Grand Villa Casino — Attraction in Central Core

I attended this place as a volunteer for charity.

I came with a friend and was very please with the service received in the match restaurant.

However, the New York steak we ordered was a combination of poor execution on cooking and just a really bad cut of meat. The steak was grainy, dry, tasteless and had stringy bits throughout. This was the second attempt at ordering a nice steak dinner but was equally as disappointing at the first time at the newly opened WEM location.

The service was great however, and I felt compelled to tip regardless, it would have been nice to know that the charity gives server's an automatic gratuity of 18%. I still would have tipped her because she was a great server.

At the bar however, was a completely different experience! The volunteers were told to order there, after the match restaurant closed. The two bartender's ignored us and kept saying one sec...this went on for about 15, while they served everyone else at the bar. We weren't offered even a menu to look at while waiting. Upon receiving the menu, our group of 4 eventually order only after looking at the menu for a couple of minutes.

Never have I experienced such a blatant behavior to being ignored. I could sense that the two attending bar tenders found it amusing, because they would look at each other and laugh after each passing by they made in front of us. Management needs to step up and be accountable for behavior like this. It's shameful!

As side from food, I can't really see how this casino is still standing. It's surrounded by drunk vagrants stumbling along bagging for money and in the facility a complete lack of security...my companion and I were stalked in the building. While riding the escalator, to the second level, some guy comes running up the escalator and ends up so close behind me, I could almost feel him touching me. So I moved in front of my friend to give him way, to pass us if he was in such a hurry. He just stood there, uncomfortably. I could feel my skin crawl at this point and just looked at my friend to be on alert. I looked at the guy and he wouldn't make eye contact. Once we reached the top, he motioned to go back down the stairs but just stood at the top of the stairs looking down.

Enter from the front, if you get the chance, the back entrance is so creepy due to a lack of security.

I can totally see why this place is...

Gorgeous design and a number of fantastic staff, Granvilla is a superb addition to Edmonton's vibrant core! The casino is a hotspot for pre-game hockey fans and concert attendees, and has seen some crazy nights after the evening's event (especially when the Oilers win during the playoffs, it's bananas). There are two full-service restaurants and two fast food style storefront counters inside the casino proper, not to mention the main floor 360° white marble bar. Match Eatery occupies the main floor and caters to the sports bar crowd, as well as families (yes, that includes children) during or prior to certain events. The second floor is dominated by the sizeable Atlas Steak & Fish which features an à la carte style menu, seafood towers, smoked prime rib (8oz or 12oz, event nights and Sundays) and the captivating centrepiece of the room, the Josper grill/oven. This truly is what brings people in, in my opinion. No gas or electricity whatsoever, the Josper runs exclusively on mesquite charcoal and a controlled oxygen supply at a wicked 600° to 800°F. It's a waist-high and wide oven with two grills that are pulled out/pushed in (to allow full access to its entire cooking surface) while a chimney flue determines the oxygen VS smoke allowed inside the cooking chamber. It's so hot and smoky that it requires a special hood vent system that costed nearly half a million dollars to purchase and install, about twenty times the cost of the actual Josper itself (source: I ran that oven for about two years in that very location, good times). Go eat there, and try the Tomahawk steak, a 3lb monster ribeye for sharing and of course...

This review is for the family friendly food court that casino offers, which is a waste of space.

I arrived at the location at 12pm and the food court was not open. I looked around the seating area and asked a couple if they know what time the food court, they told me they do not know as they've been waiting for it to open also since 11:30am.

I called the casino and asked to transfer to a manager, and I got a man name either Tio or Rio on the other line. I asked him why the food court is closed. His reply was that food court closes on Mondays.

For some logical reason, I didn't believe him. So I went to the Starbucks (by the food court, also part of the casino.) The clerk pointed me the manager on duty, who was sitting in Starbucks having a coffee. I asked her the same question, why is the food court closed. Her reply was, "unfortunately, we had to close the food court due to shortage of a certain stock." While looking at the floor as she would not make eye contact with me.

Let's assume she was telling the truth, the food court consists with Sbarro pizza and Vera's burger, so the only common ingredient that I can think of which cause both places to be close would be flour. Even so, what's stopping them to buy flour from grocery store?

I took this photo shortly after 3pm. Right before I snapped the photo, I watched two construction workers walked up to the entrance, tilted their hands and heads up, and turned around and walked away.

It's a great place to have a family friendly food court, but with bad management, as I said, a...