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Sycuan Casino
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Garage, Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner, Late Night
- Alcohol:
- None
28 reviews for Sycuan Casino
Oh Sycuan, how do I hate thee. Let me count ( and describe) the ways...
*I hate how you tease me by giving me a little bit of money and then raping me for three times as much.
*I hate how you're filled with numerous penny slots, yet there never seems to be one available for me.
*I hate that you seem to be closer than others, when in reality it takes the same amount of time to get to all casinos from La Mesa.
*I hate that you send me "free" play coupons, thus tempting me to visit you again when I swear every time that I'm quitting you.
*I hate how you make my hair and clothes wreak of cigarette making it
difficult to lie to my husband about where I went with my mom.
Sycuan, I have a love/hate relationship with you. I need to dump you and
dump you fast. Please stay out of my life and off my free Padres gear.
As for the casino itself; Sycuan is big with three different levels and a seperate non smoking section. They always have some kind of promotion or giveaway. The buffet isn't horrible and will run you only $10.
People thought this was:
- Useful (10)
- Funny (10)
- Cool (10)
Similar to my opinions of Viejas, this place has changed for the worse since I have last been there. There are now only about 2 or 3 Pai Gow tables and there are people waiting to play. I refuse to wait when I have money to burn.
I knocked it down from 3 to 2 stars because of the lack of booze situation (waaay too far off the beaten path, so there is no booze to discourage drunk driving) and the buffet is crap.
Clearly, this is a sign that I need to hit Vegas more often.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Cool (1)
I would have given Sycuan one star in the past. I had been there twice before, and both times crapped out so fast, I didn't even know what happened.
Years later, I go back with my boyfriend just to check it out again. I won $1,000 on a nickle slot! My biggest win to date!
Thanks, Sycuan. Now your A-OK in my book!
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (3)
This is becoming our new destination since it's not as far as the other ones and it's not a bad place to visit. You can park your car at Plaza Bonita if you don't feel like driving and 40 minutes later you're playing Pai Gow or whatever it is that you play....now let's go shoot some craps....
My parents love bingo, and they end up dragging me with them.
And while it was slightly exciting, yet disappointing, to be SO CLOSE to winning.. while I played with those inky marker dab things and drew on my losing bingo papers and folded them up, making a bingo paper chain.. the most memorable part of those hours of bingo was..
the bacon cheeseburger and fries. So. Good. I barely paid attention to the numbers being called because I was so into that burger. Then again, when you're pretty much starving, anything tastes good. At first I thought the burger was gonna taste cheap and unsatisfying, but it tasted great. And the fries were very nice and crispy.
Their buffet isn't completely orgasmic, but if you go to try the buffet, go on the days when it's only $10 per person. AND ATTACK THOSE DESSERTS! The cheesecake is nice and creamy. They have a freezer with ice cream tubs and you can scoop your own ice cream -- try the kona coffee ice cream. YUM! That's the only thing I really liked about the buffet -- the desserts.
Their other restaurant, their sit-down restaurant (shoot, I forgot what it's called) has really good calamari, btw. And don't underestimate their fruit salad -- they really go all out on that thing. I wish I could've taken a picture of it.
Segregated from the upstairs non-smoking section of the Sycuan Casino by a pair of double glass doors, the Sycuan Poker room is a mid-sized card room with under twenty tables. They spread limit and no limit hold' em poker, with some limit stud and Omaha here as well. When our hero came in to play on a weekday, they were spreading everything from $1/2 No Limit Hold 'Em to $30/60 games.
Approaching the $1/2 table that was just forming, he was informed he could buy in for between $20-60. The limits at beginners' tables here are relatively low and easy to play while waiting for a higher limit table or just to learn the ropes. Some wait listed players and tournament players that had just been knocked out gathered around our intrepid hero as he sat down across from dealer.
In the first hour, our hero hit a King-high straight flush when a suited 9 came on the turn to complete a 2-suited open-ended straight flush draw flop. Someone acting before him checked the paired board. Slow playing it to the river, he hoped his opponent had a four of a kind and they could share the $26,000+ bad beat jackpot that had been unclaimed for a week. Our hero bet the river a callable amount and got called by the villain; however, the villain tabled 96, for one card short of a bad beat of quad 9's. If only the 6 had been upside down!
After a while, one of the knockout players from the tournament joined our hero's table, holding two $500 chips in his hand, asking the dealer "hey, can I play with these?" Clearly he was a bit of a smart ass in a funny way -- he started off immediately under the gun raising to 9 times the big blind and playing any two cards in any position. He broke a tight-aggressive player playing AA with some trash cards by hitting runner-runner after the flop for a straight. He caught 2 pair on the flop with trash cards against top pair with King kicker against another player. He raised to $25 or $50 often after the flop after his abnormal pre-flop raises. Clearly the lucky loose-aggressive joker was a hilarious and wild addition to the "kiddie table" of poker at Sycuan.
After a while, the poker maniac was explaining to his friend beside him at the table what the rules of Chinese Pai Gow Poker were. Our hero just had to be a smart alec and interject, "That's the type of poker us slanty-eyed people play," in a sarcastic tone. This immediately played the race card -- the strongest card in the poker deck -- and got the maniac in a defensive mindset.
Long story short, our hero managed to quintuple his stack when it got late in the night and he cashed in his chips as the chip leader of the table.
PROS:
- Machine shufflers on all tables.
- Friendly dealers and managers.
- Table service for food is available until late.
- Live straddles from under the gun are allowed in NLHE cash games.
CONS:
- The rake seems pretty hefty. $3 rake is taken from the pot pretty much as soon as the flop hits, and a $1jackpot rake is taken as well from larger pots over ~$20. It makes financial sense to always chop when you're down to just the blinds here.
- Rack attack bonuses added to random tables' pots are only $50, which are slim compared to Barona's $100 bonuses.
- Cup holders on the tables are slim and do not fit regular sized plastic water bottles.
People thought this was:
- Useful (9)
- Funny (8)
- Cool (8)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
2/6/2009
Sycuan casino can be reached through a palm tree lined road, winding through the Eastern El Cajon… Read more »
I thought i might be the firs to speak of the new off track betting area.......It used to be upstairs, they closed it for a few years and I guess they decided to reopen OTB. So they cut the poker room down from one huge room, to one third/two third ratio.......the OTB gets the 1/3 of the original poker room,, the poker room (what's left of it) is made up of the original 2/3 of the room.......(does that make sense?) Anyway, they now have two rooms which are both too small for what they were intended.......what used to be nice roomy poker room for tournaments is now very crowded and claustrophobic. The OTB room was ok for me, because i just walked in and out a few times to place a few random bets, but for the guys who camp out in there all day,I think it will be too tight.......just my opinion,,,,,,,your results may vary.......
A decent casino that is older but has expanded and remodeled. The new parking garage is very big and has a nice glass walkway over the street to the upper level of the casino. It's not too bad here. The non-smoking section is really nice with tons of breathable air. It's closer than some of the other casinos, but does lack some of the excitement since the casino floor is separated into multiple levels and closed off rooms.
If you can come here not expecting to win you'll probably have a good time. If you do win it's a very happy bonus! Just bring what you can afford to lose and leave the credit/debit cards at home just to be safe.
I like the people who work here, the ladies in the Bingo hall, the cashiers, slot attendants, blackjack dealers, buffet staff, they're all very nice, helpful and friendly. The buffet is pretty good. It's not real big but they have a decent selection. The chocolate cake is to die for! They used to have video poker tournaments a few days a week. We enjoyed doing those and the guy that ran them was a good guy, remembered everyone. We even won a little money a few times. Unfortunately, they stopped having them.
People thought this was:
- Useful (3)
- Funny (2)
- Cool (3)
There is no sign on Dehesa Road that clearly shows where the casino is. We drove past the resort sign and the second sign headed toward somewhere in East County before we turned around and found it. The entrance road looks like one for an airport with palm trees lining the sides. Sycuan has a multi-level parking garage with convenient lighted displays of the number of available spaces at each entrance. Inside the main entrance is a pathetic museum with some reproduction Kumeyaay artifacts in glass cases. There is a separate bingo room with over a thousand seats that runs games continuously. The other gambling is mostly slots with a small number of card tables. We ate dinner at Paipa's Oasis Buffet. It was well worth the money even though the prime rib was so rare that it was actually raw.
I hate everything about this place. From the 2 star restaurants to the old folks wearing the same designer jumpsuits that havent been home in days or weeks.
I hate the fact that I had to drive close to an hour to get here just so I can blow a couple hundred bucks.
How is it possible to pull a 6 card 21, you bastard dealer .
I hate how I used to leave this financial black hole at 2 or 4 in the morning ,broke with no gas money except for the change in my ashtray.
Its been years Sycuan but I still hate you. Same goes for you Viejas.
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Paipa's Oasis Buffet inside of Sycuan is pretty good.
We only paid $22 for 3(myself, mom, and dad) because of some points they had, usually for dinner it's $15.95.
Lunch: $10.95
The prime rib was tasty, stuffed baked potatoes, grilled salmon with mango salsa, and grilled yellow squash were good.
They have an assortment of food; asian, mexican, american and italian.
The desserts look delicious, they have cheesecake, chocolate cake, cookies, and ice cream
The buffet gets 4-5 stars, but I had to deduct 2 stars for the gaming part. You leave reeking of cigarette smoke, even when you play in the non-smoking area, good job who ever designated that area for "non-smokers." You have to go through the smoking area a few yards to get into the non-smoking area. And to get to the buffet/food areas also.
It's amazing to see how robotic the people here are, watching them do their rituals(rubbing the screen, pressing certain buttons in a specific order). People glued to the same machine for hours.
I only play at the slot machines, or keno.
YAY KENO :D
If I ever win $1,000+ from this casino I'll probably change it to 5 stars.
People thought this was:
- Useful (2)
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Sycuan has better bingo computers than Viejas, but I've had better luck at Viejas. The Bingo manager is NOT customer service oriented at Sycuan... several of the people (players) I've met are not happy with him. The employees are not as friendly as Viejas either.
The snack bar in the Bingo are is excellent... be sure to try their chocolate pudding! lol... yes... TRY IT!!!
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
I'm all Bingo-ed out, this place is freakin crazy! The bingo room is 2,000 people capacity, they give big ass prizes, and it takes 4.5 hours of your life away. It's great!
I'd go here again if I had the time. The buy-in is cheaper than Barona, and the prizes are way better. It gets a little tiring after a while, but it's fun and winning is fabu, so of course it's worth it. My aunt won twice in one night (received close to $2,000), and when she wins, I win ;)
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Sycuan is a great place to waste time with friends. if you can see through the smoke it rewards you with hours of awesome people-watching. and who doesnt like people-watching! crackheads, old people, hookers, scary ass east county folk...its fantastic. ive wasted many a dollar here at the slots (they're nice and clean up at the front entrance but the back room is grimey and old) and spent hours in bingo with my coworkers. theres no chance in hell at winning but its fun with friends and cigarettes.
the chicken strips are deeelish.
the staff is sweet and helpful.
oh i wish i could go right now.
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Paipa's Oasis Buffet was just awful, overpriced and lousy food. I have been there many times in the past, but was so disappointed with my most recent visit I will never go again. Overall food quality was about what one would get a Barona or Viejas (but both are cheaper), but what was done to the prime rib was disgusting. They were taking nice beautiful thick slices of prime rib and throwing them on a grill for some reason, resulting in an over cooked, chewy, seared, ruined piece of meat. I wanted to cry for the already dead cow getting extra abuse.
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Went for the free buffet after getting a coupon in the mail, and you know, I wasn't impressed. Like, at all. It seemed cleaner feeling than Barona, but maybe just because it's slightly newer? Smokey as hell, the buffet is tiny and doesn't offer much. It's closer than the other casinos, but really, not worth it in my book.
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I'm only rating the GARLIC CHILI CHICKEN! served at Wachena Falls Cafe in Sycuan.....that with just white rice is delish, we also order the beef sticks to start - which i was surprised were really good. Overall the cafe would be a 2 star, the menu items are a bit overpriced and because it's Sycuan, if you've been there before - you know what I mean. I'm not a fan of the buffet either, I would go there to eat only if I was joining the parental units before Bingo.
The three pillars of debauchery (also known as A Good Time) in no particular order: booze, gambling, and sex. Sycuan is disappointing because you are most likely only going to experience one of the three. You may perhaps indulge in a second, however you will probably have to relax your standards mightily and/or pay a hefty fee. And one of the three pillars isn't allowed here at all. Meh.
People thought this was:
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I went for a poker tourny and i really liked the format and i really liked the casino. i loved the non-smoking areas. for once i walked out not completely reaking of smoke. The drive was a pain in the ass, but could be worth it. I liked the poker room. It was spacious. The players were alright, but then again, I lost money Saturday night. I'd go back to make it up.
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The buffet at Barona is better, but this location is closer.... The parking lot is lacking, but I've heard they opened a new lot.
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My first time here today. Google Maps from the San Diego airport was slightly incorrect, but made it there safely. There was nicely decorated Christmas trees outside and inside for the holidays. The place looked fairly new. I was surprised there was so many 1, 2, and 5 cent slots! There is free coffee and sodas at the deli, which was nice. I ate dinner at the Wachena Falls Cafe in the casino. The server was friendly and the food was better than I expected for a casino.
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This was the second casino I've been to in San Diego and I didnt' have a good time here- the dealer was rude and the other players are not tolerant of beginners at the table. Lost $100 here and don't think I wil be back. I didn't enjoy the atmospehere here- I got bad vibes.
What a pain in the ass it was driving here, but when all was said and done, I racked up near $700 in keno/slots/video poker (all in the non-smoking section). I only came here because I was kicked out of another casino earlier in the day (Pauma, read that review, if you wish), but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. You'll see crackheads, old people, day laborers, etc. This was in August '06, and I've been meaning to return, but don't know when.
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Used to go here all the time for buffet cuz it was just down the street and pretty good.
I mainly go there for the buffet whenever i used to get free ticket coupons from the mail under my dad's name. HAHAHA. Good thing my dad and i have the same name. Don't forget money too...Now they change the rule that you have to play in tables or whatever to recieve chips. i'm not the type to go into casinos as much as my dad is. The buffet is not as big as Barona casino and don't seem to have too many varieties of foods in my opinion. Oh yeah, i should of mention in the beginning of the paragraph that i came to sycuan when i was 17 in fall 2002. Never got caught by security while i was 17, but looked at me suscpious. By the time it was summer and turned 18, they did ID check and the same usual secuirty guards that checked me, was in belief of shock in his mind and told me you can go in and thought to themselves that they should of checked me awhile back and saw me go in there many time...how guillble...lol... I always had to stick by my dad and not going anywhere alone as long as i don't get caught. got hookups with food from this waitress my dad knew cuz he always goes there. those were the times...
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This is where you want to go if you're a Sociology major and have to write a paper on methamphetamine and its effects on local communities. You feel really slow inside, because everyone is moving so goddamn fast. People are sprinting around, scratching at their face and chests, muttering "yesyesyesbigmoneybigmoneybigmoney". You see grandmas gambling away their grand children's birthday money, laughing hysterically, squeezing their free senior citizens donut in their hands until the dough squishes through their fingers, getting stuck in the crevices of their silver turquoise-stoned rings. Old Filipino women with clown-like makeup dash around the gambling floor, pushing their unconscious older white husbands in wheel chairs in front of them, reaching into their wallets and seizing whatever money they have, asking young men if they want a date when they realize their husband's money has run out.
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i like this place cause it has prime rib everyday at the buffet and their other food is pretty good too. alot of variety for a small buffet.
gambling is fun too. most of the dealers are very nice and work for their tips--so tip them! however, some of them don't talk to the players at all and expect tips which is pretty dumb. for example, there's this dealer named "Nang," and she was quiet the whole time when she dealt the cards so no one was tipping her. before she left, she was being all bitchy-sarcastic saying "thanks for the tips." she said that with an attitude too. wtf? well, i'll remember that. and i guess she won't be getting much tipping from me and the readers here at yelp--and that's her bad. in addition, some dealers need to understand that most gamblers won't tip if they're loosing. if i'm down 500 do you expect me to tip? fuck no! and it doesn't matter if the dealer knows if the player is losing or not. what the dealers should do is be nice and happy no matter what. that way, the next time around when i'm winning, i'll decide to tip. so a "tip" to you dealers: don't follow Nang's example! oh, and dealers, please guide new blackjack players in how to follow basic strategy so that they don't split their 10s (and other dumbshit) and fuck up the table.
i just have to mention that they have a nice handful of cute girl dealers. i love it. sometimes i don't look at my cards cause i'm busy glancing across the pit.
the ambience isn't so great, but it's not bad. the fact that they have a non smoking side of the casino with slots and card tables is fuckin excellent cause i hate smoke. there's a big difference in air quality between the smoking and non-smoking sides.
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