Of 24 SoCal casinos (not including card rooms), 9 have hotels. All are 4* (except Fantasy Springs 3*).
Comparing non-suites:
Best beds: Harrahs (no view), Pechanga (have not tried new tower), Agua Caliente
Ok: Morongo, Barona (best view, golf view overlooks pond with ducks), Valley View
So-so: Pala (I find sheets scratchy, & bring my own)
Ok for 3*: Fantasy
Weird: Viejas (no blackout curtains, heat/A.C. may not work, noisy construction at 3 am, very few channels on TV - but I haven’t new tower)
San Manuel (DoubleTree), Sycuan will pay for external hotels.
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Food: excellent, many buffets would be in Vegas Top 10 buffets. High-end better in Vegas
Best buffets: Pala, Barona, Valley View, Viejas
Pala - only decent sushi, stay away from Asian place, one big player only plays here because good is so much better than Pechanga-Pauma-Harrahs
Barons - $1 Street Tacos rock (cost $2.20 to make). All good except fast food Italian/pizza.
Pauma - awesome pizza, horrible buffet
Harrahs - authentic chinese, good taco stand, bad buffet
Fantasy Springs - awesome chinese, bad buffet
Not so good - Pechanga, San Manuel (even steakhouse is so-so, buffet on shrimp night has great live cook station, 10 kinds of shrimp), Morongo (upstairs restaurant goos)