Century Mile Racetrack and Casino — Attraction in Alberta

Update: I appreciate your reply,

If you can't do anything with the building, as a company, you accept that.

You make a list of things you can change, i notice most of the complaints are staff, customer service and food.

I worked the nightclub industry for 15yrs, and I feel you have a problem of entitled employees there. The kind of employees that make customers feel like they are an inconvenience. Its not hard to see it. That being said, you have managers and supervisors that are not doing their job by recognizing it and implementing changes. Or worse, they don't care.

Customer service is easy to fix, and guess what, it's free, doesn't cost you money to fix.

If you have employees that can't grasp it and won't give it, then find new employees. If you notice no one can grasp it, then you need to look at your managers and supervisors and make a change. Your training program doesn't need to be stellar, give them the basics, but hire well. Whoever is hiring doesn't grasp it. Hiring good employees takes time and lot's of questions and maybe 1 or 2 good face to face interviews. The right people, a higher level of customer service will at least soften the blow of all the other things wrong there.

I mean the food, really, in this entertainment environment, you know you need to be better, the plates show it. You know you will need to take a bit of a loss on the food for a bit, then offer value for money and get a following. Then you can start to add a few profitable dishes and go from there. Don't give small portions and even smaller seafood portions. If you are going sell something for $20 make it look like they got $30 worth of product, not $10. Take a loss and maybe have a table stay an extra 2hrs and put some profit back in the way of betting, rather than leave disappointed and take their money with them, not to return.

The company seems to be running pretty tight and the observations seem to lead to conclusion that they need to turn a profit ASAP. It will lead to your downfall.

You are in a bad location and bad building, you need to step it up, take some early small losses to gain a following, you don't need to break the bank, but you need to invest a little to change. It will pay off exponentially.

Why struggle with small crowds and complaints for 5 years and lackluster enthusiasm from staff who know and see the poor value.

Give them a product to be proud of, and customers will follow.

Not sure where to start.

Poor, poor, poor, service from bartenders amd servers.

I had brought 6 business associates who were in town from across Canada. People that travel Canada and see different venues.

They all said this seems like a Casino that added a racetrack as an afterthought.

We were shocked at the level of customer service, staff all seemed more interested in talking and hanging out, rather than serving bar customer's and tables.

Food, average at best, but for the prices, below average.

The layout of the track viewing areas and seating, show, that whoever built this and approved the design, had no experience in the racing industry and didn't take time to talk to customers and patrons as to what mattered most. On the other hand, not knowing who designed this, if it was designed by someone familiar with the industry, they either didn't care and took their paycheck and left or had their hands handcuffed by a tight budget. This is a very very very bare bones location.

Everything looks like an afterthought.

Maybe that's why the staff act the way they do and unprofessional, if they surroundings are amateur, then you have no pride in where you work.

Managers/supervisors also seem like they don't care.

I appreciate that someone in media relations answers all these reviews, but NOTHING has changed.

Awful surroundings, below average food, high prices, completely amateur staff.

SAVE YOUR MONEY, take a cab into the city and spend the same money at a high end restaurant downtown.

7 of us total, the next night, did just that. Cost us the same and had an unforgettable experience in the...

DO NOT PAY FOR THE BUFFET!

I typically do not rate things this low but I needed to communicate this experience so others do not make the same mistake or hopefully management can rectify this problem.

We chose this venue under the advice of my in-laws as they've been here before and had great experiences in the past, so for my mother in law's 60th birthday it seemed like a good option for our group(6 adults,5 kids).  My first impression of this establishment was that I was impressed by the venue; the horse racing was fun to watch and bet on, and my kids enjoyed the excitement of the races.  The restaurant seating area was quite nice as well and the staff were professional and helpful. The reason for the 1 star review was not the entertainment but, the Finish Line Restaurant dinner buffet for a number of reasons.

The cost of $40 per adult and $25 per child. 1A)The price point on this isn't realistic for the product.  You can go to other buffet restaurants with many more food options for 2/3 the cost of this. 1B) These prices in my opinion do not make any sense for this type of establishment.  Being a casino/horse race track these are what I would assume are the primary revenue generating components of the business,  I would think they would have reduced food prices to encourage people to attend and spend money in the other areas.  This would be a similar business model to the buffets in Vegas casinos or the food at costco used to bring people in to spend money on their primary revenue items for example.

The food options.  -  When we first went to the buffet area we were disappointed to find how small the food area was for the cost.  Then we realized that it was actually only half of what it appeared to be, just a mirror image to the other side.  Total food options were 4 salads, mixed vegetables, rice, mashed potatoes, chorizo mac and cheese. chicken breast, salmon and prime rib, assorted desserts. Food availability/quality- I could have lived with the selection if the food quality was good.  To be honest I can't speak too much to the quality as each of the 3 times I went up for food there was no chorizo mac and cheese, Prime rib, gravy, salmon, or 2 of the salads.  I opted to wait for the prime rib which I was told would be 5min, then after 10min was told it would be 35min (this is at 7pm). I did inevitably get some prime rib which was not good, but never had a chance to try the mac and cheese which was empty every time I went up(3 times).  My mother in-law(60th birthday) was unable to try the salmon she was looking forward to as it was consistently empty as well.  Any buffet that I have been to will fill these trays before they are 2/3 empty to ensure the customers always have the selection and quality they've paid for.  This was unacceptable. These concerns were voiced to the floor staff which indicated these have been communicated to management/ownership but have not seen the any action to rectify them.  We were  given a $50 gift card for our experience, which on a $500 bill this was rather insulting but was consistent with the rest of the meal experience.

In summary if you are looking to spend the evening at this establishment the entertainment is good, but ensure you eat before you come as you'll likely be disappointed and overcharged for...

I don't really write reviews, but this was so bad I felt like I had to.

Generally it was a very disappointing experience. We've been coming to the horse races for years and were excited to see the new facility. Unfortunately, it did not live up to any of our expectations.

There is little to no indoor seating so patrons are forced to either brave the elements outside (if it's, say, a cold windy day in May) or they must find a seat in a restaurant with very poor customer service. The only other option to watch the races is to try and find a spot at the overcrowded viewing window in the corner. While this is might not be a big issue for most, we were forced to leave early when the lack of seating became too painful for my elderly father's back.

Before, during, and after the race you can try and look at the the results board, but it's inconsistent at best. Your other option is to try and listen to the announcer who is barely audible on the current speaker system. For most of us, the winners were figured out by having multiple conversations and reaching a consensus with other atendees.

Betting is inconvenient as you either have to use a non-user friendly terminal or wait in a long line with everyone else who's avoiding the terminals.

After the races, you can try and go to the bathroom but, beware. Some of the bathroom stalls are too small and one is completely unusable due to the toilet paper holder being installed about an inch away from the actual toilet.

Overall, my family, friends and I are leaving with a pretty bad taste in our mouths. Right now I cannot and will not recommend coming here for horse racing. I'll come back in a few months to see if anything has improved. I hope it does and, if so, I will happily update my review. The casino looks...