My wife and I went to Prairie Band for a one-night stand. The room
was free (had an offer, didn't have to use points) and was above my
expectations. I don't know if I was bumped up or not (I forgot to
ask for the Diamond upgrade), but the room was fairly nice. If we
had stayed for any length of time we would have appreciated the nice
bathroom even more; it had a deep-tub bath that looked like it could
accomodate two fairly well. They had good soap, shampoo, lotion,
etc., including Dental Rinse that we did not use as we didn't know
what its primary function was (is it a mouthwash/breath cleaner or a
plaque fighter?). They also had one of those freaky make-up mirrors
where you can see your face magnified; we find them frightening,
especially when you surprise yourself by accidentally looking at your
huge self only inches away.
The bed was a king and a bit softer than our extremely firm bed at
home; both qualities that I appreciated for our in-the-middle-of-the-
night activities. The decor typical blah-blah, and there was a
hiddden television and refrigerator.
Our room was on the first floor and just feet away from one of the
outdoor hot tubs. Unfortunately, it was only a warm tub. I don't
like extremely hot tubs (my wife does), but this water simply wasn't
hot enough. The other bad thing about it was that the most powerful
jets were in the middle of the big thing and you couldn't get blasted
with them hardly at all.
The casino. Small, but fine for me. I played AA about three hours
and managed to hit two straight flushes making it a strong day.
We had the breakfast buffet. It was average to good, but with a
fairly small selection. The best items were apple crepes, omelets,
chocolate walnut croissants and, surprisingly, bacon as it was done
exactly the way I like it. We both expected a better selection of
fresh fruit, even with it being late October. We ate late and
sampled a couple of the lunch items, too. They were less
impressive. My wife loved the cheesecake, which was light instead of
the dense kind I prefer. We had coupons, but I wouldn't hesitate to
pay full price (with reward points) for the breakfast; probably not
for the lunch.
The steakhouse. Let's face it, you go to a steakhouse and expect to
get quality meat. They succeeded in that. My wife had lamb (superb)
and I had the ribeye (very good). The spinach salad and bread basket
were also excellent. Her fork smashed potatoes and my corn and
potato cake were nothing but fillers. As we put 80% of the emphasis
on the meat, the food gets a solid B+ rating.
Service, on the other, was horrible. It wasn't because our waitress
never checked on us, but rather the opposite--she was always hovering
over us, eager for us to be done so she could take our plates. It
was ridiculous. I guess we should have said something, but we
didn't. For most of the meal she only had one or two other tables,
so that might have been the problem. Still, it drove us crazy until
finally we started laughing and making jokes about it.
Final note--the Diamond Lounge. Like others have said, it was
disappointing. They did have M&Ms, trail mix and fruit, as well as
coffee and beverages. As we had two big meals over the 18 hours we
didn't really need anything, but it didn't compare to NKC (and I
suppose there's no reason to think it should).
As we didn't have much time, I didn't get a chance to check out the
poker room. Anyone have info on that? I'm particularly interested
in the daily tournaments. I've never played live poker at a casino
and think I would like to try a tournament as I know exactly what I
will lose if I don't do well.
Overall, I'd be happy to go out there a couple times a year if they
send me good offers. There isn't anything there to really pull you to
them, but it would be fine for a very short getaway.