By Christy Scannell
SDUN Editor
Getting there involves a twisty six-mile drive on Route 76, but that’s about the most stress you’ll feel visiting Pala Casino Spa & Resort. Unlike its Vegas sisters with their thousands of rooms, slow elevators, mostly indifferent staff and throngs of people everywhere, Pala Casino makes for an ideal getaway weekend that doesn’t sacrifice style for location.
Or cost: there is no sales or hotel tax at Pala. Alert the Tea Party protestors! (On second thought, please don’t – we want to have fun.)
If first impressions are everything, Pala scored high for me. As my husband and I drove into the hotel parking garage (a second garage serves casino customers), a staff member with a clipboard greeted us and checked off our reservation. Because Tony Bennett was scheduled to perform that night, the resort wanted to make sure hotel guests had priority parking over concertgoers. Impressive!
After parking on the first level it was a quick and easy walk through the automatic sliding glass doors into the hotel’s pleasant lobby. A $100 million expansion finished in December is evident in the lobby’s modern fountain, chic furniture and abundant woodwork. The effect was much more than I’ve come to expect from a local casino.
Pala has 507 rooms – including 82 suites – that were upgraded during the 2009 refurb. Our 507-square-foot (what is up with “507,” Pala?) deluxe room included a 42-inch flat-screen TV, a lighted maple armoire with abundant wooden hangers, an iPod docking station, a table with two chairs, a desk with a chair, a vanity area with a chair and an upholstered chair with ottoman. It sounds as if the room would be crowded but even with a king bed – whose soft, upscale linens were poorly offset by a chintzy bedspread – we found the room spacious. Perhaps that was due to the oversized picture window, giving us peaceful mountain views.
Even though this was the hotel’s standard room – suites are more than 1,000 square feet – the bathroom was luxurious with its wood and marble finishes, deep soaking tub and separate shower. The supplied Pala Spa bath products are scented with cucumber and melon and include bath salts and shower gel.
After freshening up, we returned to the main floor for a jaunt around the property. This isn’t one of those confusing casinos with restaurants and gaming intermingled throughout the floor. Most of Pala’s nine restaurants (everything from a deli to sushi to upscale steak) line the casino’s outside walls.
Still, walking through the casino is no easy achievement. Wheelchairs and walkers are not uncommon, nor are meanderers. But who’s really in a hurry anyway?
I was interested to spot several complimentary, self-serve soft-drink stations as we strolled. Few people seemed to be taking advantage of them, instead relying on modestly dressed cocktail waitresses for something more “adult.”
We stopped at the casino’s center bar, which has live music – classic rock and 80s were popular – for a drink during our tour. A pint of Stone Pale Ale from the brewery up the road was just $4 – cheaper than some places on 30th Street. When we asked the bartender about working at Pala, he said he doesn’t consider it “work” because the clientele are so entertaining. He also told us to expect “wheelchair races” later. It was meant it in good humor, but looking around it wasn’t too difficult to imagine.
The wood design and light fixtures in the resort’s public areas have a Craftsman feel, and windows along the food court and restaurants allow for more light than most casinos permit. Unlike Vegas, where windows would reveal faux finishes, Pala’s glass exposes lush landscaping.
The casino has all the Vegas-style gambling options anyone would expect, with more than 2,000 slot machines and 87 tables. Unlike Vegas there is no sports betting or horse wagering, though.
Back in our room we decided to order a room service appetizer to tide us over until dinner after the concert. A generous plate of Asian snacks (spareribs, chicken skewers, pot stickers and egg rolls) arrived on a cart spread with linens in half the quoted 45-minute time. Even though we had ordered just one plate and a few bottles of sparkling water, the large dining table included flatware, condiments and salt and pepper. Our server inadvertently knocked one of the water bottles off the cart but returned minutes later with two to replace it – a nice added touch.
After we reveled in Tony Bennett (read about the show below), we stopped by Mama’s Cucina Italiana for dinner. The name and the lighted signs on the little enclave’s window make the restaurant look like an Olive Garden knockoff, but the food is chef-driven gourmet created in an open kitchen. The pasta and bread are made in-house, which is a rarity even for some fine Italian restaurants. I was a bit disappointed in the wine list and would have liked to have seen more moderately-priced bottles, but we were able to choose a satisfactory Montepulciano to go with our Carpaccio di Manzo ($12.95), Tagliatelle Bolognese ($18.95) and risotto of the day, which included grilled sea scallops ($25). And no tax!
Full and happy, we returned to our room to relax with a movie.
The next morning I resisted a visit to the Pala Spa or the gym and instead relaxed in that deep soaking tub, enjoying a cup of java from the in-room coffee maker. In lieu of breakfast, we saved our calories for the buffet – and boy, was I glad we did.
Choices, Pala’s newly enlarged buffet, has eight food stations representing pretty much anything a human being could want to eat (okay, I did miss sushi, but who could complain?). It’s not open for breakfast, but lunch is $18.74 and dinner most nights is $24.99, which adds crab legs and lobster tails to the lunch offerings. A free Pala Privileges card – sign-up online or at the casino – knocks an instant 20 percent off those prices and provides cumulative player points to gamblers.
I will admit I am no lover of buffets. If I go out for a meal, I’d prefer to have a plate served to me rather than my jumping up and down to serve myself. But as buffets go, this one dished up tasty, diverse selections, and the ample layout meant no crowds. Chefs were on-hand behind the stations to slice meat, pour sauce or answer questions. The huge dining area is backed by wall-to-ceiling windows and features beautiful dark woods and teal upholstery.
Remember I said I was glad I had saved some calories by skipping breakfast? That wasn’t for the food buffet – it was for the dessert extravaganza. I’m certain Choices could sell the sweets buffet for $15 alone, it was that good. Eight flavors of hand-dipped ice cream joined a trough of toppings (make your own sundae), baskets of homemade cookies lined a shelf above slices of every cake imaginable, a refrigerated case held artisan pastries, and not just one but two chocolate fountains – white and dark – gushed their lusciousness as careful diners dipped strawberries and marshmallows in the streams.
In short, it was a bit like being in Charlie’s chocolate factory, without the funky Oompa-Loompas dancing around. (Although as at any buffet, there were some possible stand-ins!)
Needing to walk off that feast, we sauntered back to the pool in the courtyard outside the lobby. It was a windy and cool April day, but a few brave souls were lounging, swimming and sitting around the poolside café, which serves food and beverages during pool hours. The pool area isn’t terribly large or exciting, but it is accommodating and fits with what I perceive as Pala’s interest in pursuing adult clientele rather than families. Well-appointed cabanas are $100 per day on weekdays – $150 on weekends – and include fruit and cheese trays, 27-inch TVs, refrigerators and ceiling fans.
The gym, available 24 hours a day via room key, and spa are also off the courtyard. The gym benefits from its proximity to the spa with its pleasing aromas of eucalyptus and citrus. Several treadmills offer personal TVs with headsets. The usual cardio equipment and weights looked newer and in good condition.
In addition to amenities and design, Pala’s staff seem to be a cut above, similar to what you might find at an exclusive five-star resort. Each person with whom we came in contact was friendly and helpful, from the bartender to the restaurant servers to a housekeeper in the hallway.
At less than an hour away from Uptown, Pala Casino Spa & Resort is a quality, affordable place to unwind and rejuvenate – and maybe even win a few bucks to take home.
Pala Casino Spa & Resort
11154 Highway 76
Pala, CA 92059
877-WIN-PALA
palacasino.com
Rates: start at $119 per night
Distance from Uptown: 47 miles
Driving time: 45 minutes
Best time to go: Midweek rates can be dramatically lower than weekends
Avoid: Rush hour on the I-15 north, particularly on Fridays; weekends and popular shows regularly result in hotel sell-outs
Best for: Couples; those in need of relaxation
Not so great for: Families; those looking for a dynamic nightlife
Don’t miss: Choices’ dessert bar
Tip: Joining the free Pala Privileges program earns restaurant discounts, free valet parking, gift shop discounts and other rewards based on play level
Bennett concert almost a no-show
When my husband and I booked a room at Pala Casino Spa & Resort, it was to provide a place to stay after the Tony Bennett concert at the 2000-seat Pala Events Center.
As we wended our way to the resort earlier in the day before the show, I was especially glad we had made a reservation. I wouldn’t want to be on curvy I-76 after dark.
Pala doesn’t mail tickets purchased online nor does it allow for pick up at the will-call window. Instead, we were instructed to wait in a line in the lobby that began forming at 5:00. We returned at 5:30 to find it even longer – we waited about 15 minutes before we had our tickets in hand.
The sold-out show was scheduled to begin at 7:30. We arrived at the show room just off the casino floor around 7:00 to find several hundred people in a slow-moving line. Rather than join them, we chose to get cocktails nearby and wait it out.
About 7:45 the line finally shortened so we joined it. Near the doorway we saw a gathering of disabled people sitting at slot machines but not playing, presumably waiting until the line to get in dissipated because they couldn’t stand that long.
A few minutes later we were at the show room doorway only to find that the concert – according to a ticket taker – had begun 10 minutes earlier.
I was livid – $100 tickets for a 90-minute show and we missed 10 minutes even though we were 25 minutes early? What gives?
“We open up doors an hour before the show,” said David Swift, Pala’s director of entertainment. “For most shows the crowd comes in a pretty steady level, and by show time most of the crowd – 90 percent – is in.”
That wasn’t the case for the Bennett show, he said.
“The crowd arrived really late. At 7:00 we only had 200 people seated and by 7:10 there was a mad rush of people,” said Swift, who has been a concert manager for more than 25 years. “It’s hard to get 1800 people in the venue on a very short timeframe. But this was really unusual.”
Seeing the problem, Swift asked Tony Bennett’s management to delay the show.
“Mr. Bennett did hold off for about seven minutes but he wanted to go on stage and there wasn’t much I could do at that point,” Swift said.
I told Swift we had to clumsily try to find our seats in the dark, a feat made more treacherous for concertgoers arriving with walkers and other equipment.
“That was a huge concern of mine too,” he said.
So what will he do differently?
“I will have to take a more aggressive stance to get them to hold the show longer,” he said. “But most bands are amenable to holding a show until the crowd is there.”
Swift also said he would be talking to the resort’s managers about mailing tickets rather than distributing them the day of the show to avoid ticket pickup lines.
Fortunately, Tony Bennett – at 83 – more than made up for the mishaps we experienced getting in and out of the Pala Events Center. His voice is still in top form, as is his sense of humor. At one point Bennett, who noticed the clamoring in the dark showroom as people tried to find their seats, stopped the show and said to a front-row couple who arrived just after us, “You don’t know what you missed.”
I wish I could have told them.
