This smoky, teensy "locals" casino certainly won't win any beauty prizes, but if you're looking for a low key place to gamble, eat, and drink on a budget, there are definitely worse places you could.
We went to meet a few friends on the "$5 steak and a beer" night, fully expecting swill and shoe leather, and ended up having about an hour to kill due to late friends. So we bellied up to the bar and enjoyed a few beers while we waited.
Pros:
- For the price, the dinner was actually pretty darn good. Steak, potato, and green beans and a beer. Nothing was spectacular, but nothing was bad, either.
- My husband's request for a steak "as rare as you can legally serve it to me" was actually honored! Quite frequently, places like this serve everything at a chewy medium well. Ellis Island actually served all the steaks at our table the way they were requested. This is the big reason for 4 over 3 stars.
- The beer was actually good! All of the different varieties actually tasted different.
Cons:
- It's an old, small, casino. So it's smoky as heeellll.
- Service was pretty slow, but considering how packed the place was, and how obviously hard the servers and staff were working. I was still happy to tip well.
- The atmosphere is a little on the dim and depressing side.