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Celebrating a birthday, four of us went up to Central City/Black Hawk to do a buffet and try our luck at the machines. On the drive up I-70, just before entering Central City – on Central City Parkway – we noticed that the *Gambler’s Edge RV Park was open for business after a year+ closure. Is this a small indicater that business is coming back to the mountain casinos? We’ll wait and see. I called the office and confirmed the reopening of the RV Park. The park reopened May 1, 2010. *It is now called the Denver West / Central City KOA RV Park.
First let me back up for a second. Last week I had an Asian Chicken Salad (a fav) at the Red Coral restaurant on So. Colorado Blvd. in Denver. I saw some coupons in an Asian magazine at the restaurant. One of the coupons was a two-for-one buffet coupon for The Isle Hotel/Casino’s Calypso’s Buffet. I got a couple of coupons for a trip to the mountains.
Yesterday we drove up at around three o’ clock in the afternoon. First I wanted to check out The Ameristar Hotel Casino to see if I had any comps coming so we parked at the free Ameristar Casino Hotel’s covered parking garage and went in. The ladies sat in front of a fireplace and had a cocktail, I went to check for comps and Gregg went to the machines. Three of us were back in front of the fireplace when a very animated Gregg rushed up waving a slot ticket. He had a ticket for $198.00. Not bad for small-time gamers. Working off a very small budget, *I also played “his” machine and stopped when I was around $75.00 up. Not bad at all considering that my “bankroll” was a $5.00 comp I got from Ameristar. I parlayed that five dollar bill into gambling money which I used for the rest of the night. Krissy also was ahead at Ameristar. This sounds like hype, but this was one of the best gambling nights any of us has ever had in Black Hawk. The crowd was lively, the band was hot and the casino was hoppin’. We were several hundred bucks ahead and the night was just starting.
After a bit more gambling we were all getting hungry so we moved the car to the Riviera’s parking garage, walked across the street to The Isle Hotel, refreshed our Player cards, put in a couple of bucks, then moved over to Calypso’s Buffet. I had seen this room before but had never eaten there. The basic design is “Island” with thached-roofs and bamboo, and some other stuff that doesn’t quite work, but that’s another post. Basically it’s a comfortable room. We took a booth against a wall on the oposite side of the buffet tables.
We were all somewhat surprised with the buffet. It was pretty decent, especially with the all-you-can-eat King Crab Legs (7 days.) My favorite – the peel and eat shrimp – were cold, firm and tasty. Also at the buffet tables: an (average) salad-bar with breads, soups and fruit, a build-your-own taco bar, an Asian food station, a carnivor station with roast beef, chicken etc. Some of the other tasty items were: risotto with sun-dried tomatoes, pizza, Swedish meatballs, Tuna Steaks, Bar-B-Que pork, Chicken Piccata, and of course the dessert station with gooey pies, cakes, ice cream and more.
Usually we do the buffet at The Ameristar or The Lodge Casino. We had coupons for The Isle, coupons rule…
After dinner we tasted a few machines at The ISLE then moved on over to The RIV, tried a few machines there then headed back to the city. It was indeed a good night.
Calypso’s Buffet
Isle Casino Hotel Black Hawk
401 Main Street
Black Hawk, CO 80422
*I debated whether or not to divulge the following information. I guess I decided to do just that. The killer machine was a [$0.01 – information was deleted august 10, 2010.]
*This information is for professional gamblers and not intended to entice persons to gamble. Although we did ok playing this machine, it could have been a fluke. We are not advising anyone to play this machine or any other gambling machine.
The Isle Casino Hotel’s Official Website
The Ameristar Casino Hotel’s Official Website
The Riviera Casino’s Official Website
