This was my first visit at the Buffalo Thunder. We booked directly through the Hilton website which was really easy. The check in process was seamless. Our room was wonderful and view was nice. Had been provided a digital key, so never had to go to the front desk for any reason. Since we were arriving early our room was ready and we didn't have to pay for early check in which was wonderful. Room was spacious and nicely furnished. Balcony faced the the backside of the building, so we had a view of the pool and a balcony attraction of a gorgeous sunset plus the dusk deco surrounding the building with warm lights that all combined looked absolutely stunning as the sun went down. Did not utilize the casino, did have dinner at one of thier restaurants. Turquoise Bar & Grill ( see my review). There's a coffee/cafe near the lobby area Also, a big gift shop with lots of local native art, and other appealing merchandise that fitting for that area. Stayed only one night and enjoyed it. We were provided complementary bottled water in our room- along with coffee offerings, small fridge & ice bucket. Free parking here for hotel guest too! We really enjoyed our stay! Note-They provide a shuttle to downtown Santa Fe. So you really can plan your days (if it's more than one). If you want to avoid the high parking fees of downtown Santa Fe; Stay here! Only a 10 min drive to the Opera 40 mins to Bandolier. Can imagine during high season pools must be overcrowded, but during our stay they was no one in it. Looks like it maybe undergoing a remolding. Also, be aware they utilize the 2nd floor for pet rooms so choose accordingly. We had a pet and our room was very clean! read more

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A great place to stay if you're ever in Santa Fe. The bed was super comfortable, the room was clean and it was such a bonus to have a shower and a bathtub. We had a really nice stay. read more

The casino is fine but one of the main reasons we booked the hotel here was the sportsbook. Was extremely disappointed to get here to find out it wasn't open. read more

They claim they have craps tables in their website but they DO NOT have craps tables.

I slept like a baby!! The graciousness of the staff here is amazing! I happen to be enjoying the artwork as I was checking out and grabbing a Starbucks coffee and the upper administration must have been in the house that day. Every single one of the administrative staff that I encountered that morning greeted me with eye contact, a passing hello and a smile!! A memorable experience to say the least. Much love and support for the Pueblos of Santa Fe county! read more

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My stay was on May 24th checkout 25th. I don't have an itinerary number because it was booked by 915Tours. Upon arrival, thete was no rooms available for me or my plus one. It was supposed to be double beds. The issue was the staff person Sandy Garman did not make update adjustment to change name of one guest that due to medical reasons was not able to go (Sandy was notified Friday before trip). However, myself and other guest names were given. The issue was the staff and manager Jeff Ronero disrespect and rudeness. We were informed there were no more rooms available and the room could not be given to me or other guest because it was under the person who did not make it. I was informed to call these person in which I attempted too but was in the hospital at the time. The host of the tour was informed and had to contact Sandy. The issue was when we asked for the manager. He was so rude and disrespectful in front of all the other persons waiting in line. When Jeff was asked to speak to his supervisor he said rude and condensely "I am the boss" and "NO" saying harshly and laughing he would not contact the GM. Asked GM name and he said "NO and you need to move to attend other people" I did not move and told no until I was given a room. It took 3 hours of our time to be given a room after speaking to the host Tony and Sandy on phone. My guest and I went to my other friends room and await for call about my room. When called to front desk to obtain key for room and providing my ID and credit card, I asked if there was a cart for our bags. The woman staff rudely said "if you want one go see if ypu can find it in the front." Then said "your room is that way and get staurs" it was room 2201. Knowing I would have a cart and there was no need for her rudeness and disrespect. My friend and guest was given one bed when it should have been double beds. So when we all went to front desk to obtain my keys we informed the host Tony and they exchanged rooms. My room 2201 sliding door did not lock. I found out when looking outside pressing my hand on it and it opened to the hotel grounds. A video was taken of the door not locking. This was later in evening and due to the horrible and awful experience already we just put chairs and luggage to secure the door. Prayed that it would help especially while we slept because we were exposed to security issues. This was the only issue with room but a major issue! This was my first time and my group of friends visiting your resort and so disappointed. I hope the GM is made aware of my complaint. I understand sometimes there will be issues but there is no place for disrespect and rudeness, especially in the customer service industry. read more

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As a Hilton Honors member and resident living in Santa Fe, I've always wanted to check out this hotel after passing by so often. It really is a quite beautiful hotel that unfortunately isn't being taken care of well enough. At $348 a night for a balcony room, the price just doesn't meet the experience in my opinion. THE CONS: * As mentioned in other reviews, the service here is awful. It is no fault of the staff, but that they are simply too understaffed to handle the current hotel capacity. It will be over a 20 minute wait for any establishment just to get in. * Another understaffing issue but many things are closed, abandoned areas of the hotel, no room service. It seems opening the buffet back up to feed large groups quickly would be wise as everywhere we went, families were hungry and unable to get food. * They refuse to let you use the pool before check in/after check out. Despite having an 11 am spa reservation on check out day, I was told my husband couldn't use the pool after 11 am check out. * The pool area needs more shade, seating and the pool itself was a bit dirty. THE PROS: * The pool area is very nice. The indoor pool connects to the outdoor pool deck and there is a pool bar with nice drinks. It was a lot less busy on Sunday vs Saturday. * The hotel itself is gorgeous and in a beautiful location. * THE SPA! The amenities included with your spa reservation are really lovely and I would definitely return for this. *The rooms are beautiful, spacious and comfortable. beautiful views and location. Spacious beds and comfortable. It was quiet and our balcony was really nice and spacious. TIPS: Bring your own food with you. Don't plan on any of the restaurants. Or I recommend visiting nearby local restaurants El Nido or Tesuque Village Market. read more

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Buffalo Thunder has a lot to offer. Only problem is they are not taking care of the property. Carpets are dirty, rooms have an odor, spa and pools need replastering, furniture in the rooms are badly worn, paint is peeling, wall paper is peeling. Only one elevator working. Come on, this is peak season, this should not be a issue. They charge and extra fee to use a Cabana in the pool area and guess what, there's no one using them. Prices are a little too high. Just because they use the Hilton name, they think it's worth the price, guess what, it's not. Poor management. Look elsewehre. read more

We visited Buffalo Thunder and had so much fun. The people were very friendly and the slot games were also very fun. We will definitely be back. read more

Rooms were clean, new towels each day. However, everything was hotter than hades itself. Go to the sports bar if you want to wait 44 minutes for water (this actually happened). Also, stop by Red Sage if you want to wait forever for breakfast as well. Service was bad in general. The casino was just a casino. read more

They were amazing and kind. The room was clean and comfortable. The staff treated my family like their family overall awesome experience! read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - Free Chair massages - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Staff attitude, less dogs/dogs barking at night, free wi-fi like at a motel 6. .................

There is a restaurant in the casino "Turqoise Trail" which adds a 20% gratuity to take out orders for everyone & anyone - "tips" are supposed to be given for service and are presumably not obligatory - I dont know if Hilton manages the restaurant or the Pueblo does - but whoever is responsible for this egregious act should not be surprised at their subsequent loss of business read more

Came here for my wife and I's anniversary. Instant disappointment, the room was $850 for two nights, it's very small and the beds are not comfortable. The Red Sage restaurant was a joke, took almost 2 hours to get our meal and it was awful. The flat iron was overcooked, the Mac and cheese was not seasoned, they don't serve bread. The WiFi in the hotel is terrible, we rented a movie and it buffered every 10 minutes. None of the vending machines work with credit cards because they are all broken. The hallways reek of chlorine and water damage. They claim to have room service on their website but it's non existent. All the staff does is apologize for everything that doesn't work, and it's not their fault but management is doing nothing to improve this place. DO NOT STAY HERE. read more

Acoustics are fine. But seats were highly uncomfortable and not conducive to someone with a cane and hip problems. Also people will stand the whole concert and if you cannot, you will be unable to see. read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - From zone B edge row 20 to the stage no zoom - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

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I normally don't do reviews but this was the worst experience for a pool I've been to. The atmosphere is beautiful but the lady at the front, Carol was so rude as soon as we walked up to use the pool facilities. They laughed at our reservation, then gave us no key to access the pool, told us at 10 pm to leave the hot tub when the hours online state 11 pm. As we were showering and getting chlorine out, security waited in the showering area to wait for us to leave. Granted I know they would like to leave but we took ten minutes to shower before the security followed us out almost the hallway. It was a really awful experience. I would never come back here read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

We were in town for work and decided to grab dinner and play some slots at Buffalo Thunder. Smoke free, very clean and fun place to spend some time. read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - Slots - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

We came here for our Anniversary and we enjoyed our stay. We liked our room, it was clean two beds, nice bathroom with a tub. They should take out the tub and make a standing shower only. They are short in staff like everywhere else. Our wait in the morning for breakfast was about 20 minutes. There was 3 people working there. The hostess helped the waiter and there was a busgirl who did move very slow but did do her job well. The staff worked hard and fast to get the order and get your meal. We also eat at the Red Sage, both our meals were very good. The manager brought us a nice appetizer and our waiter was very friendly. Turquoise Trail down on the casino floor. I do not recommend eating there it was terrible . I had shrimp tacos, and the shrimp just were tasteless and my husband had fish and chips. The food tasted like boxed frozen items, yuck. They also have a deli, but we never made it there. We played in the Casino lost one day and won all my money back the next day. On the weekends they native Indian selling their hand made jewelry, they had good prices and were very friendly. The most important part was we were able to stay in the hotel with our puppy yes we would come back. read more

Disappointing. Before Covid it was actually a pretty good place. But now it is just sad. Bar closed at 9 pm on a Friday night. Few casino tables. Black Jack and roulette only. Black Jack 25 dollar minimum. Too high. Will not be back. Too many other places that are much better. Also our room was not serviced. read more

Beautiful place, super comfortable and we had an amazing view from our room. My dad goes to the casino a lot and was able to put my fiance and I up while we were visiting New Mexico. The art is genuine and made locally by mostly indigenous folks. We were disappointed there was no food for us, my fiance and I are both Vegan and not one of the restaurants had an imposible burger, vegan pizza, stuff that just seems easy to me. We had to go out pretty far for dinner and the hotel rooms don't have microwaves. Also the coffee stand in the lobby charge 3+ dollars for non dairy milk! (Yikes!) didn't appreciate the price gouging, but what can you do? We enjoyed it anyways despite the lack of proper nourishment. If you're vegan and staying plan ahead of time to accommodate yourself. Everything else was great, the staff is super friendly and accommodating and took great care of us in every other way. read more

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Thunder. Feel the thunder. Lightning and the thunder, thunder. Sorry, I had to. While the Imagine Dragons are great and all, we're hear to talk about gambling. I stopped by Buffalo Thunder Casino with a friend on a Saturday night. We didn't stay at their hotel but spent a couple of hours at the casino. Parking is plentiful in their outdoor lot and the exterior of the building makes a presence. Before we hit the tables, we walked around a little bit to get the lay of the land. This included the hotel portion. I was impressed to see that they have a decent amount of Native American art. And a bar away from all of the action. Let's talk about bars for a bit. There was one on the casino floor and they had a bunch of TVs playing sports, including the NBA playoffs. This is New Mexico law but completely ridiculous. For the first time in my life, not only do you not get free drinks while you're gambling (like you do in Nevada and Louisiana, for example), but you also can't pay for drinks while gambling. You can only drink at the bar. What?! New Mexico is crazy. Despite the madness, I came in the green on the roulette table. The casino is your typical one. Your usual assortment of games. While you don't get free drinks here, there are free soft drinks . . . hooray. read more

The sportsbook is small but pretty nice. One major problem is that they mostly post lines a day before the event. Example, NBA playoffs--on Thursday the scheduled games are known thru Monday but they will only have Thursday games to bet on. They want to limit your options so that you place bets on games or teams you are not familiar with. I drove down to Santa Ana and all the games thru Monday were available to wager on. read more

The performance we attended was a big disappointment. We paid a lot for our seats and found ourselves smashed in against other people. Too many seats for too little space and too high a price for this event. We will never attend a buffalo thunder event again. read more

Absolutely the worst hotel experience I have ever had. We stayed 30 minutes then demanded a refund. The hotel manager is much more interested in the casino and event center than taking care of her hotel guests. Half of the restaurants are closed, they offer zero room service. It takes forever to get through to the front desk, the restaurants don't answer and after being on the road for 10 hours all you want is rest. I booked this month ago for a relaxing vacation, you will not get it here. read more

My partner and I booked a room for the night so we could hang out at the pool and get a break from the summer heat. The pool was fine, although not nearly enough shade for the number of people out there, and overrun with kids to the point that you have to be careful not to get cannonballed on. The real disappointment was when we returned from dinner in Santa Fe, tired and ready to go to bed. The people in the room next to us were having a raging party--yelling, loud music, both inside the room and out on the patio area. We alerted the front desk, who said they would send security. Nothing for about 30 minutes. My partner went down again and they said security went up and didn't hear anything. They said they'll send them again in 10 minutes. Nothing. After another futile call to the front desk, we packed up our stuff and went down to check out. By this time it was 11:30. The woman at the front desk was obviously mortified and did refund our room, which was the professional thing to do, but this hotel should not be charging $300+ a night if they're not going to provide basic service. read more

We stayed at the Buffalo Thunder resort this past weekend, and we did NOT have a pleasant stay. I contacted the hotel twice with our concerns and got crickets. Let me paint the picture: When we were sitting on the balcony, we witnessed a hotel guest urinating in the trees in the parking lot. We saw a used flosser on the hallway carpet getting to our room. The rolling chair at the desk in our room was peeling like crazy. The AC simply could not cool our room down, even after running all night. There was no microwave in our room to heat a snack we brought with us. We couldn't even enjoy our balcony for very long, since the room next to us had a smoker out on the balcony. The walk to our room felt like the Bataan Death March. I have never had a room so far from the elevator. I expect this kind of experience to happen at the Motel 6 in Espanola. I did not expect it at a Hilton; for the price we paid for our two nights we were super disappointed. We recommend that you look elsewhere if you need a place to stay in Santa Fe. read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Rooms and pool area not bad, but here is where is starts to get weird. We arrived hungry and of the 2 main restaurants upstairs, one was closed and the other was about to close. Pool bar closed. Went to casino level to eat, got turned away from both places. Weird. In talking with the people who were working, apparently staffing is a huge issue here. Also to top the night off, the bartender downstairs had a pretty terrible attitude and cut us off for pretty much no reason... even others around and his manager were like "don't see the problem but it's the bartenders decision". Only regret there we had already tipped him a normal 20% tip as we had closed out before. TBH- we probably are never going to come back to this place and will provide feedback to the Hilton mgmt. They might want to get their name off of this place. read more

This was a great place to stay on our last visit to Santa Fe, NM. It is about 15 miles north of downtown yet all of our day trips were north of Santa Fe, the rooms are large with plenty of space we had a restroom that was the entire length of the room with a full toilet, tub, vanity, and sink with counter and mirror. It also had a patio that was the length of the room with 2 sets of french doors with a great view of the mountain landscape......This is a full service Hilton Property and the Casino is totally opposite of the hotel.....We never stepped foot in the Casino and all of the rooms were family friendly. Parking is plentiful and free and not overcrowded. The beds and room service were great. After spending a week at this location we left rested and recharged. read more

I don't gamble often and have only been to this casino a couple of times. Played the penny slots for about 1.5 hrs on the casino's dime which is nice rather than losing money in a short time. Very clean and not too crowded at the time. Staff seemed cordial but not overly friendly. Plenty of parking as well but lots of handicapped spots full. Parking spots for motorcycles as well. Fortunately wasn't smoky where we were at but did catch a whiff upon exiting. read more

May 27th 2025. The casino and hotel were great. The first day our fridge wasn't cold so the maintenance brought us a brand new one. They have an indoor and outdoor pool and hot tub. The table games were fun and the slots were awesome. The restaurants were super expensive and not a lot of choices. I would definitely go there again. read more

Rates are really expensive, rooms are alright but it's time to update. If they are going to keep the same aesthetic at least update the furniture and wall fixtures. Our family has been going there for years & as far back as I can remember nothing has changed. Red Sage: this is the only "upscale" restaurant located inside the hotel. I stayed over thanksgiving holiday and the first night I enjoyed my dinner the bartender was extremely nice! She was younger and very attentive. I choose to go again the second night, this time I was accompanied by my childhood friend whom I hadn't seen in awhile, the bartender working this time around was an older woman, who was pissed off because the bar was getting busy and yelled at us because she didn't have a chance to attend to another guest, as we walked up- as if that's our problem. If she can't manage a full bar maybe it's time she move on to another job. That's the first time I've ever witnessed a bartender upset because there was money to be made. When we complained to the manager she was almost yelling at him, saying "I WAS NOT RUDE" the ENTIRE bar was watching her, she needs a reality check! Sometimes we know it's their time to move on before they know it.. food for thought read more

We thoroughly enjoy visiting Buffalo Thunder casino and will often enjoy experiencing a live concert performance upstairs. It is by far my favorite place to visit for slots and music, however, I do want to point out an issue with the seating. Basically the seats are attached together and they are not spaced apart even an inch so you have to lean into your mate (hopefully you're not alone) unless you want to be rubbing up against a complete stranger the entire time. I have to sit with my arms crossed to avoid touching anyone else. It's quite uncomfortable to say the least. There is only enough room to walk to your seat if nobody else is occupying their seats. They need to space the rows a bit more apart. People were stepping on my toes and literally holding on to strangers so they wouldn't fall on them. Any time somebody gets up to go buy a beverage or use the restroom, they trample all over you and the only way to avoid it is if everyone gets up and leaves the row. I do love the experience of the casino (which is always clean and smoke free) but the concert venue needs some new seating with room for people to walk. Cramming us in like sardine's just to make more money isn't fair to your customers at all. Hopefully the right people will read this and begin to make some changes? It's been this way for years. read more

Will never stay here again. They show on Priceline and other websites all these "amenities" such as multiple pools. Restaurants. Multiple casinos. None of them are open! One pool was open and one bar. So my husband paid $300 for one night for our family to enjoy the pool, bar, and restaurants without having to leave the hotel. And I'm sitting on the balcony of my water filled "patio" because I left the pool due to a drunk woman pulling my 5 year old into the hot tub and allowing her to go under water. We spoke to the front desk after the incident and the security moseys on out there and walks right past the woman! Does absolutely nothing! I am NOT happy right now. We are supposed to be in a family environment. This is not a Vegas casino hotel and now we're all starving and no food. read more

Buffalo Thunder Casino - Park on half full of water. The entire side behind me is flooded. - Casinos Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Decided to book this hotel because it was Hilton branded and I could use my points to get free nights. On top of that, I also got $30 food & beverage for both nights of my stay and upgraded to a room with a fireplace because I'm a Gold member. The hotel is located about 20 minutes north of the Historical Santa Fe area. So if you are looking to be close to the Plaza, this is not the hotel for you. The hotel is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. But it is a very nice hotel. The interior is beautiful and nicely decorated with Native American decor. Our 2 Queen bedroom was a nice size with a balcony and fireplace. Too bad it was a little warm for us to use the fireplace. The room was clean and I did not see any stains on the carpet/floors. The bathroom was a nice size with the toilet in a separate area. With the hotel and room looking upscale, it would have been better that a shower was put in instead of a tub. The curtains didn't do a good job at keeping the water in. The floor was all wet after a shower. During check out, the person that checked me out made sure that my food & beverage credit was applied to my account prior to closing it out. He also offered me 2 bottles of water for the road. This is the first time I've ever been offered water during check out. read more

We enjoyed our stay for 7 nites. We used Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino as Base Camp for our week stay holiday in Santa Fe. Convenient to area sites, most within 60 mins drive. Downtown Santa Fe is 15-20 mins drive depending on traffic and parking. Pluses: * Upgraded to a suite with balcony and mini-fridge was worth it. * Clean and well-run. Attentive housekeeping * Friendly helpful staff * Usual comfy Hilton beds and ample pillows * Indoor and outdoor pool * Large Fitness Center * Breakfast buffet with made-to-order breakfast at the omelet station. With fresh fruits and assorted pastries * Starbucks coffee in lobby, open early, at resort prices * Views of Sangre de Cristo Mountains * Ample free parking, though may have to use overflow parking in rear * Hotel is tastefully decorated with Indian artwork * Happy Hour at bar * Wi-Fi device in the room for good reception. Still annoyed by the daily re-login, a problem with all Hilton properties. Cannot understand this mindlessly stupid inconvenience. Small Gripes and Smalls Misses as a Resort * Wear and tear apparent in the carpeting * Disappointingly bland coffee in restaurant. May not be Arabica Coffee. Why not serve same Starbucks coffee for breakfast? * Margarine-butter blend; not real butter. Cheapness noted * Balcony seating in need of an uplift more suitable for a resort * What, no fresh blueberries for breakfast? Location: While not down-town Santa Fe, location is central to area sites and hiking. But it is also isolated and not next anything, so you'll need a car unless the resort is your destination. There may be complimentary shuttle service to downtown Santa Fe, but not on website. Airport times: ABQ Airport: 1:45 SAF Airport: 25 mins Comment: The resort is shared with a Native American-owned Casio. Most of the negative resort reviews seem related to the casino downstairs. It is dingy, and mostly video slots (1200, if you can believe it). A quirk of NM regulation: no drinking on the floor but smoking is okay...little backwards, you think? Restaurant Tip: Check out Gabriel's Mexican Restaurant right down the road. Hidden, about 1 mile away on Frontage. We loved our meal with our local friends. Outdoor patio and indoor seating. read more

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As a resident of Las Vegas, NV -- Sin City -- I am spoiled by such great casinos. We are on a 2+ week road trip through New Mexico and staying at the attached Hilton hotel. We wanted to check out the casino, just curious. OMG, it's horrible! First of all, I am under doctor's orders to drink lots of fluids. Drinking is not allowed on the casino floor!!!! No liquor, no coffee, no soda, NO WATER! Nothing. So I couldn't stay long because I need to suck down water. Secondly, there is no smoking and no alcohol on the casino floor! Seriously? Smoking, drinking and gambling go together. They are the unholy trinity, LOL! There is a bar where one can sit and drink BUT there are no video poker machines in the bar top. In other words, you can drink OR you can play; you can't do both. When you take a ticket out of a machine, you must see the Cashier in order to cash it in. There are no ticket redemption machines which allow you to do it yourself. Truly the worst excuse for a casino I've ever seen. We saw it; we played for a little while. I only stayed half an hour; my husband played for about an hour. We both lost about $100 and then we were done. We'll be in the hotel another day but will definitely not return. read more

Typical small town casino. 1200 machines (yay) But 1000 of them are penny machines (lame) 180 are dollar machines. And a few quarter machines. But maybe you like losing $200 every 5 minutes. If so go for it. read more

My husband and i stayed at the hotel and had a wonderful massage with Misty and Lisa at the Wo' P'in Spa. I would book with them again when I have another opporunity to stay at Hilton Buffalo Thunder. By the way, I didn't mention how much I loved the spa robe. You'll feel so pampered just by putting one one. They are the best spa robes! read more

lots of bedbugs. I stayed there for one night and the next day I had bites all over my body. Insane!! I have allergies so I was completely swollen and all the bites were inflamed. I will NEVER set foot in this place again. Be careful!! read more

From the start we noticed the room we were in was not cleaned properly, there was hair in the shower, mold on the sheets and the refrigerator did not work. We spoke to guest services and asked for them to clean it and it wasn't done until the 3rd time we called. The person at guest services said they would comp our Dinner at Red Sage. I specifically asked for details on how that worked and what we needed to do, she said we can not comp alcohol just food. I asked again just to make sure and let them know there was Four in our party and still wasn't given specifics. We went to Red Sage where the prices were very expensive. We had dinner and charged the room. Next day at check out they proceeded to charge us for the dinner. I asked why and they said we spent too much during dinner. The manager was absolutely rude and no help so I asked for his superior. Two men then came to speak with me one named Jason was absolutely rude, degrading and insulting. The other man was more understanding and spoke to me like an actual human. So would I come here again NO! read more

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