Room Quality: Just barely above average rooms, there's really nothing special about them. Decorated blandly, but with touches of faux-Mardi Gras fun, like bright bedspreads. They are small, have small TVs, coffee makers, blowdryers, central air and no closets. One that we stayed in had a truly lousy toilet, and after eating the buffet you'll need a strong one. The suites on the top floor have jacuzzis and some excellent views of the Sierra Nevadas, but will set you back a pretty penny. One plus is that they will let your dog stay in a kennel on the fifth floor. Call them for details.

	Check prices for this property with Expedia and HotelDiscount.com. Weekday $50-$80 Discount Weekday $30-$60 Weekend $90-$160 Discount Weekend $70-$120 What does discount mean?

Service Quality:  Like most big resorts, it's a bit of a crap-shoot. You'll find some employees who will bend over backward to help you out and others who couldn't care less. Overall, it's pretty indifferent.

What You Get Bottles of in the Bathroom: Fancy-pantsy Gilchrist and Soames shampoo, conditioner and lotion. There is oatmeal soap, but don't eat it! Despite the hotel ttheme, there are no voodoo potions, unfortunately.

Clientele: It's one of the cleaner casinos downtown, so you get a pretty hoity-toity clentele. It skews a little old, like the rest of Reno, but if you're looking for well-to-do youngsters, you could do worse than check this place out.

How's the Pool? Pretty plain, and not much bigger than the average backyard pool. It's on the fifth floor and has a deep end that goes all the way to eight feet. There is overpriced finger foods available from poolside waitresses.

Free Shuttle: Between the hours of 10-5, they'll take you to and from the airport every half hour. Other times they leave every hour, so if you have a very early or very late flight, plan accordingly.

Table Games: You'll find craps, decent blackjack (except lousy 6:5 single-deck), roulette, Let It Ride, Pai Gow, 3-card poker and Baccarat. There are little slots for your players club card at the table, so make sure to get one before buying chips.

Bet Minimums: Most tables in this relatively large pit are $10, including their crappy single deck BJ. Craps is $10 with 345x odds. Let It Ride is $10 too. Roulette has $1 chips, Pai Gow starts at $10, and Baccarat at $25. Inexplicably, the tables are hopping even though the players could walk elsewhere to get a better deal.

Machines: They have a high limit slots salon for those of us who want to lose in larger denominations. There are loads of pennies and nickels, tons of quarters and dollars. We can't find any full-pay video poker and the selection overall of VP was poor.

Cocktails? Fair cocktail service. The place is so crowded that it's easy for them to lose you or for the waitresses to be overworked.

Who Gets Comps? A pretty poor comp system; this is part of the Harrah's national program which really pushes loyalty and frequent play in order to give you much of anything.

Cafe Andreotti: A cookie-cutter upscale grill type place, with steaks and other yuppie delights like fancy pizzas and pastas. It's like a brew-pub without the good beer. One bright spot is the spectacular desserts.

Cafe Napa: A coffee shop with a California twist, which is not to say that the portions are skimpy, just that they want you to think they are fresh. Prime rib or sandwiches are about $10, while the Chinese menu and other dinners are between $10-$20. Breakfasts are a little overpriced here.

Carvings Buffet: Typical buffet fare that is not as good as the Eldorado, but much better than bottom feeders like Circus Circus and Fitzgeralds. Friday is seafood and Saturday is steak & seafood, for under $20, and Sunday is International Night, for just slightly more than the weekday dinner. They're also open for breakfast, lunch, and on weekends, brunch.

Harrah's Steakhouse: Boy howdy do they ever know how to grill a slab of meat down here on the lower level of the casino. This joint always wins prestigious awards from Triple-A and other high-falutin' publications that have money to actually send reviewers out to taste expensive meals. So we'll just have to trust them that it's delicious.

Ichiban: This Japanese steakhouse sits right up front in the casino and serves the food Teppanyaki. They also offer all-you-can-eat sushi and tempura, if you want tp pig-out Pacific Rim style.

Lucky Noodle Bar: This place is part of a very welcome trend. They serve Asian noodles. It's filling, quick, cheap and usually quite good without being greasy and heavy. This place is also way out of the way in the very back of the casino, behind the poker room.

Quizno's: This is one in a chain of toasted sub shops. They're pricier than subway, but way, way better. Worth the extra buck or two.

Sapphire: A hipster lounge with overpriced drinks right off the main casino floor. Actually, it's closed off so the uppity snobs in there don't have to smell the likes of us. If you're looking for "ambience" and to pay too much for a few cocktails while hoping people are looking at you, this is the hottest bar in town.

Zone 21: A few loose blackjack tables by a blue-lit bar make up the bulk of Zone 21, which promises bikini-clad blackjack dealers. And they're ladies. Not too many get excited about male dealers in bikinis. There is also a small stage where a hot lady may do a little dance. The space is right on the casino floor and only heappening on weekend nights or during big football games.

Number of TVs: 23 total TVs, not including the ones over the bar in Zone 21. Two of these are big screens.

Number of Seats: About 65 places for race and sports combined. Forty-two have desks. None of them are reserved, and they're slightly more comfortable than some other rooms in town. Some seats are movie-theater style, with cupholders and everything.

How Many Betting Windows? There are about eight windows. The signboards are electronic.

Snack Bar? Near the race book is a Quizno's. There is a pretty good chance you'll get a free drink while watching sports. We were offered one just for standing around looking stupid. And if we got a free drink every time we looked stupid our livers would have already failed.

Minimum Wager: $5 sports, $2 race

Other Notes: The race and sports books used to be in separate rooms, but they are now combined into a rather mediocre space.

Number of Tables: Seven tables fill this open space, but players don't always fill those tables. Look for three to four open during most nights.

Comfort of Chairs: Average chairs but nice clean felts on the tables.

Closed Room or Open to Casino? The room is open to the casino, but it's back in a less popular area. It's clearly a quickie conversion with low walls, no glass, barely delineated from the rest of the floor.

Game Spreads and Limits: Hold Em, hold Em, Hold Em. that's all they deal, from $3-$6 to $4-$8, and a no-limit game for a $100 minimum buy-in.

Beginner Games or Classes? Not that we heard about. although, it's slow enough weekdays they'd probably take you under their wings.

How Crowded is the Room? The room is quiet other than weekends. On weekend nights, there may be a very short wait.

How Good Are the Players? This is not the first choice of good players. It's a room full mostly of people who got turned on to poker by watching it on TV, and they are not as good as they think. Although, give them credit for knowing the lingo.

What Else Do I Need to Know? Overall, this room looks like a bandwagoneer and not a permanent, quality poker room. They have a couple of daily tournaments and will run sit-n-go's on the weekends.