Atlantis

Officially Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, this is a casino property that first opened in 1972 and is located at 3800 South Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada. One thing that our readers are going to immediately notice about Reno is that they will see many more street names, which is because the casinos in Reno tend to be a bit more spread out when compared to areas such as Las Vegas. However, even though they are not necessarily side by side, the majority of them will be found within several blocks of one another in Downtown Reno, and the Atlantis is one of those.

In fact, here’s a convenient map of the Downtown Reno Casinos from Reno Tripping!

As the Atlantis Reno sits now, the property is home to 824 guest rooms and suites as well as just over 64,800 square feet of gambling space. For comparison purposes for those of you who have been to Las Vegas, the casino floor will be approximately half the size of some of the bigger Las Vegas Strip casinos that you have seen and roughly double the size of the average Downtown Las Vegas casino.

The property was originally not as grand and ambitious, in fact, it originally was not a casino at all. The physical land was first home to the Golden Road Motor Inn, which was basically just a budget motel. From that point, it would eventually add a small casino floor and then bounce around different hotel franchises for the better part of two decades.

It would be rebranded as the Clarion (which is now one of the Choice Hotels franchise chains) in the early-1990’s, and during that time, a new and much larger hotel tower would be constructed and the casino floor would be drastically expanded.

The Monarch Casino and Resort company wanted to differentiate the property from hotel chains, so they chose to instead make the finished property independent and would select, “Atlantis,” as the property’s name. That’s probably a really good move for such a large property! Could you imagine if the Las Vegas Strip was made up of Super 8 Resort and Casino, Econo Lodge Gambling Hall, America’s Best Value Inn Casino and Brewery, Comfort Suites Casino Resort and Spa and Microtel Casino Resort and Conference Center?

In any event, the property remains owned by Monarch Casino and Resort Inc., and other than expanding the spa and health club in the late-1990’s, there have not been any other drastic changes to the property since that time.

However, don’t get the impression that the place is completely rundown. They have done some smaller scale stuff to keep up with things, just no serious renovations since that time that would expand, add hotel rooms, or anything like that. The property, overall, is still relatively current and has a wide variety of offerings that we will address below.

Guests of the property will enjoy access to the Fitness Center, but the Atlantis also places a greater priority on personal wellness facilities than do even most casinos in the Las Vegas area. The spa at the property is considered world class, and also very big, coming in at 30,000 square feet by itself, which is nearly half the size of the casino floor! The property’s spa also offers a full array of services that would compete with any other in the entire country. If your bag is getting personally pampered and you don’t mind dropping a few bucks to do it, then they have you covered.

After that, guests can go to the property’s salon if they also want to focus on their optics as well as how they feel. Once again, this is one of the better-regarded facilities in Reno and offers a full range of services.

Now that you’re both looking and feeling great, you can enjoy access to the outdoor pool during the swimming season, but if it’s too cold and that is closed or you just aren’t in the mood to be outside, don’t worry, because the indoor pool and sauna is open year round.

Of course, some of you might not be a fan of Reno’s Winters, but would still like to relax outside. Well, what you can do is take a nice hot soak in the property’s outdoor whirlpool hot tub, which is also open year round! The pool at this property also has much more friendly hours than almost every single pool in all of Las Vegas, as it is open from 6:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. seven days per week, as of the time of this writing.

Of course, if you’re getting all decked out at the salon, then there’s a fair chance that it’s because you want to look your best for one of the Atlantis Reno’s many entertainment offerings! Right on par with many casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantis features frequent events with a schedule that can be found here for major events, of which many are concerts and cabarets in the property’s showroom.

However, we would definitely recommend checking to see what’s going on in advance of your trip as there have not been as many shows given the slowdown in traffic caused by Covid-19. Shows at this property were much more frequent before that, and we expect that to go back to being that way, but for now you will want to check the events calendar in advance if that is something that is very important to you.

If you have brought the kids with you, then there’s no need to worry as the Atlantis Reno has them more than covered. This casino property is home to one of the largest arcades that you can expect to ever find in a casino and would put some arcades in the Las Vegas and Laughlin areas to shame. There’s also a small eatery there called Chicago Hot Dogs, so as long as you load up your kids’ credits and give them some cash for snacks, then they should be good to go for awhile…if they are old enough, of course.

If your kids are gamers or you are a gamer, then you will be glad to know that the property is home to an all-out eSports lounge for which rates are $10/hour, as of the time of this writing. Much like the arcade, the gaming equipment is about as modern as it gets and it is open during most hours of the day and into the late evening. This is probably ideal for teenagers who will usually be considered old enough to be left to their own devices, so make sure to set them up with enough to play for a few hours as well as some cash to go get themselves something to eat. Also, not to tell you how to parent or anything, but make sure to step back from the table every fifteen minutes or so to take a peek at your phone, just in case.

Unfortunately, while guests will enjoy access to the property’s wireless internet and contrary to the old saying, the best things in life are rarely free, so guests of the property can expect to pay a $35/night Resort Fee. Apparently, if you want a casino resort that rivals many of those on the Las Vegas Strip for amenities (and is better than some of them), then you are going to get a Resort Fee that rivals those other properties, as well.

Rates at the property are mostly incumbent on what’s going on in town, as well as if there are any conventions going on at the property.

For example, with nothing really going on in Reno, then you might see weekday rates as low as $79 and usually not much more than $119. However, weekdays when there are special events can run you as much as $159—and sometimes more—even on standard rooms.

The same can be said for weekend rates, but that’s true anywhere. As of the time of this writing, we took a look at October and November of (2021) and the range of least expensive to most expensive room available on a Friday or Saturday night was $119-$399.

In other words, we really can’t offer much guidance on how weekend room rates will compare to most Las Vegas Strip casinos other than to say that Atlantis is probably slightly cheaper if nothing is going on in either town during the weekend of your visit. If something is going on in Reno, but not Vegas, then Vegas Strip properties might be cheaper, if it’s the other way around, then Atlantis (and Reno, in general) might be cheaper.

As far as weekday normal rates go, we really don’t see much value compared to some of the Las Vegas Strip casinos, many of which have amenities that are basically similar and rooms that generally cost less on weekdays in the absence of a special event. Of course, Atlantis is not the cheapest hotel casino property in Reno, and those of you visiting on a budget will want to compare your total fixed costs of the whole package anyway.

With that, let’s turn our attention to the offerings on the casino floor. The sizable floor contains more than 1,400 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines—with the property proudly emphasizing that more than 700 of these are penny denomination machines. According to VPFree2, the Video Poker can be considered pretty solid with the property boasting a ton of paytables in the 99%+ return to player range, assuming optimal play, for multiple denominations. In fact, many of these paytables have been reported on denominations as low as $0.05!

The property is also home to the sort of sizable Table Games area that you would expect and features Ultimate Texas Hold Em. Of course, not all of these games are going to operate around the clock, so if you are looking for one of the carnival games especially, then we would recommend calling in advance for the usual days and times of operation.

Additionally, the property is home to a large, and 100% non-smoking Keno Lounge that offers players the ability to get their cards and watch from virtually anywhere on the property daily. The property’s website also shows the drawing (an electronic representation of it, anyway) online during all times that the Keno Lounge is open, so even if you can’t find any TV’s showing the numbers, just whip out your phone and pull it up on their site.

The property is also home to a race and sportsbook that would rival those of many Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Vegas properties. With a huge video board and big screen TV’s wrapping around the walls, as well as the fact that they are open from the early hours of the morning to the late hours of the evening seven days per week, getting your bets down and watching the games will be fun and convenient.

The property has its own poker room in which No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em is dealt almost exclusively. If you want to make sure you have a spot, then you will be glad to know that you can their online waiting list before you even get to the poker room! To do that, simply go to their website.

With that, we will turn our attention to the more than ten locations to get something to eat or drink located at the property.

The first one that we will list is the modestly priced Red Bloom Asian Kitchen. OPe for lunch and dinner seven days per week, Red Bloom, features the staple dishes that you would expect from a casual Asian eatery and has this to say about itself:

Red Bloom Asian kitchen at Atlantis, a modern twist on authentic Asian crafted dishes inspired by the Far East. Expect the unexpected. From stylish décor to a smartly chosen menu. Cuisine from the Far East including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Tantalizing and tasteful dishes such as Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Bao Buns with Pork Belly, a wide variety of Rice Bowls, savory Pho soups and amped up, flavorful Ramens.

Basically, they have a little bit of everything as long as it is a type of Asian food and don’t specialize in any particular area, but you can expect their simply-prepared and economical dishes to be delicious and well within any Reno visitors’ budget.

OpenTable says that the Atlantis Steakhouse, open in the evenings for dinner service Wednesday-Sunday, is the best steakhouse in the entire Reno and Lake Tahoe area. Guests of this restaurant have seemed to mostly agree, as far as the reviews I have read go. The restaurant has very elegant and modern decor and features very soft lighting to ensure a relaxing and enjoyable dining experience, they have this to say:

Recently voted Best Overall Steakhouse in the Reno – Tahoe area by OpenTable diners. Capturing the cosmopolitan essence of Chicago to San Francisco, the Atlantis Steakhouse is impeccably styled with a design that melds contemporary elegance with classic comfort. 

Atlantis proudly serves Allen Brothers of Chicago meats, the nation’s finest steaks. These wet-aged USDA prime cuts are the ultimate grade of beef, chosen for their superb quality, marbling and flavor. Experience the art of traditional Steakhouse tableside dining, unsured service and unmatched attention to detail. Glowing honey onyx exudes warmth and the plush dining settees create a dining ambience second to none. Classic cocktails, metropolitan martinis and over 336 selections of wine complete your experience. Exclusive private dining for groups of 15 to 50 may be arranged.

They certainly said it better than I could and you definitely can’t go wrong with Allen Brothers of Chicago meats! Actually, anytime you hear the name of the city of Chicago and the word, “Meat,” in the sentence, you know you’re going to be in for something delicious and high-quality. They also have the best burgers in the country in Chicago!

Bistro Napa is another elegant and softly lit restaurant at the Atlantis, though this one is open for dinner service only. While this location is also a steak and sea house, for the most part, they borrow a few dishes from other areas of the country, so they will have something to please all appetites, even if you go as a big group.

Bistro Napa is also open seven nights per week, so you will be able to enjoy fine dining even if the Atlantis Steakhouse is closed. In of the price, it’s cheaper than the steakhouse and we would actually consider it as not costing that much more than many slightly high-end American restaurants. It’s not cheap, but it won’t break the bank…unless of course your party goes through a bunch of wine bottles!

Sushi Bar on the Sky Terrace does what it says it does and is conveniently open for lunch and dinner service, starting at 11:00 a.m., seven days per week. Those of you who are into sushi (like me) will be impressed by the quality, freshness, service, taste and the price. You might be used to paying Las Vegas prices at some of the higher end sushi places on the Las Vegas Strip, but this place will save you a few bucks in comparison and has every bit of the quality that you would expect.

If you’re not in the mood for sushi, then you will be happy to know that Sky Terrace is also home to an Oyster Bar that serves many other delicious and fresh seafood dishes, such as crab! It is open during the same hours, so the only thing better than sushi or oysters is sushi AND oysters, with that, we would recommend that you check these out for lunch if you are anywhere near the Atlantis property! You can definitely consider this one of our overall restaurant picks in town.

Toucan Charlie’s Buffet and Grille—That’s right! While many other casino buffets have closed never to reopen in the Las Vegas area, and the majority of them that did reopen no longer have dinner service, Toucan Charlie’s Buffet and Grille is your go to place to load up on foods from all over the world at a cheap price. They are open for lunch (or brunch, on weekends) and dinner seven days per week. The property has this to say about the buffet’s weeknd offerings:

Friday Seafood Buffet

Showcasing chilled and steamed Snow Crab with drawn butter, Reno’s best buffet also highlights Oysters Rockefeller, Maryland Crab Cakes, house-smoked Scallops, Whole Blackened Salmon, beer-poached Manila Clams and grilled Calamari Steaks.

Saturday Steak & Seafood Buffet

The ultimate surf and turf buffet. Succulent Snow Crab, broiled steaks, Shrimp Scampi, Coquilles St. Jacques, bacon wrapped Filet, grilled Rib Eye Steak, green-lip Mussels and more from the bountiful sea!

If we’re ever in Reno at the same time, there’s a fair chance that you will run into me at the Friday seafood buffet, I don’t expect all of those dishes to be to my satisfaction, but certainly enough of them will be that I won’t have any trouble filling up.

The Manhattan Deli has been regarded as the best jewish deli in Nevada, as you will read in the quoted blurb here:

Recognized as the “Best Jewish Deli in Nevada” by leading Jewish publication, The Nosher, experience our full-service, Manhattan Deli where East Coast meets West Coast. Authentic piled-high sandwiches, traditional Matzo Ball soup, scrumptious Bagels and Lox, and the Manhattan Cobb Salad await. With so much delicious food to choose from, make sure you save room for our house-made Famous New York Cheesecake. Don’t have a New York minute to sit and enjoy your meal? Freshly prepared sandwiches and sliced-to-order deli meats, cheese, salads and desserts are available to-go.

That sounds legitimate enough to me, if a Jewish publication that is about food declares it to be the best, then who am I to argue with them? In addition to the items listed, they also have a wide variety of other sandwiches and pizzas. I don’t know where you stand on the thin-crust v. deep dish argument, but I’m right in the middle with Detroit-Style Pan Pizza—-so I will probably be eating a Reuben if you see me here.

The Purple Parrot wants me to repeat that it is the Atlantis’ 24-hour per day and seven day per week American Casual restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and represents one of the most affordable dining locations on property. Safe for any budget, if you want something quick to eat or want to load up on eggs and toast after partying hard the night before, then you can do it here! Don’t worry about it if you look rough that morning, there’s nothing they haven’t seen yet.

Chicago Dogs Eatery is the snack stand in the arcade entertainment area that we already mentioned.

Gourmet Grind serves Starbucks Coffee, as well as breads, desserts and other assorted pastries and is open from the early morning to late evening hours. They also have custom cake services available if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary!

Java Etc. is located on the casino floor and also has all of the specialty coffee drinks (also Starbucks) as well as grab and go food that you might need if you don’t feel like straying too far from your favorite machines or table games. It is open from 6:00a-Midnight seven days per week.

Overall, we would definitely recommend that our readers visiting Reno stop by the Atlantis Resort and Casino as they have plenty to offer. The areas we are most impressed with are the arcade (which gives kids something to do if you are traveling as a family), the food selection (which is really good by Reno standards and wouldn’t even be bad by Vegas Strip ones) and the reported quality of the Video Poker offerings. The only downside that we can find is that the cost of your overnight accommodations might be more than you were expecting to pay, but even if you decide to save money there by staying somewhere cheaper, we would still recommend that you stop in to pay this property a visit!

Bonanza Casino

Family Owned and Operated and a favorite amongst Reno residents, Bonanza Casino has been a staple property for locals looking to hang out and have a great time since 1973! It’s also not unusual to find employees from other casino come to this spot to hang out during their off-hours, but even if you don’t find any of them, you’re going to be sure to run into some friendly people who won’t mind chatting with someone from out of town!

This small casino property is not home to a hotel, is located on 4720 North Virginia Street and consists of something like 12,484 square feet of gaming space, which makes it roughly half of the size of one of the average casino floors in Downtown Las Vegas, for a basis of comparison.

In addition to being a place populated by locals, Bonanza Casino is also very active in the community and can be found frequently partnering with various charities and area sports teams.

The modest casino floor is home to just over 400 combined slot, video poker and video keno games ranging in denomination from pennies to five bucks per credit. In addition to that, the video poker is reported to be excellent by VPFree2 with any number of machines that have games returning in excess of 99% with optimal strategy, as well as one paytable to be found on property with returns of more than 100%.

In addition to the machine floor, the property is also home to a small William Hill Sportsbook, so if you want to get your sports bets down in an atmosphere that feels like the local pub where you are from, then Bonanza Casino in Reno might be your bar away from your bar when Reno is your home away from home!

The property is home to two eateries, with the fine dining establishment being the Cactus Creek Prime Steakhouse, which opens for dinner service Thursdays-Sundays, as of the time of this writing, and strongly recommends that you make a reservation in advance. Despite the need for reservations and while the food is prepared exceptionally, you will find that this is a fairly modestly priced Nevada Steakhouse so, while it may cost a few bucks, you won’t find yourself digging too deeply into your wallet.

The second of the property’s eateries is the Branding Iron Cafe, which is open 24/7, though has a limited late night menu from 10:00p.-6:00a. Breakfast, however, is available around the clock and for those of you who are known to put down the drinks, as I have been known to do, sometimes what you really want is a loaded omelette before you finally crash for the night! The theme of the restaurant is Old West, as the name would imply, and the frequently feature fabulous dining specials.

Obviously, this is not a destination property in Reno and is mainly a place for locals to eat and hang out, but you never really know a city until you have talked to some locals and the people who hang out here are mostly friendly, so we would recommend that you stop by for a hearty meal, play some of their excellent video poker, have a drink and chat a few folks up. You won’t regret that you did.

Boomtown Reno

Boomtown Reno Casino Hotel is not technically in Reno, rather it is located at 2100 Garson Road in nearby Verdi, Nevada. However, given its proximity to Reno and the fact that they put Reno in the name, they pretty much forced us to include this property in our Reno listings.

The property would originally open in April of 1974, and as it sits now, is home to 316 hotel rooms and suites as well as a gambling floor of just under 40,000 square feet of total space. That’s something of a small casino floor by Reno Downtown or Las Vegas Strip standards, but would be about the average size of a Downtown Las Vegas casino floor (and actually a little bigger) if you want to compare it to anything and have been to those locations before.

Bob Cashnell (Cashnell Enterprises) was once the mayor of Reno and owned this property when it first opened. Following that, Cashnell Enterprises would eventually become Boomtown Inc and, more than thirty years after the property originally opened, it would be sold to Pinnacle Entertainment, which was one of the larger casino operators at the time.

It would remain with Pinnacle Entertainment until 2012, at which point, the property was sold to St. John Properties out of the state of Maryland, who continues to own and operate the property to this day. The property has received several facelifts and renovations over the years, including four done in stages by St. John’s, one for each of the first four years of its ownership.

The property mainly attracts a crowd of people who gather for things to do in the surrounding area, as well as for the casino’s offerings and might be a place for our readers to consider if they would like to visit Reno, but would prefer not to stay in the Downtown Reno area.

The current regularly appearing shows at the property are Ambrosia and Tower of Power, as of the time of this writing, with schedules and tickets available for purchase through the property’s website. Ambrosia is a well-known progressive rock band, so many of you have probably heard some of their tunes before.

In addition to the hotel itself, other accommodations include KOA, which is the property’s outdoor campground and RV Park that also has its own outdoor swimming pool for guests. The quality of the grounds as well as the natural scenery make this a popular destination for couples and families who are traveling the country by RV when they make their way to the Southwest leg of their journey. As with the hotel, you can book your campground or parking spot directly through their website.

The property is home to what they call the Fun Center, which is an excellent environment for kids of all ages that is packed to the gills with stuff for them to do. In addition to several arcade games, younger kids will enjoy bounce houses and a few small rides, such as the Merry-Go-Round. In addition to that, the property features an Extreme 4-D theater, which is one of only a few of its kind. This theater is kind of a combination of theatrics and gaming and is fully interactive. While it is mostly designed to appeal to kids, you parents out there are sure to have a great time using this amenity, as well.

For those of you who want to plan a wedding, reception or small convention gathering and would like to be away from Downtown Reno, Boomtown Reno is also home to a sizable and attractive Event Center, so check their calendar if you have an event that you want to get planned and see if their facilities are available.

Guests of the property will also be thrilled with the hotel offerings as they have microwaves and refrigerators in the rooms, which will save a ton of money if you don’t want to have to eat out for breakfast and lunch every day. They also have coffee available around the clock, a heated indoor pool, a seasonal outdoor pool and two fitness centers, so that the devices don’t get clogged up by a bunch of guests all coming in at once. The property is also home to a guitar bar, which is open every day and sometimes features live performances.

Some people will be pleased to know that the hotel itself operates as a Best Western franchise, which is one of the country’s larger hotel brands (and largest single independent chain) that mostly caters to business travelers with reasonable rates. Those who are of their Best Western Rewards program may also qualify for special offers or be able to use their points for free overnight accommodations, so you can’t beat that! This will be especially convenient for non-gamblers who visit this property and would have no other way of getting a comped room. If you are a Best Western Rewards member and have some points stored up, then we would definitely recommend you check on the availability here for when you plan to visit.

Unfortunately, just because it is a Best Western does not mean that there is not a Resort Fee, but that fee is $16/night, which as much as we hate Resort Fees, we have to it is fairly reasonable when you compare this to some other Nevada properties. For instance, Main Street Station in Downtown Las Vegas (owned by Boyd Gaming) does not even have a pool open on the property itself, as of the time of this writing, and the Resort Fee is nearly double that of Boomtown Reno. At least they can say that you are getting something for the Resort Fee that you have to pay here.

We find that weekday rates on standard rooms at this property are generally going to be similar to that of Atlantis Reno, so you can scroll up to get an idea of what to expect there. As far as standard weekend rates are concerned, we always recommend comparison shopping, but this property will probably be a little bit cheaper if there are no major special events in town or on property.

Weekend Rates during busy weekends and special events rates can be all over the place though, even on weekdays, so the basic rates that we talk about are mainly meant just to give you an idea of what you could expect on a normal day, but results for the dates of your intended visit can vary.

With that, we turn our attention to the property’s sizable casino floor. The first thing that we will note from our own observations as well as what has been reported on VpFree2 is that the Boomtown is not as strong in their video poker offerings as some other Reno casinos. In fact, we couldn’t find any games whatsoever that pay in excess of 99% return to player, though we did find several that return more than 98%, assuming optimal strategy.

Overall, the property is home to no fewer than 540 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines with a wide range of denominations, starting as you would expect, with pennies.

The Table Games pit features several gaming tables and spreads games that include blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, pai gow poker and three card poker. Of course, these games are not all going to be 24/7, so if you are looking for a specific game, then we would recommend calling in advance to get its usual days and times of operation.

The property would normally be home to a small poker room, but that facility closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to reopen. We are told that they do plan to reopen it in the future when traffic to the casino picks back up a bit post-pandemic. However, this being written in October of 2021, we would not expect it to come back until at least the Spring of 2022, assuming that it does at all. If you are reading this then, feel free to check the property’s website and see if it has returned if Live Poker is crucial to whether you would want to visit.

The property is also home to a modest William Hill Race and Sportsbook which, as of the time of this writing, is open from the late morning to early evening hours Thursdays-Mondays and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. This property also features a Live Keno lounge, but don’t worry if you bought some tickets and are not nearby, as you can watch the drawing results unfold, live, directly on the property’s website.

With that, we will turn our attention to the handful of dining options that are available at this property, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The fine dining establishment at this property is simply called the Boomtown Steakhouse, and while it is definitely priced as a fine dining establishment, we can say that the prices are on the low-end of the spectrum when compared to similar Nevada steakhouses. Here is what they have to say about themselves:

The Boomtown Steakhouse at the Boomtown Casino Hotel in Reno, Nevada is famous for fabulous fine dining including savory entrees, certified angus beef steaks, fresh seafood, beautiful salads, delicious desserts, weekly chef’s specials, and local goodness that will make your taste buds soar. Enjoy a large selection of great wines, captivating cocktails, and refreshing drinks. Relax and enjoy elegant table side service, friendly staff, and more!

The restaurant itself is elegant in its simplicity and would prefer to wow guests with the food as opposed to trying to use a loud ambiance to do it. Most guests who have eaten at this steakhouse have had favorable things to say about it, so we imagine that you will not be disappointed.

Mels is a Casual American Restaurant that is something of a small chain that started all the way back in 1947. It is open 24 hours per day, so guests of the Boomtown can be happy knowing that there is always somewhere to eat, and features great prices that are similar to what you would expect at other American chain diners, such as Denny’s. The good news is that the food at Mels, at least in my opinion, is better than many of those major national chains.

Market Fresh Deli is a convenient little grab and go place at Boomtown that has ice cream, other snacks, sandwiches, salads and slices (of pizza). If guests are happy with nothing else, they will definitely appreciate the low prices. If you have the kids in tow for this trip and need to get your family’s bellies full on the cheap, then this is the place to do it.

Peet’s Coffee and Tea does what it says on the box and features a variety of special coffee and tea drinks, some breakfast sandwiches and a selection of pastries and desserts. It’s quick and cheap, but also has a comfortable dining area if you want to relax for a few minutes while you enjoy your latte.

Overall, we think Boomtown Reno is a decent little casino in the nearby area for people who are traveling with kids. It’s more limited in its dining options as well as its casino offerings than many other Reno area casinos, so that’s something to keep in mind, but most people who are staying here are doing so because they want to stay near the gorgeous foothills and spend some time outside. Beyond that, we would specifically recommend that people who frequently stay at Best Westerns look into it as they may be able to use their points for their accommodations, and if not, will at least be able to earn more points if they are loyal to the brand.

We would say that this casino is fine and is at least worth a quick visit while you are in Reno, but if your main priority is having a ton of varied gambling offerings, especially if you are a video poker player, then there are better choices in town.

Circus Circus Reno

Located at 500 North Sierra Street and originally opened in July of 1978, the Circus Circus Reno was one of the first properties to do what the Circus Circus in Las vegas did, which is try to appeal to tourists who are bringing the whole family along and have plenty of offerings for kids. Many casinos in Las Vegas and Reno would go on to follow this model, and as we see in destination towns, it’s roughly half and half these days.

This is one of the larger hotels of the Reno Casinos and consists of 1,620 combined guest rooms and suites. It also has one of the larger casino floors with the property coming in at 66,515 square feet of gambling real estate.

This property is connected to two other Reno resort casino properties, which includes the Silver Legacy Casino as well as the Eldorado Reno. That’s going to be especially useful for family travelers who are visiting those properties as they might want to take the kids (or have the kids go-if they are old enough to walk alone) over to the Circus Circus to do some of the family-friendly activities. In of the size of the hotel, it has the second most rooms in all of Reno.

This property was originally constructed and opened by Circus Circus Enterprises, which was the first company to really focus on family travelers in their openings of such properties as Circus Circus and Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas Strip.

MGM Mirage would buy the entire company of Mandalay Bay Resorts in 2005 and would later rename themselves MGM Resorts International, though that part was not an actual change in ownership. In July of 2015, after having owned this property for ten years, MGM Resorts International would sell this casino to El Dorado Resorts. At that time, MGM Resorts International had been focusing on their more upscale properties, and with that, they would sell off Circus Circus on the Las Vegas Strip shortly thereafter, though to a different owner. The two Circus Circus properties (Reno and Las Vegas) only share a name, at this point.

El Dorado Resorts would go on to acquire Caesars Entertainment, as well as all of its properties, in 2020. They would rename the newly formed t company Caesars Entertainment, as that is the more recognizable brand worldwide.

Essentially, this property has been with the same company since 2015.

There have been many updates and renovations over the years, with the most recent being a full remodel of the Sky Tower in 2018. Despite the property’s age, El Dorado Resorts (now Caesars Entertainment) continues to put the needed money into it to keep it modern enough, so it should be enough to attract visitors to Reno for decades to come.

The property has a great deal to offer when it comes to entertainment and compares favorably to any property in Reno, and even some Las Vegas Strip properties, in that regard. One of the most notable entertainment venues is The Laugh Factory location that the property is home to. That location is home to live comedy routines most days of the year, so you can check that section of the property’s website for more details.

SKYY High Fridays is something that the property has going on as of the time of this writing, which consists of a live DJ spinning tracks at one of the property’s several bars.

The property is home to a Top Golf Swing Suite, which is a golf simulator that has become something of a national staple for casino properties. If you have a tee time scheduled at a Reno area golf course and want to get in a little bit of practice ahead of time, then this is the place to do it!

Revel Saturdays, as of the time of this writing, features a DJ spinning tracks at El Jefe’s, which is one of the property’s lounges. If dancing and listening to some of the hottest modern tracks is your thing, then you will want to be there for that!

The property would normally be home to a Cabaret stage, but that closed during the Covid-19 pandemic and, as of the time of this writing, (October 2021) has not yet returned. We called and spoke to someone on property who says that the expectation is that the Cabaret will be back in full swing post pandemic when consumer demand gets back to where it was.

Given the walkway between the properties, guests here might also want to check out one of the events at the Silver Legacy, which can also be found listed on the Circus Circus website. Naturally, we will include those in our Silver Legacy listing.

Much like Circus Circus on the Las Vegas Strip, the Carnival Midway will be the main attraction for guests visiting the property with children in tow. This attraction features regular live circus performances that the whole family will enjoy, carnival-style games for both kids and adults, as well as one of the largest casino arcades that you can expect to find. If your kids are old enough, then you might even be able to leave them to their own devices while you slip away for some blackjack, slots or an expensive dinner at one of the property’s finer eateries.

Other amenities of the property include a few shopping destinations. There would normally be a fitness center for guests, but it closed during the Covid-19 pandemic and, for whatever reason, has yet to reopen. Our only possible guess for that is it might be too small vis-a-vis social distancing guidelines. If you are looking for spa services, then you will have to walk over to Silver Legacy, so those will be detailed in that listing.

In of the costs for overnight accommodations, Circus Circus is going to be a bargain hunters’ dream for families and even those traveling alone or as a couple. Standard room rates on weekdays usually range anywhere from $35-55 per night and are almost never more than $100 unless the Reno area is going to be absolutely packed.

We also looked at weekend rates for standard rooms and decided just to give a two-month range of Fridays and Saturdays, because it’s always going to depend on special events and projected occupancy. Looking at October and November of 2021 as a test case, we found rates ranging from $98-$233, however, only one date was over $200 and most were $125, or less, so this is still going to be a bargain paradise anytime no special events are taking place.

The rooms themselves are modern and well-lit, but as you would expect for a value property, somewhat basic. They’re certainly usually going to be clean, so this is a great place to stay if you want to save some money compared to other Reno properties. It’s also a part of Caesars Rewards, so you might be able to get comped here if you play at one of the many other properties across the country.

Unfortunately, the cheap rates are also hiding a $30/night Resort Fee, which we consider to be exceptionally high compared to many other properties in Reno. For that reason, you might not be getting the great deal that you think you are as some of the nicer properties in town charge lower Resort Fees. We would recommend that you factor those in as you would room rate when you are doing comparison shopping. Hell, the original reason Resort Fees came into being was so that properties could make their rates look artificially lower, and $30/night in Reno for this property is taking that to extremes.

The worst part is that this property does not even have its own pool, so while the Carnival Midway is a great attraction, I’m not sure that is enough to justify Resort Fees greater than those of properties with pools and spas.

This property is home to more than 700 combined slot, video poker and video keno games. They claim to have the best slots in Reno, but the garbage that they offer for video poker paytables, I must it, has me skeptical. In our own findings and also according to VPFree2, the best video poker to be found is a 98.01% Bonus Poker paytable. That’s terrible by the standards of Nevada and especially putrid when compared to other properties in Reno.

For that reason, if you’re an avid Video Poker player, we would have to recommend that you stay elsewhere unless you don’t mind walking a bit. You’re probably not going to want to play here.

This property is home to a Live Keno parlor that is open Thursday-Sunday from the morning until late evening hours, as of the time of this writing. It used to also be open during the early days of the week, but cut those days when coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. If demand in the Reno area picks back up, then it might go back to seven days a week, so keep an eye on that if Live Keno is your game.

As one would expect, the property is home to a modest Caesars Race and Sportsbook that is also located near a Video Poker bar. The viewing areas are fine, but nothing special, so it gets the job done…but if you want to bet and watch the games, there are probably better Reno casinos to do that.

Circus Circus Reno is home to perhaps as many as a dozen Live Gaming Tables that consist of Blackjack, Roulette and Pai-Gow Poker. They heavily their Interblock Stadium Electronic Gaming devices, so if you’re wondering where all of the Table Games went, there’s your answer. Obviously, if you are a Table Games player who wants to have a wide variety of LIVE options, then this probably is not going to be the Reno casino for you.

With that covered, we will turn our attention to the dining establishments located on the property. We want to point out that these are all going to be quick eats and Casual restaurant destinations, so if you are looking for fine dining, you’re going to have to take the walkway to one of the other properties.

Piezzetta Pizza Kitchen is a pretty well-known name in the Reno area and is a popular place for families to come in from the Carnival Midway and grab a slice. Their pizza is kind of a crossover of American and Italian style pizza, and they have this to say:

Enter Piezzetta. It’s inspired by the way pizza was originally crafted. Here, homemade crusts are assembled and rolled in the kitchen. Ingredients like ground lamb, goat cheese and truffle oil are sourced to build the most flavorful, eclectic (or traditional, if that’s what you’re looking for) combinations. Customers order and watch their meals get meticulously pieced together – baked and served hot in three minutes or less without compromising taste.

Guests of the property will enjoy both the pizza and the low prices. You really can’t go wrong with a pie that has ground lamb and goat cheese on it, even if that might sound strange to some readers out there. Of course, there are people who think you can’t put pineapple on pizza, can you imagine? (I’m ready for some hate E-Mails for that—bring it on!)

El Jefe’s Cantina is one of the property’s locations that occasionally features live DJ’s and always features fun, fresh and financially friendly tacos as well as a wide variety of tequila concoctions that are sure to please any palette. They also have some of the friendliest service of any Reno restaurant, so even if you’re not staying at Circus Circus, you’re almost sure to visit the place and you should pop on in here for a drink and bite to eat when you do.

Open daily from 2:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m., this property is home to a Panda Express chain location.

The Habit Burger Grill might be a fast food style burger place, but at least it’s somewhat unique; here’s what they have to say:

The Habit Burger Grill features award-winning burgers chargrilled over an open flame. Try their original Charburger with 100% fresh ground beef, caramelized onions, pickle, fresh tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise on a toasted bun. At The Habit, better burgers are just the beginning. Enjoy a variety of signature sandwiches, hand-cut salads, delicious sides, and more.

If you and the family are looking to load up on something cheap, quick and delicious, then you should stop in for one of their delicious burgers and crinkle-cut fries, the latter of which most kids love! You can never go wrong with 100% fresh ground beef!

Sips Coffee and Tea is your quick stop for a few grab and go items, but most who pop in will be looking for a specialty coffee or tea drink. If you’re like me and just want a basic black coffee, don’t worry, their straight coffee is pretty good.

Yogurt Beach does what it says on the box and is your place to get frozen yogurt for dessert during lunch and dinner hours, most days of the week.

Madame Butterwork’s Curious Cafe is a Casual American breakfast diner, but for those of you who are not early risers or need to sleep one off, don’t worry, they are open until the late afternoon hours, except on Mondays and Tuesdays, when they are totally closed. The most notable item there is the Dutch Baby pancakes, but if you’re ot a huge fan of pancakes (which I’m not), don’t worry, the omelettes here are really good.

Finally, this property would normally have a sushi stop called Kanpai Sushi, but that closed during the Covids-19 pandemic and has yet to reopen. We would not expect this one to come back online, if it does at all, until at least Spring of 2022.

As it sits now, Circus Circus will mainly attract family travelers to the property with affordable rooms and activities for kids, such as the arcade and Carnival Midway. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gambling operations, the options mostly suck compared to other properties in Reno, so if gambling is the main reason that you are coming to town (especially if you are a video poker or Table Games player) then we would recommend looking elsewhere.

Another thing that we should mention is that the room rates look pretty inviting and would make value-conscious travelers think they are getting a hell of a deal, but lurking underneath the surface are some of the highest Resort Fees in Reno which, we might add, are not at all justified by the property’s services and amenities. It’s still going to be cheaper than the other Caesars Entertainment properties in Reno, which unfortunately, Circus Circus seems mainly to be a feeder property to. The food selection here is cheap, but not varied, and there is no fine dining.

With that, we would conclude that Circus Circus is mainly just a destination that you should consider if you are traveling with family and the gambling offerings are only of secondary importance to you.

Club Cal Neva

Declaring itself, “Reno’s Best Bet,” Club Cal Neva is a sizable casino property that is located at 38 East Second Street in Downtown Reno and is seen as one of Reno locals’ favorite places to visit. This property originally opened in March of 1962, which makes it one of Reno’s oldest casino properties that is still in operation.

The casino itself is home to nearly 36,500 square feet of gambling space. If you’re looking for a place to kick back and have a good time, that is focused on its gambling offerings first, then this is one place in Reno that you should make your way to while you are in town.

Very briefly, Club Cal Neva was home to a hotel, well, not exactly. The property leased a connecting hotel for about two years, but then the lease was discontinued in 2004. The current owner of the property is Jeff Siri, so make sure to say, “Hey, Siri,” if you see him…I’m sure he has never heard that before and would absolutely find it hilarious. (This is a joke. Please do not do that)

Okay, so let’s see what this property has to offer:

One thing that guests who enjoy skimpily clad dealers will like is the fact that this property borrowed an idea from The D in Downtown Las Vegas (as many other casinos since have) and decided to have a Party Pit for Table Games that features dancing dealers. This Party Pit is currently open only on weekends, starting at 8:00p.m. and is located next to the casino’s Sierra Neva bar.

Club Cal Neva is home to a combined 849 slot, video poker and video keno machines on its casino floor. For those of you who are wondering what the casino floor is like in of its size and offerings, we would say to think of something like Binion’s Gambling Hall in Downtown Las Vegas if you have ever been there. With a few games that pay over 99% return to player with optimal strategy, we are going to go ahead and call their Video Poker offerings decent, but nothing spectacular, especially not by Reno standards.

The Sports Grill is one of the property’s eateries that is on the Third Floor near their Race and Sportsbook facilities. This eatery features the sort of food and prices that you would expect from an American Sports Bar and opens at 11:00 a.m. and stays open until the early hours of the morning on Thursdays-Mondays. It used to be open seven days per week, so we would expect that it to get back to that when post pandemic demand picks back up.

The property’s modest sportsbook is a William Hill Race and Sportsbook and features many televisions for your viewing pleasure. You can also grab something to eat at the above-mentioned Sports Grill, at least on the days that it is open, while you check out the game.

Fortunately, there is one 24-hour eatery available at this casino called the Casino Grill. This place features a bunch of quick and convenient American food staples, such as burgers and fries and is really cheaply priced. That’s pretty good considering that the Sports Grill is currently closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Another 24 hour eatery (on weekends) at Club Cal Neva is the Top-Deck restaurant, which features a menu consisting of American Comfort Food and great breakfast selection at a low price. Visitors of the property who find themselves hungry after a long table game session will often stop up here for the cheap eats. The offerings are pretty basic, but they will get the job done.

One of the aspects that this property is best known for is it’s large (relative to the property itself) Table Games pit that is home to 41 gaming tables, which is more than some of the casino hotel properties (such as Circus Circus) in Reno have. Table Games include Blackjack, Roulette, Pai-Gow Poker, Craps and a few carnival games. For this property, we would not expect that all of these games operate around the clock, even if they are supposed to be Reno’s Best Bet, so we would recommend calling in advance of your visit if you are in the Reno area and there is a particular game you are looking for.

The casino is also home to three Live Poker Tables where the property’s guests can get together and play No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

Finally, Live Keno players are in luck as the property also has that available.

This casino is a fun place to hang out and is mainly geared towards locals and is a place that some of the employees at the larger Reno Casinos come to hang out during their off hours. Of course, those who are just in Reno to visit often find themselves as repeat guests here as the property has a really fun atmosphere and very friendly service in all areas.

As far as gambling value is concerned, we’re not exactly sure what makes this Reno’s Best Bet, or if that’s even totally true. We imagine that the slot machine returns are going to be better than Reno’s larger casinos. The Video Poker is pretty okay, but is nothing spectacular, and they certainly don’t have the best paytables in Reno that you will find. The Table Games pit is an enjoyable environment that offers low minimums compared to some of the other properties, so there’s some value to be had there.

Diamond’s Casino

People who are just ing through Reno, or perhaps staying at one of the major casino-resorts in the area might not even be familiar with Diamond’s Casino, which is located at 1010 East 6th Street.

However, such visitors to that street might seeing a sign for a Ramada, which is a Wyndham Hotel franchise that happens to be home to Diamond’s Casino. Wyndham is the largest chain of franchised hotels in the United States and, if were are going to be perfectly honest, Ramada Inns are now one of the economy chains for the Wyndham brand. That said, many Ramada hotels offer more in the way of amenities than a Travelodge, or something along those lines.

Guests of the hotel will enjoy wireless internet access, a business center, free parking and pet free accommodations, for those of you traveling with your animals. You can typically expect rates to be lower than the major casino properties in the city, with weekday rates (if no special events) typically coming in at under $100. Many weekends will have rates that don’t stray too far from the $100 range, but they can vary pretty drastically in the busiest demand seasons or if there is a major event going on in town.

When booking using the Wyndham webpage, there seems to be a special section called, “Taxes and Fees,” with sales taxes being listed separately. If any of these additional fees are a Resort Fee, the property’s website does not make that clear, but one would think that a property with a casino on-site would that they had no resort fees if that’s the case. Either way, I tried to look many different ways and the website would not offer an itemized breakdown of those additional charges.

Room furnishings and accommodations are extremely basic, but that said, the rooms are pretty clean. As far as Ramadas are concerned, we would suggest that this property is above-average for a Ramada and comparable to most decent economy hotels. The one thing that we will say is that the TV’s pictured are, “Box TV’s,” so if that has changed, they should probably update their pictures on the website.

According to the property’s website, they are presently home to a total of 262 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines that range in denomination from pennies to quarters. As of the time of this writing, Diamond’s Casino is not even listed on VPFree2, so we don’t know if the Video Poker there is particularly good.

Their website claims that Table Games are temporarily closed for Covid-19, but a call to the property reveals that staff is unsure of whether or not Table Games will ever come back. Apparently, prior to the closure, Diamond’s Casino was known for their $2 minimum Blackjack Tables, so it’s always a shame to see something like that go away.

The casino is not presently home to a sportsbook, but there is a William Hill sports betting kiosk on site, so we would presume that any winning tickets could be cashed at the cage.

Finally, the property is home to one eating establishment—a low priced diner that is apparently just called, “Diner,” and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days per week.

While you might decide to stop in and have a look around, or to stay at the Ramada, the casino itself is mostly frequented by Reno locals who are looking for a gathering place that doesn’t have quite the hustle and bustle that the larger casinos in town might.

Eldorado Resort Casino

Alternatively known as Eldorado At The Row, Eldorado Resort Casino is located at 345 North Virginia Street and first opened its doors in May of 1973.

Originally opened with 278 guest rooms, Eldorado Resort Casino would find early success that would lead to numerous upgrades and expansions. Most notably, the hotel’s room count now sits at 815, with all but one of those rooms added between 1973 and 1989. Additionally, the property would expand its restaurant and casino operations relative to first opening.

This property would form one of the bases for what would eventually become El Dorado Resorts, as a company, which would soon expand to other states with legalized and regulated gambling. That property would find great success and would eventually merge with Caesars Entertainment, at which time, they chose to keep the Caesars Entertainment name for the t company. Effectively, while the company grew and would eventually morph into a publicly-traded corporation, from an operational standpoint, the property effectively never changed hands…it was just that the company grew much larger.

Eldorado Resort Casino is now one of the Caesars Rewards value properties in the Reno area, with weekday rates at their hotel typically being under $100 (d rate), and occasionally under $50, as of the time of this 2021 writing. Generally speaking, one can expect weekend rates (for basic rooms) to live somewhere between $115-$200, though you will sometimes see nightly rates in excess of $200 if there is a special event in town, or for some holidays, such as New Year’s Eve.

Amenities include wireless internet and a business center.

Unfortunately, the property does have a Resort Fee of $30/night, so for those of you coming in during one of the slower weekdays, your Resort Fee will often end up being a substantial percentage (sometimes more than 60%) of your room rate.

The rooms themselves are basic and clean, though the furnishings are a bit dated. If you had to compare it to anything, then I would say that they would be comparable to a reasonably nice economy hotel. One thing that guests will notice about the basic rooms is that they might be smaller than what you are used to, as small rooms were pretty standard at the time that this hotel was first built.

Actually, even the business center is closed at the time of this writing, with guests instead being directed to the Silver Legacy. However, there is a fitness center that guests can access with their keycards 24/7, so that’s something. The property is home to a seasonal outdoor pool, so it kind of makes one wonder why the Resort Fee isn’t variable, based on whether or not the pool is actually open that day, but trying to create the perception of value is an old-school concept, apparently. The property is not technically home to a spa, with guests being directed to go to Silver Legacy.

El Dorado boasts that they are home to more than 1,000 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines with denominations that range from pennies to $100/credit. For that reason, machine players of all risk tolerance levels and budgets are sure to find something for them here. Video Poker players may have cause for delight as, according to VPFree2, Eldorado Resort Casino is home to a smorgasbord of games that return more than 99% with optimal strategy.

While their website does not seem to offer a specific Table Games count, it does mention some of the games available which include Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Pai-Gow Tiles, Pai-Gow Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold Em, Let it Ride, Three Card Poker and High Card Flush. For those of you intent on playing a specific carnival game, we would recommend calling in advance to inquire about the usual dates and times of their operation as we imagine they are not running around the clock.

Sports betting enthusiasts will be happy to know that El Dorado Casino is home to a Caesars Sportsbook location, one of the more modest ones, but it’ll certainly get the job done for getting your action down…and there are worse places to watch a game.

Finally, Eldorado Resort Casino is home to Live Keno, which is currently scheduled from Thursdays-Sundays from 7:00a.m.-10:30p.m. and offers wagers of as little as $0.10/game on their multi-game cards. Certain Multi-Game Keno Games only allow for three days to collect, so if you play one of those and still have a ticket on Sunday, make sure you go cash that.

While you will see a poker room referenced on the Eldorado Resort Casino website, they are actually referring to the one at Silver Legacy.

The property has a few bars and lounges, but the other entertainment options that you see on their website will actually be referring to Silver Legacy.

There are plenty of places to eat at the Eldorado Resort Casino in Reno, however, so they don’t need to use their Silver Legacy property to pad their website when it comes to dining options.

The first two that we will get out of the way are the Eldorado Buffet and Eldorado Bakery, both of which closed during Covid-19 and have yet to reopen as of the time of this writing. While we can only speculate, we would expect that you are not going to see those again if they haven’t opened by Summer of 2022.

Brew Brothers is opened from the late morning hours to the late evening hours seven days per week and mostly serves American food and microbrews in an American pub style atmosphere. They have this to say about themselves:

The Brew Brothers® offers eight custom microbrews and a creative menu, including gourmet wood-fired pizzas, salads, burgers, ribs, sandwiches, homemade soups and complete dinners. The Brew Brothers has also been voted “Best Microbrew, “Best Beer Selection” and “Best Live Music” in several Best of Reno polls and was named the highest selling brewpub in North America. Enjoy Happy Hour on Monday through Thursday between the hours of 2pm – 5pm. *Happy Hour may be canceled without notice during holidays and/or special events.*

As they mentioned in their own description, The Brew Brothers offers occasional live music, as well they should, given their name is a play on The Blues Brothers. You will want to call for specific performances if musical accompaniment is going to be important to your meal, but we would expect that most performances are going to be situated around the evening weekend hours.

Open for dinner service only seven evenings per week, La Strada is Eldorado’s somewhat sophisticated Italian restaurant and describes itself as such:

Mention Mushroom Ravioli to any Reno resident, and you’re likely to get the one word response, “Eldorado!” This, according to Food Network’s 2019 list of the Best Pastas in the Country which listed La Strada’s signature dish among the honorees.

In addition to several “Best of Reno awards, La Strada has also won the Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence” for nine years. Experience the taste and romance of Italy at the Eldorado’s signature restaurant.

Appropriate dress required. Please, no sleeveless shirts for gentlemen.

For those of you who don’t care for pastas, you’ll still be in great shape as long as you are a fan of calzones and pizzas, as La Strada also has those on offer prepared from their wood fired oven.

Another fine dining establishment at Eldorado Resort Reno is Roxy, which describes itself as such:

With industry-leading, classically trained staff and carefully selected menus, Roxy has been voted as the Best Place to Take a Date by locals and is listed on the prestigious DiRoNa Award list of Distinguished Restaurants of North America. At Roxy, chefs hand select top cuts of meats, poultry and fish to create exquisite entrées prepared in a specialty wood-fried oven. Roxy’s wait staff has a vast knowledge of fine wines and liquors and expert pastry chefs create scrumptious breads, soufflés, tarts, sorbets and more in an exhibition bakery. Neighboring the Eldorado’s magnificent Fountain of Fortune, Roxy showcases seven different exterior and interior architectures, creating an enchanting European ambiance. Appropriate dress required, please, no sleeveless shirts for gentlemen.

This dining establishment is open for dinner service from Tuesdays-Saturdays and has received generally favorable reviews. As you would expect, it’s a bit pricey, but it’ll be lighter on the wallet than many similar places in Las Vegas, or even elsewhere in Reno.

Sushi Saki is also a great place to eat if you don’t mind dropping a few bucks and does what it says on the box. This is a very popular Reno sushi place that is open for dinner service, similar to Roxy, on Tuesday-Saturday evenings.

Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse has been a dinner staple (seven days per week) of Eldorado Resort Casino Reno for several years, and for those who have been to one before, you know what you’re getting already. For those of you with a large group who want to book somewhat upscale dining, this would be the place to call as they are capable of seating as many as 140 guests.

Hidden Pizza is your place to grab a pie to share with friends if it’s a Friday or Saturday evening and you’re not in the mood for something more formal. We would expect that this restaurant’s open days will expand if business picks back up for Reno, but as of the time of this writing, it’s only open on weekends.

Eldorado is home to a Starbucks location that opens at 6:00a.m. daily.

Open at 7:00a.m. on Thursdays-Mondays and staying open until 2:00p.m., Millie’s remains a popular place to grab some coffee drinks or breakfast. The food is great, despite the fact that the menu (especially the lunch menu) isn’t particularly large, but we should warn our readers that the prices may be a bit more than you are used to for your breakfast. The omelettes are worth it, though.

That’s about everything you need to know about the El Dorado Resort and Casino in Reno, which we don’t really consider that great of a value, overall. Our biggest problem with it is that (while we dislike all resort fees), it’s tough for us to see why a $30/night Resort Fee would ever be justified. Positive points for the property include a Table Games pit with plenty of variety, reportedly good video poker paytables and a better than average variety of high-end dining options.

Gold Dust West Casino-Reno

Not to be confused with Gold Dust Casino in Carson City, Gold Dust West Casino is a smaller property located at 444 Vine St. in Reno, Nevada and is mainly visited by Reno locals.

One thing that we can say is that Gold Dust West appears to be very active on Facebook, so if you have any questions that are not covered in this review, that would be a good place to ask them.

Some websites will list them as having a hotel on the property, and that was true at one time, but it was torn down at some point in either 2019 or 2020. As of the time of this writing, there are no plans known (to property staff) to build a new hotel.

In of gambling offerings, the property is home to more than 450 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines ranging in denomination from pennies to $1. I don’t know how many readers from Pennsylvania we have here, but for those of you who have been to the Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin, the layout of this place is pretty similar.

The property is home to a small William Hill Sports Book and does not have Table Games as of the time of this writing.

The property’s only dining establishment is called The Grille and is open from 6:00a.-10:00p, seven days per week and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner as of the time of this writing. The restaurant’s offerings and prices are pretty much in line with chain American diners.

That’s about all there is to say about the Gold Dust West Casino Reno, which is basically just an overgrown slots parlor catering mostly to locals—nothing wrong with that. According to VPFree2, they have 98.91% Deuces Wild as low as pennies as well as 99.17% Bonus Poker for dollars, so assuming those reports are true, there’s much better Video Poker to be had elsewhere in the Reno area.

Grand Sierra Resort

Located at 2500 East Second Street, the Grand Sierra Resort is a Reno staple that first opened its doors back in May of 1978. As it stands now, there is just over 80,000 square feet of gambling real estate to be found as well as 1,990 hotel rooms and suites, which makes this one of the largest casino resort properties in town.

The current owner of the property is an entity called The Meruelo Group and Grand Sierra Resort has seen a few ownership changes over the years.

Originally, this property was built and opened as Reno’s version of the Las Vegas Strip’s MGM Grand and went by the same name. At the time it was opened, the property had just over 1,000 guest rooms and suites, which means that the maximum guest occupancy was roughly half of what it is today.

The property would later be expanded in the early 1980’s with another hotel tower added. This would bring the property to just over the total rooms housed within it to this day. At one time, MGM had considered building an additional hotel tower which would have brought the casino resort to nearly 3,000 total rooms and suites, but they would later abandon that plan.

In 1986, Bally Manufacturing would acquire the property from MGM in a much publicized sale. Ultimately, Bally Manufacturing would shelve the expansion project given the fact that they had already paid well over half a billion dollars to acquire the property in the first place.

By the time the early 1990’s arrived, it would appear that Bally’s had engaged in expanding its casino operations too quickly and they would be mired in nearly two billion dollars of debt. On an operational basis, the properties under them were profitable, but not enough so that they could maintain their debt obligations. Reportedly, Bally Reno (as its own entity) was not performing as well as their Vegas property, so in an effort to restructure their debts and generate some cash, Bally Manufacturing would put the resort up for sale in 1992.

It wouldn’t take long to find a buyer as the Hilton Hotel Corporation would purchase the property that same year. Unfortunately, no meaningful renovations had taken place under Bally Manufacturing’s ownership, so in order to get the property up to Hilton standards, the Reno Hilton would invest nearly 100 million into renovations.

At this time, talks of a hotel expansion would again be on the table as the expansion had been approved with Reno City Council for several years, at this point. Hilton would remain the owners until 1999, at which point, they spun all casino operations off into an entity called Park Place Entertainment, with the hotel side of operations still being managed by Hilton and carrying the Hilton brand.

Park Place Entertainment would go on to purchase Caesars World in 2001, rebrand that company as Caesars Entertainment in 2003 and had another renovation taking place.

A few years later when Caesars Entertainment was about to merge with Harrah’s Entertainment (Harrah’s was actually buying out Caesars, but would themselves rename the company Caesars Entertainment—similar to what recently happened with the Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment merger), Hilton decided they wanted nothing further to do with these brands of casino hotels.

With that, in 2005 (completed in 2006) the property would be sold to Grand Sierra Resort Corporation at a price of 151 million dollars. That might seem somewhat low, but Caesars Entertainment basically just wanted to be rid of it, at that point.

Part of the consideration of the low purchase price was the fact that there needed to be a full rebranding of the property which, among other renovations, would cost an additional hundred million dollars.

Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t great for the major casino expansion as The Great Recession would come about almost immediately after these renovations were completed. With that, tourism and gambling budgets plummeted and the property was in the face of mounting operating losses—forget about their ability to pay off their debts! As a result, JPMorgan (the originator of the loans that enabled Grand Sierra Resort Corp. to make the purchase in the first place) would take the property over, but they weren’t doing terribly well themselves!

After a couple years of negotiations, the Meruelo Group would purchase the property for 42 million dollars in an all cash transaction. While that may seem dirt cheap, keep in mind that JP Morgan was in no position to manage the property, the property wasn’t operating profitably, so 42 million in cash is much better than just continuing to lose money.

Meruelo’s goal was to turn the property into a high-end destination resort, which hasn’t exactly happened, but the property certainly has operated profitably under the new ownership.

The property today features a variety of amenities that include a 24 hour fitness center for guests of the hotel as well as visitors to the spa from 9:00a.m-9:00p.m.

The property is also home to an RV Park for certain types of RV’s. If you’re traveling that way and intend to stay at Grand Sierra Resort, then we would recommend checking out this proviso from their website:

Please be advised that all incoming RVs, motorhomes, and travel trailers must be in good condition and self-contained. Due to the high standards of quality in the Grand Sierra RV Park, pop-up trailers, tents, or home-constructed units will not be permitted. RV Park management has the right to refuse the use of sites to RVs which do not meet these criteria. RVs over 10 years of age must have RV Park approval upon arrival.

The Grand Sierra has not one, but two, separate fees that will be added to your hotel room rate. The less well-known of these fees is something called a, “Tourism Fee,” which is $2.00/night. As anyone would expect, there is also a Resort Fee, and theirs is $33.84/night. According to them, the Resort Fee covers the fitness center, internet, pool access and daily bottled water.

On typical weekdays, the d room rate (doesn’t include Resort Fees) will be just south of $100 on their most basic rooms and weekend rates can be all over the place based on what’s going on in town.

In addition to the outdoor pool and hot tubs, there are a number of other family-friendly activities for those with kids to do when they visit Grand Sierra Resort. First of all, you don’t even have to be staying at the hotel to use the pool as adults can get a $20 day with a child under 11 getting in for free if that is the case.

Grand Sierra Resort is home to a huge Fun Quest area, which is a 40,000 square foot expanse of arcade games, bumper cars and laser tag. They that they have over 125 total games and activities for kids, so that’s a great place to visit even if you are not staying or don’t have any interest in the casino itself.

The Bowling Center is home to fifty lanes with the prices for open bowling being slightly on the high end, but basically reasonable. In addition to the alleys, visitors to this area of the property will also find pool tables and shufflepuck games.

Families looking for something to do when the temperature drops are in luck as Grand Sierra Resort also features a seasonal ice rink. Despite the Resort Fee, it seems that a hotel stay does not gain entry to the ice rink, so everyone wanting to do that will have to pay for it separately…unless there’s a package or something being offered. For those of you who live in Reno, season es are $275 (based on 2021 rates) and include all skate rentals, so that might be a good deal if you like to ice skate a bunch.

Max Action Arena has a ton going on with various virtual reality shows of different lengths and themes. Additionally, there are axe throwing lanes, a 5-D theater and ride with different things going on as well as Chaos Jump, which is a virtual reality shooting game. You know what? Just check out their webpage here, they can explain everything themselves!

As if that weren’t enough, the property is also home to an Escape Room with four different stories for guests to choose from. The property is also home to six little shopping outlets which you can read about here.

Believe it or not, Grand Sierra Resort is also home to a casino, so we should probably talk about that a little bit!

The property’s floor is home to more than 1,200 combined slot, video poker and video keno games ranging in denomination from pennies to Bennies ($100), so regardless of your risk tolerance, you’re sure to find something that you like. According to VPFree2, despite its status as a resort, Grand Sierra is happy to offer decent Video Poker with at least half a dozen games that return 99%+ with Optimal Strategy and start as low as quarter denomination.

The property is home to a Live Keno Lounge, but as of the time of this writing, does not seem to what times it is open on their website, so we won’t either.

According to their website, the property is home to precisely 47 Gaming Tables which include games such as Blackjack, Craps, Pai Gow Poker, Pai Gow Tiles, Roulette and Three-Card Poker. Surprisingly, their website describes Pai Gow Tiles as, “Dominoes,” once, which some players actually seem to be touchy about, sometimes. One guy in particular chewed me out for calling them dominoes. We know that the property has a number of other carnival games (such as Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em), but they don’t list any others on their website, so we would recommend you to call and inquire if looking for a specific game.

Grand Sierra Resort also features a William Hill Sports and Race Book that is unique for a few reasons that we will let them describe:

Unique to GSR is a 2-sided wagering counter running down the middle of the Sportsbook, dividing the space into two sides – one catering specifically to sports bettors and one dedicated to race players.

Another key feature is the addition of three exclusive VIP rooms that include screens for race and sports viewing, private sofa seating and VIP restrooms. The two lower, glass-enclosed VIP rooms seat 10 comfortably, while the upper VIP room can accommodate between 24 and 28 casino guests. During key racing and sporting events, each VIP room is staffed with their own private ticket writer.

The property is also home to a seven table Live Poker room that mostly spreads Limit and No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em and features regular tournaments and promotions. It has been reported that there is sometimes a Seven-Card Stud game there, but only if there is sufficient demand.

The property has various entertainment venues and somewhat regular shows, as well as several bars and lounges, with details that you can find here.

With that, the time has come to turn our attention to my favorite thing—the food operations! If you include quick service (food court) stuff, then the property has just over a dozen food options available. We will start with the quick service places just as a change of pace:

I should do a study to see if more casinos than not have a Starbucks location! Either way, this casino has one.

Round Table Pizza does what it says on the box and is open every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays…other than that, their schedule varies a ton…so it could change in the next month for all we know. We’d recommend just looking at their website if this location is important to you.

Jamba serves up juices, smoothies and salad bowls and is open every day, except Monday and Tuesday, generally from the morning to early evening hours.

Johnny Rockets is fast food, 50’s style, and is open seven days per week from 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. If you’re in the mood for decent burgers and fries and want them quick, then you can’t go wrong.

Port of Subs has similar hours to Johnny Rockets and is otherwise pretty similar to Subway. If you stop in at Port of Subs, let us know which one you prefer!

2nd Street Cafe Express is open 24/7 and has a little of everything, from ready made sandwiches and salads to pizzas to coffee drinks to grab and go options. If you need something really quick or need to get something on your stomach in the wee hours of the morning, then this is where to go.

Finally, Yogurt Beach does what it says on the box and is open from the late morning to late evening hours seven days per week. I’m actually kind of surprised it doesn’t open earlier…seems like it would be a good breakfast option.

That brings us to some of their, “Restaurant Row,” options, which include California Pizza Kitchen, which is currently (2021) open only for dinner service on Thursdays-Saturdays. Many of you have probably seen the frozen version of this brand in your neighborhood grocery store, so feel free to let us know how you think the fresh slices from here compare.

The Grand Cafe is the main American Casual sitdown restaurant for the property that opens at 7:00 a.m. and remains open until the early hours of the morning. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at reasonable prices, this is probably a good place to eat if you have the kids in tow and want a proper sit down meal without dropping a huge chunk of money on something that more youthful diners wouldn’t really know how to appreciate anyway.

The Grand Buffet is currently open for dinner service on Fridays, a breakfast/lunch and dinner service on Saturdays and Sunday Brunch. As of the time of this writing, it is closed from Mondays-Thursdays, but you can check out their website to see if that is still the case. We expect that it might go back to being seven days per week if business returns to pre-COVID levels.

Uno Mas (One More!) Street Tacos is open for dinner service every day except Monday and has this to say about itself:

The place for street tacos, gourmet tacos and ice cold margaritas.

Enjoy the vibrant flavors of Mexico with only the freshest, classic Mexican ingredients prepared using modern techniques. The scent of marinated carne asada in the air. The sounds of Latin America and hand-shaken cocktails.

Experience fire-grilled meats, warm tortillas, freshly made salsa, seasonal vegetables, and delicious drinks. All menu items are made from scratch. Expert mixologists will be preparing margaritas and pouring some of the finest tequilas from around Mexico.

Rim Asian Bistro is open for dinner service every day except Tuesday, and as of the time of this writing, has all you can eat sushi…which is what I’m going to be getting if I have a chance to eat there. If sushi isn’t really your thing, don’t worry, they have a wide variety of other Asian dishes at reasonable prices.

Finally, Charlie Palmer Steak Reno is the property’s upscale steakhouse and is open for dinner service seven nights per week. We should let readers know that this place is NOT cheap, so even some of you who have eaten at Las Vegas Strip Steakhouses might find yourself raising an eyebrow at these prices. They have this to say:

Using advanced culinary techniques, we offer neo-traditional renditions of American steakhouse classics like Prime Ribeye and a decadent 42-ounce Porterhouse steak for two.

Charlie Palmer Steak, Reno’s only celebrity chef-owned restaurant, features Certified Angus Beef® USDA prime steaks, No. 1 grade ahi tuna, and desserts made fresh daily. Reserve your table in our elegant Reno steakhouse and taste excellence for yourself, at Grand Sierra Resort.

The Charlie Palmer Steak Philosophy

“We are rooted in the pursuit of the best ingredients and a simplistic approach in the kitchen, striving to find and as many small, artisan and local producers as possible. With flavor and quality of paramount importance, great produce, poultry, fish, and of course, steaks, are delivered every day from those sources to your table.”

Overall, while we detest Resort Fees, they have become a fact of life and it is otherwise hard not to recommend Grand Sierra Resort to travelers who have kids in tow as there is simply no other casino resort property in Reno with as many activities for the whole family.

We it that the Midway of Circus Circus has a more childlike atmosphere, but when it comes to actual activities…you simply can’t touch Grand Sierra Reno.

For singles or couples who are not travelling with children, Grand Sierra would still be up there on our list of recommendations as some of the non-gambling activities would still appeal to adults. Besides that, the Video Poker seems to be at least pretty good.

Pretty much, the only clientele we could see Grand Sierra Resort not necessarily appealing to are value gamblers, so if you’re looking to save money in all categories, then this would be a property to avoid…as you can do better in room rates and Resort Fees elsewhere.

Harrah’s Reno

As of the time of this writing, the first Harrah’s property, Harrah’s Reno, is closed and is not expected to reopen as a casino property. Harrah’s Reno would close in March of 2020 as a result of Covid-19 and did not reopen after that.

The property is currently owned by CAI Investments, who plans to convert it to apartments, perhaps to include hotel rooms and as a mixed-use city center.

We normally don’t list properties that have closed, but this one is recent enough that we feel like it should be included in our listings.

Peppermill Reno

Peppermill Reno is a Tuscany-themed hotel, casino and resort property that first opened in 1971, on 2,707 South Virginia Street and is currently home to 1,621 guest rooms and suites as well as more than 82,000 square feet of total gambling space. Some websites have them at 107,000+ square feet, but that’s their convention space.

Peppermill Reno is owned by Peppermill Casinos, Inc. and always has been…so other than periodic renovations every several years, it doesn’t have much in the way of history to be discussed.

Room rates (before Resort Fee) tend to be right around $100/night on weekdays for the most basic rooms and there is a $35/night Resort Fee. Weekend rates can vary pretty dramatically from this, depending on demand, and are often well over $200/night when there are special events. Typically, weekend rates live somewhere between $120-$180/night if there isn’t any particular special event in town.

This property also separately charges the $2/night tourism fee rather than just incorporating it into the room rate. Rooms at this hotel will have refrigerators and Keurig coffee machines with the more expensive rooms featuring additional amenities.

The furnishings of this hotel are generally reasonably new and updated and the rooms are comparable to a higher-end limited service hotel, which is basically what this would be if it wasn’t a casino property.

For those of you who don’t mind staying slightly outside of the main resort building, the property also has a few separate wings with slightly lower rates than what we discussed above.

Guests of the property will have access to seasonal outdoor pools, a spa (extra charges apply), a business center, fitness center and wireless internet throughout the property. Additionally, there are a few little shopping outlets as well as an arcade.

Turning our attention to the casino floor offerings, this property is home to more than 1,700 combined video poker, video keno and slot games. Notably, the property emphasises that Video Poker is available on over 700 individual units, including multi-game units and units that are video poker specific. According to VPFree2, Peppermill Reno is home to any number of games with paytables of 99%+ at basically any denomination you can think of, so even budget video poker players looking for decent paytables are sure to find something for them at Peppermill.

Furthermore, Peppermill features 48 gaming tables that include Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, Three-Card Poker, Pai Gow Poker, Four Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, Let it Ride and Pai Gow Tiles. We don’t expect that all of these games operate around the clock, so if you have a specific game in mind, we would recommend calling in advance to get the usual operating days and hours.

Finally, Peppermill has one of the best live Keno operations in the city for those of you who are into that.

Including poolside, Peppermill Reno is home to about fifteen different bars and lounges.

In of their dining operations, Peppermill Reno has ten different selections ranging from fine dining to quick eats.

Starting with fine dining, Bimini Steakhouse is open for dinner service seven nights per week in a simultaneously modern and elegant dining area. They have this to say:

An elevated steakhouse experience, Bimini offers both classic and contemporary preparations of the finest steaks and seafood. Savory, wood-grilled meats and fresh, delicate fish are accompanied by side dishes only offered by Reno’s best steakhouse, along with irresistible small plates and sumptuous desserts. Bimini’s exclusive bar boasts craft cocktail mixology and an extensive wine list featuring more than 1,000 bottles to fully provide guests with an indulgent, memorable meal. 

If you can’t find a wine that you like with more than 1,000 bottles to choose from, then chances are that you simply don’t care for wine all that much. Don’t worry, the food here is fantastic even if you don’t accompany it with a bottle of vino.

CHI is an Asian upscale restaurant that features traditional Asian-inspired aesthetics and is open for dinner service Friday-Tuesday evenings. They have this to say about themselves:

At CHI, Master Asian Chef Benny Tsang brings the delicacies of Asia to Reno through traditional and contemporary dishes. The vast menu includes beef, pork, poultry, and seafood preparations, as well as vegetable and noodle specialties. For an even more robust flavor adventure, begin the meal with one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails, and end the night with one of many dessert options only offered at CHI. 

Lavishly decorated with intricate Asian artwork, rich tapestries, and magnificent statues, CHI delivers a warm, intimate atmosphere sure to charm and captivate.

Romanza is an authentic Italian high-end restaurant with aesthetics to match! Essentially, you’ll feel like you stepped into the blend of a Roman Colosseum and quiet Italian restaurant if you check out this eatery. It’s open for dinner service from Wednesday-Sunday and has this to say:

Home to the finest Italian cuisine Reno has to offer, Romanza is dedicated to the art of handcrafted meals and authentic flavors. Watch as master chefs skillfully prepare each course in the exhibition kitchen, combining locally-sourced ingredients with meats and seafood to transport guests straight to old-world Italy. Romanza’s pastas are handmade daily from age-old recipes, and the wine list overflows with exclusive options straight from Tuscan wineries. 

Accompanying the tantalizing menu is an unparalleled atmosphere of Roman opulence. Set under an enchanted dome, Romanza’s overhead sky scene drifts from starry twilight to a delicately lit dawn, choreographed to classic Italian music. Classic sculptures and Corinthian columns topped with torches add to the experience, one that is sure to leave a lasting impression.

If you decide to stop in, let us know what you think!

Of course, not all Peppermill visitors are going to be inclined to drop top dollar for dinner every evening, but they have nothing to fear as the property features a handful of casual dining options.

The first of these is Biscotti’s, which is open from the morning to late evening hours and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The ambiance of the establishment is kind of modern meets Classical Italian and the menu basically features a little bit from everywhere, but tends to have a more European influence. They describe themselves thus:

Serving classic comfort foods with a twist, Biscotti’s expansive menu can satisfy any breakfast, lunch, or dinner craving. These tried-and-true dishes offer global flavors alongside home-cooked favorites, accompanied by a large selection of wines, craft beer, and signature cocktails.

For those without time for a sit-down meal, Biscotti’s Café serves gourmet coffee and fresh-baked pastries, prepared salads and sandwiches, and generous scoops of Peppermill Reno’s house-made gelato. Voted Reno’s best coffee shop by Casino Player Magazine, it’s the perfect stop for grab-and-go treats.

Personally, we would describe this restaurant as high-end food at an upscale casual price. This restaurant might not be cheap, but it is a decent value.

Oceano is open from the late morning to late evening hours, and as you would expect from the name, focuses on a wide variety of seafood offerings. They have this to say:

Featuring an extensive menu with only the freshest seafood, Oceano is a favorite for everything under the sea. Enjoy specialty catches, ever-changing all-you-can-eat sushi, and the best stews and chowders. Waiting to complement any meal are fine wines and sakes, both served by the glass. 

Recently remodeled to reflect the beauty and serenity of the ocean, Oceano now boasts large-format LCD screens that depict gorgeous scenes from all over the world and a private dining room for intimate gatherings. Perfect for everything from a quick, flavorful lunch to an indulgent, leisurely dinner, Oceano is sure to satisfy.

I’m obviously going to go directly for the all you can eat sushi, but for those of you who aren’t sushi fans, there are plenty of other delicious dishes at reasonable prices for what you’re getting. Just don’t be surprised if the prices are more than you expect as we would say this is slightly more than what you might be used to at Red Lobster; totally worth it, though.

Cafe Milano is actually where the entire casino started and remains a brightly lit upscale casual affair that is open 24/7 and serves all three meals of the day. That said, there is an emphasis on the, “Upscale,” in upscale casual and you can expect to pay well more here than you might at restaurants with similar offerings.

If you’re looking to dine on a budget, then you will want to check out something like Biscotti’s Cafe, which has a wide variety of more affordable options and has this to say about itself:

Offering casual dining at an elevated level, Biscotti’s Café is known best for its exquisite bakery case, full of tempting pastries and gelato. Cakes, chocolates, cannoli, and fruit tarts are freshly prepared by an award-winning pastry team every day, as are the more than 20 gelato flavors available in generous portions.

Also available from Biscotti’s Café are breakfast, lunch, and dinner options on a smaller scale. Enjoy flatbread or New York style pizza customized with your favorite toppings day or night, or grab a packaged sandwich or salad for a meal on the go. Pair any of these items with made-to-order gourmet coffee drinks, fruit smoothies, or Italian sodas, and discover for yourself why Biscotti’s Café is such a popular destination for our guests.

Anyway, this would be one of four places to go if you’re looking to save a buck. If you want something quick, then you’ll be happy to know that many of the items are already ready to go.

Another place to eat at a reasonable price is Cafe Espresso, which is open 24/7 and features a variety of coffee drinks and some ready to go sandwiches and salads as well as other items (and paninis) that can be whipped up quickly.

The Sports Deli basically does what it says on the box and is the place to go for made-to-order sandwiches brought to you quickly.

Finally, the Back Bar is one of the property’s lounges that has your typical bar staples as well as an assortment of appetizers at the prices you would expect from a sports bar chain.

Overall, we think that the dining options at Peppermill Reno tend to be more expensive than other casinos with only a handful of low-priced options. Even the Casual dining options at this casino tend to be more expensive than those of other casinos.

Overall, we would recommend Peppermill Reno to singles and couples who don’t mind spending a little extra on their stay and their dining. In fairness, it does have on of the better dining varieties that you’re going to find in Reno, so even those enjoying a stay of several days will probably have little reason to leave the property.

If you’re not staying, then Peppermill Reno is still a great place for Video Poker players to check out as they offer a wide assortment of 99%+ paytables at virtually all denominations. This is true even for budget conscious gamblers who might choose to stay and eat elsewhere.

Sands Regency

Located at 345 North Arlington Avenue, Sands Regency is one of Reno’s smaller casino resort properties and is home to 833 guest rooms and suites and just shy of 26,000 square feet of gambling space.

Originally opened in 1970 and owned by the Cladianos Family and would add two additional hotel towers (it opened with one) in the 1980’s, bringing it to roughly its current room count.

Affinity Gaming, known for the, “Terrible’s” brand, would purchase the Sands Regent company (and its three casinos) in 2006 and essentially kept the Sands Regency branding.

Of course, the Great Recession was soon to follow and Affinity Gaming would sell Sands Regency to a company called Truckee Gaming for 19.2 million in 2013, which they then sold to current-owner, Jacobs Entertainment, for 30 million, in 2017.

The best way to describe the rates is, “Dirt cheap,” with standard rooms sometimes going for under fifty bucks on weekdays, before factoring in the $22.70/night Resort Fee. Even weekend rates tend to live somewhere under $100, unless there is a massive special event in the area, or some other holiday.

For readers out there who are most interested in gambling offerings and just want your overnight accommodations to be cheap, it’s tough to do better than this in Reno!

Rooms are pretty comparable to most midgrade Economy Hotels, very basic and a little dated, but clean and get the job done. Amenities for all rooms include access to the seasonal pool, wireless internet, refrigerator and coffee maker…additional amenities are available for their more expensive rooms in the Aspen Tower.

For whatever reason, the Sands regency website does not seem to include an overall machine count, but does mention that they have more than 100 machines in their non-smoking section. According to VPFree2, compared to elsewhere in Reno, the Video Poker leaves a lot to be desired with no games over 99%.

Table Games are open from 11-11 seven days per week as of the time of this writing and include Blackjack, Pai Gow Poker, Roulette and Craps. According to their website, Craps is only available from Thursday-Saturday starting at 5:00 p.m., so keep that in mind. At an d minimum of $10 on every game, their table minimums aren’t that low for what is purportedly a value property.

The property is also home to live Bingo as well as a William Hill Sportsbook.

The property has four dining options, which include The Sands Buffet, currently open for dinner service Thursdays-Sundays, as of the time of this writing. They say it’s the best buffet in Reno, and for the price, it had better be.

Cabana Cafe is open from the early morning to late evening hours on Thursdays-Mondays and is the spot for quick eats such as pizzas, sandwiches and salads.

Mel’s Diner is open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner seven days per week and stays open from 7:00 a.m. until the early morning hours. The prices are pretty much what you would expect from a Casual American diner, so this is the place if you want a cheap, but decent, meal.

Finally, Tacos Tijuana is a reasonably priced taco place that is open every day except Wednesdays from the late morning to late evening hours. The offerings here are pretty basic, but also pretty good. It’s relatively cheap and will get the job done.

That’s about it. Sands Regency is basically a Reno value property in every way except for the fact that the gambling offerings don’t seem to be all that great. Video Poker players might consider staying here on the cheap while playing (and hopefully earning future comps) at other properties. We guess the Table Games here are okay, but most guests to this hotel casino will be there mainly just because they want to save money on room and dining.

Silver Legacy Reno

The Silver Legacy Reno is located at 407 North Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada, and first opened its doors in July of 1995. This casino was built with a Victorian theme and its current room count sits at 1,720 guest rooms and suites with 89,200 square feet of gambling space.

The property was a t effort of Don Carano (CEO of ElDorado Casino) and Clyde Turner, CEO of Circus Circus Enterprises with both partners (then companies) having an equal stake in the property. That would remain the case until 2015 at which time MGM Resorts International (which had absorbed the former Circus Circus Resorts company) would agree to sell all of its Reno holdings, which would include its half-stake in Silver Legacy, to El Dorado Resorts…which made El Dorado Resorts the sole owner of Silver Legacy.

The current owner of the property is Caesars Entertainment, but technically, hasn’t changed. El Dorado Gaming bought out Caesars Entertainment in recent years, but chose to change the name of the combined company to Caesars Entertainment (or keep it the same, depending on the casino in question) to reflect the more well-known brand.

Generally speaking, normal weekday rates on standard rooms are between $50-$100 with special events being more and before you consider the $30/night Resort Fee. Weekend rates can be all over the place depending on what’s going on in town, with less busy weekends generally ranging from $150-$200…though rates will sometimes be much higher if there are holidays or special events.

In addition to the property’s spa (added charges), hotel amenities include a seasonal outdoor pool, fitness center and a few small shopping outlets. The property is home to a business center and guests will enjoy wireless Internet access. Finally, all rooms feature Keurig Coffee Makers, but some of the lower priced rooms may not have refrigerators.

In of non-gambling stuff to do (other than the spa) Silver Legacy is home to a TopGolf Swing Suite location with rates comparable to others. The property is home to a location of The Laugh Factory, which features regular performances and we would recommend checking out their website for more details on that. Additionally, the property’s mian entertainment venue is the Grande Exposition Hall, which features major national acts from time to time.

The property features a total of six lounges and nightclubs with various themes.

The casino floor is home to more than 1,000 combined slot, video poker and video keno games ranging in denominations from pennies to $100. According to VPFree2, there is one 100%+ Double Bonus Video Poker Paytable available on a few machines as well as almost more 99%+ returning games than you can count. Despite the fact that this is one of the higher end Reno properties, some of these games have denominations as low as nickels, though most start at quarters.

There are 48 Table Games at the casino including Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold Em, Let it Ride and Three Card Poker. We doubt that all of these games are open around the clock, so we would recommend calling in advance for the usual days and times of operation if you are looking for a specific game.

The property is home to a Live Keno lounge, but does not seem to list their hours of operation on the website. It might be different since the last time I was there, so I would recommend that you call and inquire for the current days/times of operation if that is what you are looking for.

It should come as no surprise that this property is home to a Caesars Race and Sportsbook that features thirty big screens lining the wall and is arguably the best place in Reno to get your bets down and watch the games. The best part is that this sportsbook has a dedicated bar that is open most hours of the day, seven days per week.

With that, we will turn our attention to the dining side of operations and start with Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, which is a fairly well-known chain with several restaurants around the country. If you’ve been to one before and liked it, then it’s certainly a safe choice, if nothing else. As of the time of this writing, it is open for dinner service seven evenings per week.

If you’re looking for Casual American food at reasonable prices, then look no further than Cafe Central, which is open 24/7 most days and stays open late into the evening on Tuesdays. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Cafe Central is a popular spot for folks who want a delicious meal without dropping a ton of money. If you’ve had a few too many to drink and need to get something on your stomach before going to bed, don’t worry, their late night menu has you covered.

Canter’s Delicatessen was not reopened after the casino reopened post the Covid-19 closures, and, when we asked staff, they seemed unsure of whether or not it would be coming back. If it is to come back, we would expect it to do so by Summer 2022, but if not, then there’s a fair chance that this low-priced sandwich shop is gone for good.

Another Covid casualty that has yet to reopen is the Pearl Oyster Bar and Grill, but take heart, as it’s only listed as, “Temporarily Closed,” so it might open back up when Post-Covid business picks back up.

Sips Coffee and Tea is located in the hotel lobby, but is currently listed simply as, “Closed,” so it seems that one might not ever be coming back. I guess visitors to the Silver Legacy will have to be happy to settle for Starbucks when getting their caffeine fix.

The Spa Cafe and Bar is open Friday-Monday during the late morning to early evening hours and mostly features healthy foods. As the name would imply, it’s part of the spa.

As we can see, the dining options at Silver Legacy have been watered way down, but this property is connected to the Circus Circus and El Dorado, so overall, the dining options between the three are okay…if not a bit inconvenient.

This is a great property for Video Poker players and it’s our experience that Caesars Entertainment treats them reasonably when it comes to comps and room offers. Beyond that, the prices are basically reasonable, but it’s a much more watered-down property than it used to be. It should also be mentioned that it doesn’t have as much in the way of family friendly activities as the other Reno properties, so this one is going to be a tough one for us to recommend to most Reno visitors.

Siena Reno

This property sometimes appears on listing sites, but there has been no casino here in more than a half decade. The property isn’t even called Siena-Anything anymore, and is a Renaissance Hotel location now.

Siri’s Casino

I consulted my iPhone and Siri says that this casino doesn’t belong to her, but either way, Siri’s Casino is located at 241 North Virginia Street.

This casino and bar is pretty much the definition of a locals hangout and is home to about 150 combined slot machines, video poker and video keno games. The property also features a small 24/7 American restaurant with casual eats at really low prices.

That’s about it, but it’s a fun place to hang out with some Reno locals and has just enough machines to get its own listing. According to VPFree2, they have three Video Poker games that return north of 99%.

Tamarack Junction Reno

Tamarack Junction Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada is a casino and restaurant located at 13101 South Virginia Street and is frequented mainly by locals. Looking at the property from the outside, if not for the signage, it could be mistaken for a chain restaurant or clothing store, so pretty nondescript.

The property is home to more than 500 combined slot, video poker and video keno games. According to VPFree2, there are something like a half dozen Video Poker paytables that return 99%, or more, with Optimal Strategy. That’s pretty typical for Reno, but still might be a fun place for VP players to check out.

The property is also home to a small race and sports book with live betting available from the mid-morning to early evening hours seven days per week.

The property features two dining establishments, of which one is a steakhouse that is open for dinner service in the evenings from Wednesday-Sunday nights.

For folks looking for something more casual, the DC Cafe is open from seven a.m. until the late evening hours seven days per week and is a casual American food place dishing out breakfast, lunch and dinner at reasonable prices.

Basically, this is just a fun little spot that might be worth checking out for decent Video Poker and if you want to hang out with some Reno locals.