Restaurant Review: Royal River Casino

I was recently out in Flandreau, SD for a work trip and needed to find a place to stay. I Googled hotels in the area and did not find any hotel chains nearby. However I did find a Hotel/Casino called Royal River Casino. Through some hurdles and return calls I was finally able to reserve a room but that is the topic of another post. I went to their website to see the amenities. I found that they had a buffet and a sports bar restaurant. That was nice because the forecast was calling for winter storms and dangerously low temperatures. I was looking forward to not having to venture out to grab supper after getting into the warm comforts of the hotel.

After I checked in the first night I went down the the restaurant and was smacked in the face by a wall of smoke. Totally disgusting! I stood there for a few minutes waiting to be seated (following the directions on the sign) and when no one acknowledged me I went out to seek the hostess. The hostess was standing away from her station at the front of the restaurant visiting with a waitress and not paying any attention to her job. I asked for a menu to see what they had to offer. She handed me one and also told me about the Sports Bar (which I could supposedly order off the menu also). Since this was a Monday night and during football season I decided to walk over to the Sports Bar and take a look. When I got over there the place was empty. They had multiple large flat screens all over with different sports on including the Monday Night Football pregame show. BINGO!!! No people equals no smoke plus I can watch the game. I found a winning combination. So as I sat down and waited for a waitress I looked at the banners and table top ads sporting their weekly and daily specials. All day Sunday and during MNF they had $2 tap beers and $0.25 hot wings. Cool. They also had a selected menu of appetizers on sale. I waited and waited but no one was there. So I got up walked around looked into a few open doors and finally spotted a young waitress standing in the breeze way between the Casino bar and the sports bar smoking away and chomping on french fries. Nice. I tried not to startle her while she was in her feeding/smoking frenzy. I politely excused myself and asked her for a menu. She seemed put off that I was interrupting her. She made sure to mention to me that I could not order off the restaurant menu (even thought the Sports Bar and restaurant were connected by a glass door). I mentioned to her that the hostess from the restaurant told me that I could order off the menu in the Sports Bar. She seemed annoyed and I got the impression that she just didn't want to have to serve anyone. So she scuttled off to check with the hostess. Meanwhile I decided that it did not matter and that I would just order hot wings and some beer while watching MNF. Finally she came back and announced that I could order from the menu but I would have to go over to the restaurant (20 feet away) and order my meal for take out and then hand carry it myself in its plastic foam container over to the Sports Bar. I informed her that it would not be necessary and that I would just order some of the hot wings that were on special and a tap beer. She then looked at me and said "Oh, no those specials are for Sunday only". Hmmm...odd..because the 8 foot by 7 foot banner hanging on the wall clearly stated "All day Sunday and Monday during Monday Night Football (6-10pm)". I pointed out the sign and read it to her but she said that I was reading it wrong and she proceeded to read it aloud then stopped with a confused look on her face. She then went to get another waitress or possibly the manager on duty to look at their own sign. They both stared at this sign that has probably been hanging on the wall for 13 weeks now with amazement. Finally they came to the consensus that I was right. Finally I would get my beer and wings.

The wings were actually pretty good and the beer was nice and cold (even though they served it in a cheap thin plastic keg cup). I stayed for the better part of the first half. The waitress was not attentive at all and still seemed pissy that I dare make her work. For these reasons and the smoke issue I decided not to come back this week.

But being the sucker for cheap cold beer, good hot wings, MNF and not having to venture out into subzero temperatures I took a chance the next Monday. Different waitress same story. It was like deja vu. I found it hard to believe that the staff that works there does not know the weekly specials. Especially when they are plastered on every table top placard and on a huge banner on the wall. It was like an old rerun: cold beer, good wings, poor uninformed service. To add injury to insult a group of 3 people came in and sat down and the waitress came over with the other restaurant menu and they ordered the special from the restaurant. They did not have to go over there and order it and wait for it and hand carry it into the Sports Bar. I was dumbfounded. The incompetence runs so deep at these restaurants. Needless to say that was the last time I ate at the hotel regardless of temperature or impending snowstorm.

Here are my grades.

Food Quality-------------2 out of 5
Kind of hard to mess up hot wings. But lower score since I got the vibe that this might be the only safe thing to order on the menu.

Service Quality----------1 out of 5

Giving them a 1 is sort of a stretch. I guess they were present and they did finally bring me my food but that was pretty much it. I often had to seek them out for napkins, dressing, or to order another beer.

Value--------------------3 out of 5

The prices for the food and beer were excellent but the hassle in which to get the special advertised prices sort of dampened the good feeling. It was annoying the first time educating their staff on their own specials. The second time was painful.

Overall------------------ 2 out of 5

The Royal River Casino Sports Bar has good specials and lots of flat screen TVs for catching the game and having a brew. However it is evident why each time I was in there on a MNF night the place was vacant. Unless you don't mind searching for a waitress and trying to educate them on what menu you can or can't order from. In my own experiences, I cannot recommend these restaurants.