L'Auberge du Lac

Guest review by Jennifer, visited July 2005

From Jennifer: My mom & I went on a girls retreat on July 17-19 (Sun-Tues), 2005. What a fun time we had! Upon arriving, the bellhop (CHRIS!) came to collect our bags and store them since no rooms were ready (we got there around noon). He then took us on a grand tour of the property! Showed us the restaurants & shops, the spa & pool area, elevators & casino. What a doll. He really helped us out!

We then went to lunch at their 24 hour place called "Le Cafe." YUCK!!! It was NOT BUSY and we had awful service. The burger I had was way average and mom's chicken fried steak was OK. We waited nearly an hour for it. No apology, no offer of free dessert or whatever. So we definitely didn't go back to that restaurant!

We eventually got to our room on the 9th floor, and Chris, our bellhop, gave us a spectacular tip: ask for an odd numbered room, because it faces the awesome pool area! So our room was great. Super soft pillows and comforters, I think they were made of down! Bathroom was roomy and normal sized shower with a little metal basket at arm level which made it nice to store shampoos and whatnot, no bending over for soap or anything!

We went to the pool, our favorite hangout! The lazy river was FANTASTIC! They also have a lap pool, where nobody did laps, kids just hung out. They have a sandy area and some lounge chairs that sit sort of in the water, so that your butt will get wet but you aren't submerged when you sit. There is a nice big swim up bar where you can get some hot dogs and drinks. They have clear inner tubes to float down the lazy river, and it takes a good 7-10 minutes to make the full circle.

We were blown away by their pool area and had much fun there. The waitresses were cute in their little pink halter tops and pink skirts serving drinks, and I'm sure the men love them! There are cabanas available for rental by the day. I think they are $200 on a weekend day and $150 on a weekday. There is a TV, fridge, private phone line, table, chairs, and maybe Internet access. They said they'd stock the fridge with whatever soft drinks and water that are requested.

The casino was cool. Lots of new dealers who were slow and took their time, and I prefer that. I'd rather lose my money slowly! They have lots of games available (no War, no poker). Good amount of craps and blackjack, though not too many $5 tables, which was disappointing. We played lots of slots, and I didn't win anything, but Mom won several little things.

GET A SLOT CARD. The slot card benefits are great, particularly if you are staying there! You can use your slot card to pay for dinners and items in stores. We didn't pay for another meal, everything was comped simply by having the cashier slide our slot card through the machine, and they debited points away for the meals. I think it's something like 1000 points = $20 in food or $10 in cash.

The Buffet is OK, though for breakfast, they didn't have grape jelly! They ran out. Weird. Lunch buffet was OK too, you know how casino buffets are! Nothing is great, it's all just OK. Desserts were even just OK and they had a lot of them.

Went to the Jack Daniels Bar & Grill, which I liked! The waitresses dress kind of skimpy, which I guess the men love, and they are pretty. The food is good there. Drinks are good too. Saw a country entertainer there Sunday nite who was great (Ricky van Shelton I think).

They have a little ice cream place called Sprinkles, which is just Blue Bell ice cream served up various ways. Nice big servings there.

We went to the spa. I had a facial, which was $100 and was 80 minutes long. It was great! My mom had a massage and an 'all about eyes' mini facial where they plucked her eyebrows and gave her a little face rubdown. They have a gym, which looked cool with lots of machines, but hey, I was on vacation and didn't work out a bit!

The room price we paid was $79, and some people we talked to paid $159 for last minute rooms. The earlier you plan, the cheaper the price! I think it's very reasonably priced for the amenities you get!

We thought we'd cruise around to other casinos while we were there, but we valet parked that Sunday, and never left the property till checkout on Tuesday! It was a real blast and we can't wait to go back! We saved up all our change over the year to go, and we paid for the entire trip with our change! All gas, hotel, spa, gambling -- all done with change that we turned in for bills once we got there. We're definitely doing that trick again!

I think that the restaurants in general pretty much suck, and they need to get on the ball with that. The decor is lovely with a cool casual but elegant feel. My only real complaint was the food, because the service and stuff to do on site was great for people of all ages!

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