Ok. You may be looking at the other reviews, like Kiki M's, and asking yourself who IS this fool giving Wizards 5 stars? Well for you, I deliberately slug my $1 happy hour Bud Light down my over-35 year-old alcoholic gullet so that I can show off my glistening greasy dirt-logged fingernails... straight at ya babe! *Wink*
I have to say, the place does have character. It's great people watching. People here seem to be pretty serious gamblers, so if you don't gamble, you might get a bit bored... unless you go to the BAR, of course! On the other hand, it doesn't seem depressing to me. People eat, drink, and gamble away. They smile. They concentrate on their game. They talk to each other. It's a casino, after all!
The staff are accommodating and friendly. I have never been treated with anything less than friendly and attentive there, even though the waitresses might be running around all over trying to serve the entire floor and the bar at the same time.
The gambling floor-space is a bit oddly-laid out, a bit cramped in spots, but it's still comfortably cozy.
Wizards re-opened under new management last year, and I believe it has made at least one tremendous improvement... the food.
Now this isn't fancy-schmancy 5-star cuisine. You can go to a Las Vegas casino for that treatment. But it IS a very interesting menu serving mostly asian-inspired dishes of all kinds, and a full menu of american items as well, including breakfast. There are other casinos that have a similar asian-inspired/american menu, but I've never seen a menu quite like this.
I am a huge soup fan, and they have so many different varieties of soup, I'm not sure I could even count them. It's enough to get me all steamy. This is perhaps the only place where I've seen pho served alongside many other asian-inspired soups of origins I can't quite figure out. Korean? Chinese? It's hard to tell for sure.
Today, I had their special: The Duck soup. Tender, perfectly cooked pieces of duck are served over a huge plate of some kind of marinated cabbage (not really Korean kim-chi, and not too spicy, so I'm not sure what this is.) It was a big plate of it with the duck nicely laid out on top, but at first I was all... THAT'S NOT SOUP! Until the waitress brought out a second, HUGE bowl of broth and noodles. Whoa. What army am I supposed to feed here? Well, I hear the Libyan rebels could use some help, but that's an aside.
This is kind of a make-your-own soup. The soup had a tremendous variety of flavors, including ginger, cilantro, mushrooms, and with the marinated cabbage in there, the bright and slightly pickled flavor with the broth perfectly opened up the darker, more robust earthy flavor of the duck. And all this for around $12.
I have had several different types of soups here, and I'm telling you, whoever is cooking and presenting these soups, knows what they're doing. I haven't a clue if they are authentic in any way, but man are they good.
But they don't just do soup, of course. You can get so much from their broad menu from a chicken-pesto sandwich for around $8 to ravioli for about $12 to steaks for around $15 to loaded 5-item omelets for $8. They have marinated quail. Quail! They have lobster! They have a beef-ginger hot pot that's not really a hot pot, more like a stir fry! And guess what people say about that? Yup. It's REALLY good.
Somebody mentioned that as a vegetarian it's hard to find a lot of variety. While the menu IS meat-heavy, there is plenty more for vegetarians than fries, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings that came from the freezer section... in fact, I don't even remember seeing these on the menu. There is tofu and vegetable dishes and cheese omelets and such. I'm not vegetarian so I can't speak for one. Still, I think the new management must have hired a new cook, and changed the menu... and the food is GOOD. Ok?
All worked up about this... AREN'T you?! Well, you'll just have to trust me because there is no website for Wizards with sleak page designs and wide-angle photos to give you some glitzy preview. No. You'll just have to go and partake in the Wizard's magical experience ALL to yourself. It is open 24-7 after all (the restaurant is "only" open from 11am-4am).
See ya there. I'll be in the corner of the bar winkin' at ya with a drink in my hand, showing off those shiny fingernails just for you! If I'm not passed out yet, at least.
PROS: Friendly, attentive staff serving up one of the more interesting menus I've seen in a long time (for a "regular" place, anyway), and with very good food. It's a casino. People gamble.
CONS: If you can call it a "con", It's a scene with a lot of regulars as diverse as the menu is, that might not share your demographic. But so what? It's a casino. People gamble. Welcome to America. read more