Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City — Attraction in Cathedral City

Agua Caliente Cathedral City...hmm... 20 year gambler, Ive played in, stayed at, and patronized nearly all the major (and minor) casinos in las vegas, laughlin, lake tahoe, temecula, pauma valley among others. Although I don't spend most of my time nor risk most of my gambling bankroll at this group nor in this state, I at some point must have run through enough bets to be in their highest tier. Ive had enough experience to attempt a reasonable review.

I have seen many casino bars, and Cathedral City oval bar adjacent to the dance floor has the worst service I have ever encountered, bar none. Locals and friends of the servers tend to get service, while others get ignored. There were 6 servers behind the bar at any given time. Tonite, I watched an older woman get up and leave out of this frustration, a couple with a similar experience, and I, myself, sat there for over and hour while the staff walked right by, continuing their chit chat with other customers, without ever asking me if i wanted anything. I was even sitting at a machine next to the bar back entrance, not one look, or mention from the staff present. Even after I , well, complained to whomever looked like a manager, it still took them 5 or 10 minutes to produce my tab so I could close out. It wasn't busy, about 25% of the seats were full.

Last time I checked, a casino makes the bulk of it's money from gambling revenue. They should at least know who comes in to risk money (this is part of what player tracking does), and, AT LEAST, give them service commensurate with their chums and friends they know, if not BETTER service. After all, it's higher level gamblers that keep the Casino lights on, pay the staff, and keep the tax free profits rolling into the tribal coffers. If I wanted a local bar atmosphere, I would go to a local bar. But this is a Casino, and service needs to be prompt, attentive, and distributed among every patron there. If you work there and chatting with your friends, and new patron sits down, excuse yourself and go serve the patron . That's your job. Who trained you?

In contrast to the service at Cathedral City, the service at the Agua Caliente (SPA) Palm Springs location near the bar is excellent, and the servers there ARE attentive, polite, professional and respectful, but they have re enabled smoking and not only is that nasty for California (you put up with the poor pay tables in order to have a smoke free environment) but it attracts kind of a low ball crowd. I don't want to be overly concerned for my safety because the gambler next to me lost their last 50 bucks. Cathedral city was the next option as Rancho Mirage is still stuck with outdated machines and probably the worst video poker paytables anywhere in the West. Rancho Mirage needs to get with the program and upgrade to handle bets up to $40.00 at ALL their bars (as they have in Palm Springs and Cat City) as well, it's 2024, not 1984. In the room where there is a legitimate high bet, their video poker is on par with a flip phone. Actually, that's a insult to flip phones. I digress.

Anyway, this is just a review of the service. I can recall multiple episodes like this at this Agua Caliente Cathedral City location, and when I saw it happen not only to me but to others tonight, it confirmed my initial impressions that this staff is poorly trained, very poorly overseen, and they tend to give great service to their regulars while essentially ignoring others. When I observed the staff ignoring other patrons as well, it prompted my complaints and this review. My advice would be go to another casino and avoid this place with their substandard...

I am a severely disabled combat Marine Corps veteran rated at 100% unemployable whom went to celebrate my best friends birthday and so my registered service dog, Athena Joy naturally came along with me. Athena, my service dog always wears her service dog vest which is clearly visible when worn with large lettering "Service Dog CPTSD Emotional Support" and her name. We were initially asked by security upon entrance to building where I was verified with Athena with the first security guard and I was Thanked for my service and we were allowed to enter. Everything is going good, we are gambling in the corner by ourselves over by One Eleven cafe, we even ordered drinks which the waitress that served us, there was zero issues with Athena meaning I was not having any concerning medical symptoms that were flaring up. While enjoying our first hour, two separate middle aged Caucasian guests, one a male and one a female on different occasions felt they had the right to approach Athena and myself quickly, reaching out to touch her and talking too quickly as doing so. Approaching ANYONE whom one does not know or feel secure, especially a Marine and their official service dog, Which set off my symptoms so Athena barks softly to say "Stay Back" Well I was soon approached by two other security guards whom demanded to see my ID. Pablo is the one security guards name that demanded I show him my ID and proof, which I did, however Pablo stated because several guests as well as Staff complained, which is a Complete LIE, that she barked, we have to leave the premises. Not that the case is that those two Caucasian guests approached her quickly believing they had the consent to touch her or me! I understand Men wanting to Excuse and Lord Power and Control over Women. This form of Abuse and Discrimination against Disabled Persons, Women, Minorities, ANY disabled Person, simply makes this Casino the WORST CASINO EVER. Shame On Agua Caliente Casinos and Shame on Pablo. Had it not been my best friends birthday and as mother's whom we don't get out much it was more important to focus on her having a fun time, I would have filed a formal ADA discrimination complaint. Just to have it formally documented and investigated to prove Pablo was lying, and Agua Caliente Casinos, in the complete wrong. I will choose Athena over nasty humans, any...

Make one small mistake such as lighting up a CBD cigarette (and putting it out right away in fear of being confronted) assuming it’s like other casinos that allow smoking and you’ll be treated like a criminal, especially if the person you were with was Mexican, with the way they treated him more than me.

After the cig was put out, we were confronted by a security guard who thought he was some hotshot, intimidating us, threatening to kick us out if we light up another. I told him it was just a CBD cigarette as I initially thought he’d be suspicious of the smell but that we put it out right away because we realized (a little too late after the fact, that smoking probably wasn’t allowed.) He said to my partner, “I could smell it on you” no kidding, we lit it up and PUT IT OUT. We even apologized and said we wouldn’t do it again, but he was a major jerk about it.

We went back to the machine when we noticed him circling us still like a hawk. He even went up to some older woman who very obviously was complaining about us, talking about us, just across the away. Like 2 girls gossiping about other people.

When we continued on to other machines, we kept noticing more and more old men security guards circling us, eyeballing us, staring at my partner especially, targeting him, targeting our age. They must’ve thought we’d be stupid enough to light another one up, but as 2 adults, we know better than to make a mistake like that again, as we wanted to continue to have a good time, but felt like we couldn’t because of how they were treating us. We tried to make light of the situation by joking around with each other, me even handing my bag to my partner when I had to use the restroom because I didn’t want to be followed in there, thinking that anywhere I go with my bag, I’d “be up to no good”. We felt like they enjoyed this power trip, intimidating us and making us feel small. How pathetic can you be to take your job so seriously that you have to be extremely rude about it? No way will I ever step foot in the worst casino possible again.

We went to another casino nearby and had a much better experience, treated respectfully and kindly, unlike those old men here at AguaCaliente Casino Cathedral City. Get a grip. Maybe it’s time for...