The Borgata
As you may have heard, we spent Christmas in Atlantic City. With no family local for the holidays, time winding down on my school break and a desire for just the two of us to get away, we decided it was time to take a break. We drove up to The Borgata on Christmas Eve and stayed two nights, with a quick road trip to have Christmas dinner with my sister's family and my mom. We ended up spending 12 of a 49 hour period in the car but I guess that's the kind of stuff we do.
I spent a lot of time haunting AC in my college days, but that was a fairly long time ago. The Borgata wasn't around then and since people say it's the most Vegas-esque casino there, we had to check it out. It's large, fairly upscale, the casino is freakin' huge and even the cheap rooms are furnished well with nice bathrooms. It's not nearly as ridiculous as some of the casinos out west but it definitely has that Vegas feel... especially when compared to other places in AC.
We had a "nice dinner" at Ombra on Christmas Eve and while the food was pretty good, the service and ambiance were just plain horrible. It's worth mentioning I had osso bucco and the marrow was just plain amazing. The sauce with it tasted a bit manufactured, but the marrow made that okay. The dining room was surrounded by glassed-in wine racks on 2 sides so even though there couldn't have been more than a dozen and a half tables in the place, we had to basically yell at the waitress to place our order. Well, that was if we could find her. I wasn't exactly keeping track, but I'm pretty sure we were seated 10 minutes before we saw her and waited another 20 to after dessert for the bill. Overall, bad times.
Things didn't go quite so poorly on the casino floor. I played nothing but craps and managed to only lose $10 during the course of the trip. I started off pretty poorly and it wan't long before I dropped the first $80. Eventually one of the tables got hot and I was up ~$175 before giving a good bit of that back when the table cooled off. I spent the remainder of the winnings over the course of Christmas night and finally ended down in the final roll. Spending $10 for hours of entertainment and free ($1 tip) drinks? That's a better ROI than a movie and definitely a win.
As a side, if you ever find yourself rolling along Route 40 in South Jersey, be sure to stop at the Elmer Diner. Not only is it a classic diner in every sense of the word, they also deep fry their scrapple instead of griddle frying it. It's fantastically delicious and if done right, it's actually better for you because a crust forms and keeps the oil from seeping in.
I spent a lot of time haunting AC in my college days, but that was a fairly long time ago. The Borgata wasn't around then and since people say it's the most Vegas-esque casino there, we had to check it out. It's large, fairly upscale, the casino is freakin' huge and even the cheap rooms are furnished well with nice bathrooms. It's not nearly as ridiculous as some of the casinos out west but it definitely has that Vegas feel... especially when compared to other places in AC.
We had a "nice dinner" at Ombra on Christmas Eve and while the food was pretty good, the service and ambiance were just plain horrible. It's worth mentioning I had osso bucco and the marrow was just plain amazing. The sauce with it tasted a bit manufactured, but the marrow made that okay. The dining room was surrounded by glassed-in wine racks on 2 sides so even though there couldn't have been more than a dozen and a half tables in the place, we had to basically yell at the waitress to place our order. Well, that was if we could find her. I wasn't exactly keeping track, but I'm pretty sure we were seated 10 minutes before we saw her and waited another 20 to after dessert for the bill. Overall, bad times.
Things didn't go quite so poorly on the casino floor. I played nothing but craps and managed to only lose $10 during the course of the trip. I started off pretty poorly and it wan't long before I dropped the first $80. Eventually one of the tables got hot and I was up ~$175 before giving a good bit of that back when the table cooled off. I spent the remainder of the winnings over the course of Christmas night and finally ended down in the final roll. Spending $10 for hours of entertainment and free ($1 tip) drinks? That's a better ROI than a movie and definitely a win.
As a side, if you ever find yourself rolling along Route 40 in South Jersey, be sure to stop at the Elmer Diner. Not only is it a classic diner in every sense of the word, they also deep fry their scrapple instead of griddle frying it. It's fantastically delicious and if done right, it's actually better for you because a crust forms and keeps the oil from seeping in.
Labels: atlantic city, casino, gambling, restaurant, review
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