Live! Casino Pittsburgh — Attraction in Hempfield Township

It was my other half's 38th birthday this week & so I decided to take her to the casino. Have 1 of the grandma's take our 6yr old for the night, 17yr old can fend for himself, lol. We hadn't had a true night out just the 2 of us since we went to The Meadows & stayed the night in late 2020! So to say we needed this is about as understated as you can get. We both are what I'd call frequent fliers when it comes to casino gaming, however that comes in the form of the mobile casinos on your phone. She said she'd like to try out Mountaineer, I said ok, I'll book a room & we'll go have a good time. Well as always the case, as much as I love & cherish her, if I said let's leave home around say 6pm & truly meant that then I'd have had to tell her we were leaving at about 12pm that afternoon, 😂... Then add even more time bc of course the kids aren't just going to let mom & dad leave w/o making every attempt at keeping us home, our little one at least, teenager was just being normal teenager PITA lol. So seeing that I was ready 1st I had a bit of time to kill, a bit, yeah ok...So I began just googling reviews for Mountaineer... Was less than excited when I saw most of the reviews left in the past almost 2 years (Right around when new owners took over). Not sure what is really going on down there right now. Anyways I came across Live! Pittsburgh's newest casino located within 30 min drive from the city to Greensburg. Reviews were mixed bag, but being brand new & game selection intrigued me. There were also designated smoking areas within casino & it's open 24hrs. That worked out better for us so we decided to give it a shot. The casino was extremely easy to get to, there were I'd say about 25-30 other patrons when we got there (11pm Wednesday) parking was easy, right up front. Casino was very clean, all the staff were extremely friendly & the food was very good! Now onto the actual game play... In terms of a casino it's not a very big place. Definitely seems to be setup for the slot players. Not very many table games & they're all kind of in the middle of the casino in a long but narrow fashion. The slots however were setup nicely, they had many of the same games that are offered on most of the Pa mobile casino apps which was pretty cool. They also had a lot that I'd never seen before & then the usuals you see at a lot of casinos. Again overall it's not very big, but it's comfortable, clean & well laid out. Tables may be different experience but the slots layout gave u plenty of personal space. And finally, the game play. We left +$3800 or so, I had a great run, winning over $1,000 on Cash Machine, Triple Jackpot (Not sure if name is right, 9 reel game) and another 9 reel game. It was a fun night & the open 24 hrs was perfect for us on that night/morning. We decided to call it around 8am, get breakfast & since we had done so well not push our luck & drive home. The reason for 4/5 stars, there's no on site hotel. Plenty options within few miles, 2 less than a mile. If there were a hotel in casino it'd get 5/5...

Very small in comparison to say, the rivers - but it wasn't overly busy when we were there so getting a table game spot wasn't an issue. Drinks were resort prices, or higher end bar / restaurant prices so that's a bummer. Wait staff is very hard to find, and after they take your order when you do find one they disappear for like 20 minutes. One of the pit bosses was nice enough to open a $10 Blackjack table for us, as we are learning players and didnt want to spend $25 a hand. All you can do is ask, so we did, and they did - so that was cool. The place does have a smoking and non smoking section, where that begins and ends is difficult to figure out, and only once was it very noticeable that we were using the bathrooms in the smoking section. So overall I was surprised that it didnt smell like an ashtray. I was also surprised that the people there didnt look as downtrodden, sad, beat up, haggard looking like you normally see at most casinos. There were people there dropping some good money, but staying awhile losing/winning back and forth. It's kinda surprising seeing someone with holes in their shirt pulling out $400, then spending it in like 10 minutes - but hey ...to each his own. In total I think we lost $150 between two of us, and probably another $75 at the bar because again, the bar prices are pretty high. Apparently in high stakes you get free drinks, but we were never offered any nor did we see anyone walking around that worked there.

The only REAL negatives about this place: Dealers were patient with us as well, although they all seemed worried that their bosses were hovering over them like helicopters. The dealers were constantly checking their peripheral vision for the bosses and were super stiff, nervous and even one was shaking. The bosses have an intense look on their face, and sometimes there would be 2-3 bosses watching ONE table/dealer. Not the people, the dealer. I asked the one dealer what was going on and they gave us what info they probably could without getting into trouble. Those bosses are really watching for any screw ups in pay outs, how cards are dealt, the interactions they have with people etc. It's REALY hard NOT to screw up when you have someone almost sitting on your shoulder. Apparently the dealers dont get many opportunities to make mistakes before being canned.

They also need to open more lower stakes tables. I know $10 and $5 would be a waste of time for them, but you have dealers sitting around and people wondering around just dipping their toes on certain games, it was obvious to me and I dont work at a casino. Get people like me hooked by learning and feeling confident...

The casino Is decent and used to be one of my favorites. The casino is a really cool place to go in Greensburg and is especially a great place to drink on the weekends with the variety of bars. And for food servers, we work odd hours, so it is nice to find a place that is basically open almost all the time, Even if not to drink to at least have some social time after work.

The upstairs restaurant definitely has better food than the downstairs restaurant. I can’t remember which one is which. But my girlfriend likes healthy options, and there are a lot at the bar upstairs.

It is also very safe. Often times when I go to the rivers, I don’t feel safe walking through the parking garage, Compared to how wide-open the lot is at live.

Also, what Is nice, If you wanna go to the casino, but you don’t want to eat there, There are multiple choices within the same parking lot. You can park your car and do more than 1 thing.

But the way a company treats its employees changes its image as a whole. So that is the only reason I left a 4 out of 5. Being a server in town, I hear a lot of people talk about local businesses and that is a recurring theme. But that has been the only complaint I have heard is just a few bad managers. That doesn’t mean they are all bad. I’ve also heard similar complaints about the Meadows and the rivers so maybe it is a recurring theme with casinos to have a high turnover.

But Live has a policy that they can fire someone within 90 days with no reason. And they actually are proud of this during their own orientation. Almost like they’re okay taking someone’s job, even if they support a family on that pay. Which in today’s wotld - companies should be better. I’ve said at our bar that the owner should have to bartend on a Friday or Saturday to see what we’re going through.

Remember - tip your servers! Definitely check out the casino as a customer. But, if you’re looking for a serving or bartending job, there’s lots around the Greensburg mall area that have a more relaxed family feel environment. One may be in the parking lot of the...