelled and have gambled extensively in AC, Vegas, CA, AZ, Canada, Monte Carlo, Caribbean, on cruises, etc., so I honestly do know what I am talking about. I went there knowing the casino was small, charged admission, has no adjacent competition, etc., because I read the other review here and was going with my eyes opened......I was still amazed at the extremely poor service in the hotel and almost nil payouts out the casino. I booked online, bought a membership, made dinner reservation, etc. First of all, upon arriving in the parking lot there was no signage to direct you to proper entrance....like Borgata/Water Club, there are two hotels separated by the casino..the Radisson and the Casino Tower. We went in the wrong one and ended up walking with luggage to the other side. Because the casino charges admission, you cannot walk directly through the casino floor to the other hotel. Instead, you walk through a maze of hotel meeting rooms and old hallways. When we got to the other side, the registration clerk asked me if I used the free valet service....now why couldn't the other clerk tell me that so we could have driven over!? We get our room keys and head up only to find out they had issued us keys to a room which had not yet been cleaned...the room looked more like a crime scene than a dirty hotel room...besides normal party room mess, there was a razor laying on the floor and fresh blood stains on the rug. I took pictures, which I will post if hotel management does not respond to my complaints. Now, the room itself would have been nice....it was spacious, two queen beds, computer/work type desk, and a small "living" area with comfy chair and couch. Because of full booking, my choices were wait for the mini suite to be cleaned or move to a standard room back on the Radisson side. Obviously the room needed more cleaning than a simple bed up and vacuum, so we opted to go to the other side. For this "inconvenience" I was offered a free breakfast coupon.....I am not making this up....the new room was drastically smaller, no living area, Holiday Inn type shower curtain around the half uncaulked bathtub, one of the phones didn't work and two light bulbs were out.....this is NOT a renovated hotel....this is an ancient Radisson with new comforters on the bed! Now down to the casino, which I must say is nicely done for its size and the staff is great, bartenders,dealers, casino workers, security, and maintenance staff were all great, which is why this review has two stars and not zero. It is small, but there's a nice variety of table games and video slots, and the minimums are reasonable, ranging 15 to 25 dollars. I didn't have any problems getting a blackjack seat or onto a craps table, but I noticed three card poker and roulette were very crowded and there was only one or two Let it Ride, yet there was a slew of empty pai gow and baccarat tables. There is no Money Wheel, poker room, or Spanish 21. My problem with the casino was the TERRIBLE, almost non-existent payouts on the slots....I only saw one person receiving a hand pay in the two days we were there and I myself won nothing. Like I said, I am a seasoned gambler and I get that it IS gambling, but trust me, this is not sour grapes......very few bonus games, bonus games often paid little or nothing, and there were times I did 10 to 15 spins with not even winning my bet back. C'mon on! At least let us have fun losing the money! I had a discussion about this with a casino worker who said they aren't allowed to discuss payouts other than it is all within the gaming law parameters, but she did say I wasn't the only person she had heard this from others and "we can't all be wrong.". If you are a big slot player, be prepared....after gambling several hours we went to dinner at Prime for our 8pm reservation. I checked in at 7:55. The hostess seemed overwhelmed with walk-ins and asked us to wait a few minutes...so we went to the understaffed bar, waited to order, and we're told by the bartender we had to order from a cocktail waitress if we weren't seated at the bar. Again, I get this...they need to make money too, but ten minutes later we still didn't see one! Finally she came over, took our order, which by the way was nothing fancy (2 Miller Lites and a diet coke!) and again we waited....it was 8:25 when the hostess came over and said our table was ready. I told her we didn't get our drinks and that she would send them over to our table. Another 10 - 15 mins went by....no menu, no drinks....I flagged down a waiter and asked him, waited another 10 minutes and finally at 8:45 when the people next to us started going out to casino for drinks, I went back to the hostess desk to complain....she was sweet, but clearly overwhelmed and wanted me to wait and I was getting a little testy at that point, so the manager came over. We finally received some service and the waiter tried to be friendly and attentive, but they are simply too understaffed to try to be an upscale steakhouse. Part of the price in my book is the service and atmosphere, and they just don't have it. I have to be fair and say that the food, when it finally came, was very good, but the complete experience of fine dining just wasn't there. We weren't out of the restaurant until nearly 10:30. Went down to gamble some more....same story...staff great, but no winnings.....the comped breakfast buffet was about the size of a pool table....there were three or four aged pieces of French toast and two blitzes left in the tureen and no one seemed to be trying to fill them....the omelet girl was nice, but she could only make them when she didn't have an order for waffles since the waffle maker was somewhere "in the back".....c'mon! You can't have TWO people working the made to order station....ridiculous...again, it's like a Holiday Inn, not a resort casino's buffets the likes of Borgata at all......if you go, be prepared.....
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