The Horseshoe is okay, if you're into that sort of thing.
Depending on the time of day (or night) you go, who's working, and how lazy the cocktail waitresses plan to be that night, you can either have a great time or walk away broke and pissed at the lack of service you received.
Their cocktail "Ambassador" program needs to be shut down. It's impossible to get a drink on a friday or saturday night.
That said, this place is probably the most Vegas-like casino in the midwest. Whether that's a good or bad thing I'll let you decide.
Gambling was one of the few vices I didn't pick up. Why am I here? Sunday A.M. breakfast buffet. I was looking to stop in a bar on 106th St. that was a couple blocks from Indiana. It wasn't open, I had nothong better to do, so I headed east with no particular place to go.
  Horseshoe Casino. Close by. All casinos have food. Winner, winner...
  The staff is great. Other than the hideous bad acid trip inspired butterfly man emerging from a lotus statue in the front of the place, the room is beautiful, the buffet is extensive with mult-cultural sections as well as the carving & omelette stations, and there's a nice northern view of the Marina of Degenerate Gamblers.
  To get to the buffet you do have to traverse the roomful of glazed-eyed people slumped over or passed out at the slots but it's only 10:00 A.M. So nobody's passed out on the floor yet. There's also virtually no one in the buffet at this hour to bar your way to overindulgent eating.
  The salad bar selections were pretty light but I doubt that most here are concerned with their general health. The greens were crisp, there were eight dressings, and the additives were a decent general selection.
  The Italian station had a good subtle cold sweet & sour mushroom salad, great moist meatballs in scratch made tomato sauce with flat leaf parsley, and a good warm spicy Italian sausage salad with bell peppers & onions. The shrimp alfredo was flat and although the shrimp were cooked properly the orichiette were a little over done.
  The Latin station was a bummer. Fortunately it wasn't designated to a specific country so that a whole region could equally share blame for the quality of the food. Commercial guacamole, burnt refried beans, bland taco meat, and under seasoned (although relatively moist) pork loin. As for the beans the burnt part is something you find a lot of, not necessarilly burnt to the Be Jesus, but the faintly detected burnt that comes from not watching a pot of a very thick mixture closely enough.
  The Middle eastern items were hit or miss. The calamari were slightly rubbery but still crisp, delicately seasoned, and surprisingly unf*cked up for this type of food on a buffet. The lamb with garbanzo beans was a little dry but flavorful with a nice bite of cinnamon in the sauce. The skordalia was a sledgahammer to the palate of lemonized puree, something that could possibly turn your head inside out. I'm drawing a blank here for the dish's name but the spinach and puff pastry, while suffering a touch from sitting under the lamps was still rich and the crust miraculously still retained a lot of it's texture and hadn't become spinach-logged. Words fail me for the flavor of the baba ghanoush. Insect repellant comes to mind.
  Asian station. The kimchee and seaweed salads were pretty good, very subtly seasoned seaweed, but the edamame was wrinkled like post bathtub skin, and the eggrolls could've been used the same way you'd use a roll of quarters in a fist fight.
  Great ribs with tender meat that still had the right tug to it and a nice KC style BBQ sauce and good bitter greens with a hint of honey. The mac n' cheese was srerviceable with al dente pasta, the steamed broccoli was perfect, and the biscuits with pepper gravy were light and the pepper in the gravy bit but didn't overwhelm.
  I was too cashed in for omelettes and this review is too long for a room description.
  Eugenia was a doll. Great service, promptly removing empty plates, and little touches like placing a napkin over my beer glass while I was at the buffet. Now, off to Crowbar.
There's a fine line between the Horseshoe Hammond Casino's multiparous "free casino shuttles" and kidnapping. Let's compare our potential fates:
Horseshoe: Poor to non-existent cell phone signal.
Kidnapper: Contacts your family at no charge.
Horseshoe: VIP desk is not staffed
Kidnapper: You are the only VIP.
Horseshoe: Chef-boy-r-deeish buffet may be purchased for $25
Kidnapper: Drops complimentary food down a pipe into your residence.
Horseshoe: Smells like the inside of the Marlboro man's left lung.
Kidnapper: Varies.
This is without question the worst place I've ever been. I can't think of a single good thing to say about it.
It stinks. The air reeks of smoke and bodies. It's so bad that I had to jump in the shower the minute I got home. My clothes went directly to the cleaners.
There is not enough parking. The lot was completely full and cars were prowling like sharks waiting for someone to leave.
Speaking of leaving, we had to wait 40 minutes to get something from the coat check, then rather than waiting in line for the elevators, we took the stairs. That's when we realized there was only one point of entry/exit - the whole parking structure was a complete gridlock. Took another 40 minutes to get out.
Take that back - I can think of one good thing. The Venue, their concert hall, is pretty good. Not great but certainly passable. Everything else about the experience... yuck.
I can't think of a single reason to go back.
Here's the simple reason why I give this place a 3 star: there are no hotels assoicated with this casino.....For travelers like us there's really not a reason to plan a flight when other Horseshoe's can better accomodate......
Outside of that, it was "7 Star" treatment as usual....the casino floor stays busy and there is a great selection of pregressive slots. Great times!
It's cool. Decent gaming. I mostly go here for the buffet because they're free. The food is usually alright at best. A few times the wait stall if really bad. Last time I went, 1-5-2013, we ended up having at least 8 plates on our table. Before they got picked up. Waiting for our drinks to be refilled was ridiculous.
Review Source:I'm not a big casino guy, but occasionally I'll partake in a bet or two when the situation calls for it. Â I ended up going to the Horseshoe for the final leg of a bachelor party, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Â This is just over the IL/IN border in IN, but not a terribly far drive. Â I will say you do drive through a little bit of a seedy area to get there, and aside from the casino, theres not much around, so plan accordingly. Â This casino is fairly big, with a lot of table games as well as machines. Â It reminds me of a Vegas style casino over all other options that I've experience in IL..(i.e. both Joliet Casinos)
Review Source:This review is mainly for the buffet at the casino. Our group decided to go here for dinner on a Saturday night. To get the most out of it, I had water for lunch. By the time I got to the casino, I was very hungry. And by the time we went through all the various lines, I was starving.
You get a total discount of about $5 if you have the casino's rewards card so we went and got that before we entered the buffet. The line for the buffet was quite long, and it took them a while to find a table for 7 people. The drinks are free though so I got a lemonade.
They have a large selection of things to choose from, and I made it my goal to try everything. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful but I did try most of the food. At first, everything tasted great (probably cause I was starving), but then things started to decline. I liked the prime rib the most, but most of the dishes were mediocre. The chicken chorizo however, ruined my appetite.
Trying to get that taste out, I moved on to desserts. They have a huge selection of desserts and I have a huge sweet tooth. I couldn't try every dessert either, so I settled with the strawberry shortcake, chocolate caramel pecan cheesecake, and tiramisu. My favorite was definitely the cheesecake.
By the end of the night, I felt that the food was just okay. It is better than old country buffet, but not as good as a casino buffet in Vegas. I would give this place 3.5 stars overall. In July, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it appears they have lobster at the buffet. It is more expensive at $30, but it might be better. Anyways, after dinner, I decided to try my luck at Craps and Roulette, and I basically won my dinner back. Winner winner, chicken chorizo dinner! :(
Gambling was good to me and the dealers were very friendly. Â The Venue Theatre was nice, seats were very comfortable. Â Everything was easy to find.
Smoking was horrible if youre a non-smoker. Buffet was absolutely dreadful...only thing good was the frozen pizza. Eat before you come so you can avoid it!
The cool temps in the Horseshoe were so refreshing after a hot afternoon outside.
No problem parking. At all.
Casino was spacious. And clean.
Smoking is annoying but not overly so.
My dealer was absolutely personable and upbeat.
Really liked that they had $5.00 tables.
There were more than enough cashiers.
Soda was free.
I'm not much for gambling but my husband is a crapsaholic, so off to Horseshoe we go! Â I'm just going to give you some things I have observed despite my unwillingness to throw down my hard earned money:
1) There is still smoking here and it is not well ventilated despite the immense space in this place. Â My eyes are still burning.
2) Table minimums are usually high here. Â Today we went and there were all $10-$15 tables for craps. Â It would be nice to see something cheaper, although it's preferable to $25+ tables.
3) The parking garage, despite it's size, is always pretty full. Â How is there never parking here??
4) The staff is meh. Â I have yet to meet a dealer who actually smiled or gave a shit that you were there to be entertained or served.
5) Clientele is frightening. Â At least it's good for people watching.
6) ONE POSITIVE THOUGH: I found that Sixth Street, the back bar with the poker tables, has 24 craft beers on tap. Â 24! Â This was the only savior of the trip.
Honestly, without the craft beer, I wouldn't go again.
Buffett - Highlites
Tamale bites
Latin Ribs
Fried Chicken
Dessert bar
JB's gourmet -
Cheeseburgers
Pot roast sandwich (when they have it)
Everything else super expensive
Noodle bar -
Salt and Pepper pork chop
Jack Binion's Steak house *** my favorite one
Compared to Chicago area steak houses, it's a tad below high quality, HOWEVER,
they give you a crazy amount of food for the price. Â One side is enough to share with a date. Â Seafood options aren't bad at all. Â Has that traditional steak house feel of red velvet booths, cigar humidor, and a view of dirty dirty Lake Michigan/Gary, IN. Â
Service is very friendly.
The Horseshoe in Hammond Indiana is one of my favorite casinos in the Chicago-land area after their renovations.
They have tons of table games (which I love) and their poker room is great.
The food options here are also really good.
- JB's Gourmet Sandwiches
- Uno Express
- Benny's Pub & Eatery
- Foo Noodle Bar
- Jack Binion's Steak House
- Village Square Buffet
Never again will I go to this place. Parking is a joke, so take the shuttle if you can, especially if you're from the Chicagoland area. It took me about a half hour to park (on the roof) and almost two hours to get out of the garage.
The casino itself is incredibly large and full of choices, I'll give it that. However, there's minimal floorspace and you're herded about the place like cattle because there's literally no open area.
It's also in Indiana. That's reason alone to deduct a star.
Smell of cigarettes from the moment you enter the elevators and high minimum limits for my fav game, roulette. 10 dollars for a rapid roulette? And it was not rapid at all. The staffs were super slow.
Maybe my expectations were high and I was comparing it with casinos in Vegas but I didn't like it.
The main problem with the Horseshoe Buffet is that it is NOT consistent in presentation, quality and taste. Â Basically, it's a hit or miss dining experience with the food depending on internal factors.
If you happen to visit when everything is going well for them.... It can be a very decent dining experience.
However, just like the gambling venue that it is...... It's really a throw of the dice whether you will walk away a winner after eating at their buffet.
Terrible. A complete disgrace. Â These people are LIARS!!!
It started out ok. Â The carpet is very nice.
Then I get in there and I'm like "ohh, look a blackjack game, that should be fun to play for ENTERTAINMENT purposes only". Â Next thing I know this total btch dealer goes on an ungodly 10 minute streak of only 20s and 21s. Â My money...gone. Totally gifted to those 1% jagoff casino baron a-holes who pay no taxes due to their accounting tricks.
Next, I'm like "oh my god, look.. its slots. This should be a low key way to maybe spend a few minutes while not losing too much of my hard earned money". Â YEAH RIGHT...as it turns out. Â You know what..I don't think those slots are loose at all. And they say that they are the loosest in all of Indiana. Â If thats true how come I lost. ANSWER THAT!!!. Â I mean.. it totally makes no sense. Â
Now I've been taking my anxiety medication almost every day now. Im taking it because I suffer from ANXIETY. Â Last week, I fell down the stairs and I hurt my elbow. It's probably broken. Â Yes, it still hurts. Â And from 2 months ago, I have neck pain in my neck. Â I have taken ALL the medication my doctore gave me and it's still REALLY painful. That doctor is such a liar. His drugs dont work. Â AND, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A PAIN FREE AND ANXIETY FREE DAY..thank you very much. Is that possible?? Unfortunately, I have been humiliated, disgraced, and yes..DISROBED of my honor and pride and money. Â
1 star review for you Horseshoe casino for cheating me and stealing my money. Â Maybe you should open up a side business torturing puppies or STOMPING ON FLOWERS. I bet you would like that.
In a rare series of events, my job actually forced me to take some days off. Â I do it so infrequently, they told me that if I didn't use those days off, I'd lose them at a certain point when rollover for the year occurred. Â So I looked for the days when it would be most convenient for me and as little inconvenient for them, and put in for some days off to presumably sit around with nothing to do other than NOT work.
And that's when it hit me: I live right by the #62 Archer bus, which takes me directly to Archer & Wentworth where there is a free shuttle bus that takes you straight to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN!
(Please keep in mind that 99% of my casino-related experiences prior were all Las Vegas casinos, having relatives in Vegas that we visited often until a few years ago.)
Our shuttle bus arrived at the casino and we stepped off and breathed in that distinct lake air. Â Then we hustled inside so we wouldn't have to breathe much more of that air. Â Since we didn't already have our little Membership Cards like the others, we had to head over to the service desk and register for ours, which means we also get our ticket for the free shuttle back to Chicago. Â I love how the LOWEST level of membership card that you start out at is the Gold card. Â You can eventually work your way to Platinum and then to Diamond or something like that. Â I wasn't planning on spending enough money to qualify for either of those in one trip (one thing I learned in Vegas is that you have to set limits for yourself) so we took our Gold cards and headed off to scope out our gambling options.
What I discovered at the Horseshoe is a lot like a Vegas-style setup. Â You have a sea of slot machines, with the center area reserved for tables of poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, et cetera. Â On the sides, you'll find alcoves for a bar, for a high-roller slot machines area, a high-roller tables area, and connections to the various eateries.
Fortunately, one of those eateries is a buffet, so we patiently waited for that to open and set off to gamble. Â My gal is a Roulette Gal, so that's where she wandered and that's where she stayed. Â I'm a slot machine / video poker kind of guy. Â I like the thought of sitting down, pressing a button, and randomly getting a reward. Â Or, in the case of multi-hand video poker, pressing some extra buttons to feign strategy and then randomly getting a reward.
Our initial mometary investments in the morning were fruitful. Â She got into her Roulette Groove, and I tried to employ as much "hot machine" logic as possible. Â I waited for someone to give up on a machine in the 1-cent and 2-cent play areas without striking it big, and played a few rounds after they left to see if it would pay off for me. Â Happened a few times. Â Didn't happen a few times. Â Ah, gambling. Â In the end, we were both up a bit of money and realized it was almost buffet time. Â I think I'll put that in a separate review for the Village Square Buffet.
We left feeling stuffed and ready to invest some of our profits back into the gambling system. Â We allocated a portion of our winnings and both headed to the roulette table to play together this time. Â We each wound up with our own system. Â Hers was more of a "hot numbers combined with Red/Black" system. Â Mine was more of a "Red/Black until I'm up enough to try and win on some hot numbers or the numbers everyone else is betting on so I won't feel left out if they all win" system.
Luckily there were more tables open to us after we had brunch. Â Previously, there was just one roulette table that everyone was crowding around and they eventually switched the minimum bet from $5 to $10, so there were no longer any $5 available roulette tables. Â After lunch, a few more tables had opened up and we even got two seats next to each other.
This is when I finally got into it and started noticing the real atmosphere of the place. Â It wants to be Vegas. Â It tries to be Vegas. Â It's got some pretty nice headliners on the horizon who I would definitely make a return trip just to see. Â One thing that struck me was that we are in a casino in Indiana, which means people CAN SMOKE. Â It frankly didn't bother me at all. Â It smelled... Â natural of a casino, I suppose.
Unfortunately our luck had run out by that point. Â We started with a portion of our winnings, lost it all eventually, then invested a little more of the profit, and after 2 or 3 rounds of this, we eventually decided that we had hit our limit. Â It was early in the afternoon and we felt we'd already put in a full day of gambling. Â We were all gambled out for the day. Â Checking the time, we figured that we could head back to the bus area and catch the hourly bus that would be leaving shortly. Â All in all, we had a fun day here at the Horseshoe Casino. Â We left ahead in total, but we know that next time we come back, that'll likely change. Â But that's what gambling is.
(And it doesn't matter - I always get 'em back at the buffet!)
Needle disposal boxes in the bathrooms? Â Check.
Oxygen-masked senior citizens being carted behind their overly-chunky descendants? Â Check.
Giant all-you-can-eat buffet with schizoprenic woman yelling at her food next to me? Â Check.
Ah, Jack Binion. Â You truly do make it right for the gambler. Â If by "right," of course, you mean "uncomfortable and depressing."
I end up in this place every few months for a comedy show or a concert. Â The Venue is large and decently comfortable, but the speakers are overly loud for the front rows, and the floor seats are painful. Â
The Jack Binion steakhouse is delicious, but horribly overpriced (because they know they're the only actually good restaurant within 20 miles). Â And god help you if you have any sort of problem or issue with your reservation, because the hostesses could care less about accommodating you.
I was almost at two stars, however it's not fair to compare it to Vegas, so I'll give it a Yelp A-OK rating, it is Indiana after all.
The casino itself, decently clean the carpet is in good shape and not stained, the restroom is appointed nicely and also kept clean. They have several bar stations along the walls which are never open and food offerings are sparse. There is the obligatory buffet, a steak house, a little sandwich/salad shop, and some other restaurant looks to be a Chinese one now, but it wasn't open. Don't know when they added the Uno's but it looks depressing and it most likely will be gone soon enough. Â
I guess it's something to do during the dreary winter nights of the mid-west. You will find plenty of senior citizens here. They catch a free bus ride from Chicago at a Jewel up by Harlem & Foster and another stop in Chinatown, so you can catch a ride there for free.
Be warned, smoking is allowed at this casino. So much so that you may start eyeballing a passing senior's oxygen tank.
I like to gamble occasionally, which is good because occasionally is all I can take of Horseshoe. I seem to go back when the memory of my last visit fades.
It will be interesting to see how the new place in Des Plaines will be, I don't mind losing a few bucks, even better if they go to my home State, but you shouldn't have to hack up a lung in the process.
Terrible! Garbage! A joke!
Ghetto as hell. I refused for a long time to go to this casino because I am in love with my Blue Chip and there was a damn good reason for this. It is right outside of Chicago by the south side so I guess I should have expected a large number of Black people here but man. Then we called ahead to ask if they had a specific game and they said, but of course when we got there, they didn't have it. Soda is free (of course) but you have to go to a concession stand to get it. At Blue Chip they have soda fountain and you handle it yourself. There was no one at the help desk when we got there and the waitresses waiting around look like brothel women....and not good looking ones.
Hammond Indiana is a terrible and fantastic little town. It's small, industrial, and the only reason to go there is because there's a casino and a plethora of strip clubs.
I went to check out the poker room and was pleasantly surprised. Lots of tables, it was absolutely packed, the dealers and the staff were very friendly, and it was like a mini-kind-of-run-down-Vegas.
You have to pay for your cocktails while you're gambling; don't expect free drinks here. They're $5 a pop, generally, so budget accordingly!
Disclaimer: This review is for the poker room only. This means I have no idea if the slots are loose, how many hundreds of old people crowd the buffet or if they pour a stiff drink. But if you play hold'em, either cash games or tournaments, it's great. I've also only gone on weekday daylight hours so I have no idea what it looks like at night. That aside...
The poker room is beautiful, the staff is professional and the players competent. I've  been for the $110 buy-in Tuesday/ Thursday event and each time I had a great experience. The room and the tables are both managed well. Although you will want to call ahead to get on the waiting list for a table.  If you don't you'll find yourself increasingly frustrated as people who called ahead get seated before you. They leave you on the list for an hour so if you call while on the way you'll be at the front of the line when you arrive.
I've read the other reviews describing the awful clientele. I didn't really notice the fat, the sad or the invalids others did. While there were many of the reported oldsters spinning the slots there wasn't the grimy, dangerous element I see stalking some of the other area casinos. If I have to chose I'll take nursing home affiliated over gang affiliated any day!
See you at the tables.
I don't really gamble, but a friend of mine does and one day he wanted to go play some blackjack and wanted me to tag a long. Â Sigh. Â I played the hell out of some penny slots for about an hour and then got bored and went to watch the Sox game in the bar. Â
Reasons why I didn't like Horseshoe (besides not being a gambler):
1. Â This place is depressing. Â Everyone is old, overweight, disabled, or just plain sad. Â Sometimes they are a combination all four.
2. Â The air conditioning is mucho high. Â I almost froze my nipples off!
3. Â People still smoke indoors. Â Cough, cough, wheeze!
4. Â $2 for a small cup of Diet Coke. Â Really??
My wife and I decided to stop in here since we were driving by. Â Bad idea. Â It's amongst refineries and docks and just the drive into the parking structure is depressing. Â We were asked for ID by "security." Â They asked what my birthday was and how old I was. Â My wife and I are clearly in our early 30's. Â I'm not complaining about being asked for ID, but for asking stupid questions like how old I am. Â If I were using a fake ID, wouldn't the birthday and age be the first thing I memorized? Â OK...maybe that's a little nitpicky.
On to the gaming floor. Â Wow. Â The slots are set up very close to each other. Â There is no place to get away from 75 year olds chain smoking their Virginia Slims whilst occupying 3 machines. Â The cleintele is obviously not made up of people just out to have a little fun...these people are gambling their pension/SS checks away.
I expect a little smoke in the air at a casino, but wow...this place must not have any ventilation at all...the minute I walked onto the floor, the air smelled stale and smoky...overwhelmingly so.
We spent about 10 minutes and left.
Stay away!
Went here today for the brunch buffet and I enjoyed myself. Was it the best buffet I have ever been to? No, but I left completely stuffed and I didn't even get to try everything. The employees I encountered were all friendly. I would definitely go again.
The only cons: beverages are brought to you by a server, and we had to wait a bit after we sat down for her to make an appearance. However, the glasses of juice/pop/water/etc. are huge so it's not likely you'd need a refill. Â Also, the parking garage can be rather cutthroat. There is nothing like walking to your car with someone idling 20 feet behind you, to take your spot the millisecond you pull out. But I'll put up with a lot for "all you can eat" for twenty bucks. It's just the way I roll.....
Wow, this place was even worse then I had expected.
My friend decided for her birthday all she wanted was a little food, a little drink, a free shuttle, and some chips. Sounded like a great plan. A group of 10 met up for food at LuxBar, which was pretty yummy. We then waited outside Tavern on Rush for the free shuttle to the Horseshoe Casino. We had no idea where it would actually pick us up because every time we called the Horseshoe staff was extremely rude & just would say "It's a free shuttle. Look for it." Wow, awesome.
Anyway, the shuttle arrived a bit after 9 pm & we rushed it like it was full of candy. It was not. Luckily we were equipped with a lot of vodka & Sprite Big Gulps. Delish. It took us about 25 minutes to get there, which was a-okay with me. I think we all had the best time of the entire night on the shuttle ride.
We walked in, got our id's checked, and were unleashed into the world that is known as The Horseshoe Casino. We ran up to the first black jack table we saw....$50.00 minimum. Say what? We ran around & that's all that we saw... $50, $50, $50. NO WAY! We finally found a $15.00 dollar table & were willing to pay that. Unfortunately the lady standing around told us she had been waiting for 3 hours to sit down. Um, no thanks. Why didn't we play slots? We wanted to win millions that night. We ended up sitting in the bar drinking...a lot....until the next shuttle left (12 am).
Unfortunately we ended up with a very sick birthday girl on a bumpy bus from Hammond Indiana to Chicago, IL. The two don't go very well together. I blame the Horseshoe.
Well what to do on a Saturday night to mix it up from the usual things we do on a Saturday night??? Thats right!.....head to the Casino and gamble some hard earned dinero away! and drink!
I call it Practicing for Vegas 2010! hehehehehehe
Ok I have been to this Casino in the past when It was a little boat But oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this place has changed for the better! I walked in and tought I was back in Vegas or somethin!
nice job on redoing this place! It isnt a boat anymore! But better yet is a huge 1 floor space, high ceilings, spacious!!! spacious!
wow!
The bar in the middle named PUSH is awesome!!!!! nice leather couches and dimly lit! Screens all around the place, and for privacy at 9pm a sily type curtain closes off the circular bar from the casino.....kinda cool!!!AGAIN reminded me of a lounge in Vegas. Â It reminded us of the big apple bar at the NY NY in Vegas.
We even got shuttled here for FREE....thats right Shake & Bake didnt even have to drive! yeah you know what that means.......... FLASK and pound booze on the shuttle over!!! thank heaven for 7 eleven!!
Good times!
SHake & bake seal of approval!!
Hipster infestation level: 0 zero............I mean cmon Starvin artists/and or musicians cant be seen in a Casino right !?
I went here about 6 months ago, and it is a very nice looking casino (very big and pretty). I have never been to a casino before, and i was curious so i went and checked it out. Â I went there to walk around...Hell im broke so i didn't gamble much. Â It was hundreds of broke looking people in there addicted to those slots i swear! Â Terrible addiction.
Anyhow, the smoke in this place is terrible. I couldn't breath at all and i forgot that IN doesn't have a smoking ban, so that really sucked. Â
I went into the lounge, and it was a very nice, intimate, well decorated little spot. Â I had a watered down Sex on The Beach for 7 dollars. My friend and i noticed a group of about 7 non-ethnic folks taking pictures with their digital camera, and they took pictures for about 10 minutes i swear! Â So of course we thought it was okay to take pictures. Â As soon as my friend and i snapped two pictures, the security guards approached us and asked to see our cameras. They made us delete are 2 pictures, but they said nothing to the group besides us. Â Of course, we felt kinda sour about the situation and left........special treatment for different folks i guess.
Because I'm such an old lady, I've been hitting up the casinos recently. Â Horseshoe Casino has always been a favorite of mine because 1) I can catch the free shuttle bus at the Harlem-Foster Plaza which means I don't have to waste my gas driving down there and 2) You get a five dollar coupon towards food or seven towards buffet as soon as you get off the bus! Â The food is pretty good and tastes even better when it is discounted. I highly recommend Benny's Home Cookin' in the old section of the casino (great wings!).
However, I am not a big fan of the new remodel. Â Everything is on one floor now which is a plus but the layout is very confusing and jumbled. Â There are a ton of slots but the majority of them are geared towards the high limit gamblers. Â Not cool because I am a cheap old lady who NEEDS her penny-slot action!
The Venue is awesome, and the main reason for the three stars. Â However I will leave that for a seperate review which will take me forever to get to, because I'm lazy like that.
My review is entirely based on being in the casino for a concert - for all I know, it's awesome if you gamble. But I want to focus on the raw, unadulterated incompetence of every single person employed by this casino.
I recently went to "The Venue" to see The Smashing Pumpkins. I was stupid, and did not eat before arriving at the concert, so my friends and I went looking for "something quick." Each of the non-buffet restaurants we found were staffed by three or four massively overweight, hugely unmotivated women, who took at least 10 minutes to ring up each order. The best part? No one was actually serving/preparing food. I don't know how it happened, but when we finally got food, it had taken 45 minutes just for them to ring up some fried fish, and then get it out of a warming drawer and put it in styrofoam. This was the short line, by the way. Other places would have taken longer.
The line for the concert...horribly managed...for really no good reason. And the people inside the show? For some reason, after scanning everyone's ticket, everyone had to present it again to receive a wristband. I don't know what this wristband got me...I guess the ability to not have my ticket scanned again?
These guys really need to learn how to handle crowds...and day to day business, for that matter. I would have to desperately want to gamble if I was going to go here. I would also have to hate myself. And love pain.
Horseshoe reopened last week with it's new HUGE floating barge. Â They were obviously trying to capture a true Las Vegas feel with this new place and they have succeeded. Â BIG is the operative word here; and you have no idea you're on the water. Â Also, the new Horseshoe has lots of new slots too, about 2000 new machines, for a total of 3200 slot machines. Â Unfortunately for you penny slot gamblers, the lowest denomination is 2 cents and there's a limited number of those. Â Most of the machines are 5 cents up to 1 dollar. Â And these machines appear to be just as tight as they were on the old boat. Â
Since we're diamond members we ate dinner at the new buffet in the diamond area. Â I was pretty disappointed but my partner thought the food was fine. Â If you are looking for a good casino buffet, go to Four Winds in Michigan.
The Horseshoe is the only Indiana casino before the tolls so it is usually packed with Chicago gamblers losing hundreds+ in between saving 75 cents each way. It is small, smokey and lacks a poker room and comped drinks. But things seem to be changing. They're building an expansion boat that is at least 10 times the size of the current boat. If this thing (with seemingly concrete walls on all four sides) actually floats, it should be featured on Modern Marvels or Extreme Engineering!
Before I forget, don't go here on a payday.
Anyway, I was fortunately enough to cruise to the Horseshoe this Saturday on my buddy's boat, only 40 minutes from downtown Chicago. There's a beach next to the casino where you can drop anchor and relax. And booze up. I think it's technically called the Lakefront Park and Sanctuary on GoogleMaps but most refer to it as Beer Can Beach because of all the "natural aluminum" found on the sand. The water was surprisingly cold for July 5th, especially for being next to a power plant. But I suppose if we had dropped anchor just 50 feet closer the water would've been boiling hot!
I am going to give this casino a rating of a 3 but I am going to have to break this review into two parts, first I will start with the casino.
The Casino 1/5 - Yes one out of five might seem a little harsh but this is a very trashy casino boat! It is very smoky far from well ventilated. The casino has very few options as far as cards go. I am a stickler for 7 card stud and it drives me crazy that the only tables they have here are for more high risk card games (besides blackjack min bet $25). If you are going for the slots there are quite a few of them here on multiple floors. The rooms are crowded and the 3 floor casino boat is still very small. Thank god I heard they are tearing this thing down and replacing it.
AND NOW!!!
The Buffet 5/5 --- The buffet here at the horseshoe casino is great! There are lots of options and the food is of great quality for the area. There aren't too many great buffets in the Chicago area so I was very surprised when I stumbled upon this gem. There is a seafood buffet on weekends with prime rib and all you can eat shrimp, crab legs and crawfish for around $30 and after 1 am on weekends the buffet goes to around $10 and if you get there right around the time they switch the entrees you can steal some of the more expensive stuff before they move it out :-) I really recommend this buffet! I have been back many times.
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