Harrah’s Hotel & Casino

I went on a day trip from Atlanta to Harrahs river valley casino outside of Murphy, NC (2 hour drive) then drove 1 hour to the Harrahs in Cherokee, NC. I wanted to experience both of them and compare them for people since I could not find many great comparisons online.
Background: 28 year old male, I have been to Vegas 6 times and have stayed in 5 different hotels on the strip. I enjoy poker, blackjack, and roulette. I typically do not stray from these games. I did not stay at either of these North Carolina casinos, I just did a day trip to drink and gamble. It was on a Saturday.
Harrahs Cherokee
3 hours from Atlanta, 1 hour from the Murphy casino. It’s important to note that the Murphy casino is on the way to the Cherokee casino if you are coming from the Atlanta area.
Beautiful casino. Not up to Vegas standards, but it’s close enough! Much much nicer then the Murphy casino.
Drinks are not free while playing like in Vegas.
Domestic bottles are $ 4 dollars, other beer and liquor drinks are $ 5 and up
There are multiple bars throughout
Waitresses come by roughly every 30 min for drink orders. Drink prices are the same at the bar as they are with the cocktail waitress.
The dining is spread out, much like a Vegas casino
At 2pm there was one 5 dollar and one 10 dollar blackjack table with multiple people waiting. The only open seats were 15 and 25. Roulette was 10 and 15 dollar minimum.
There is a poker room upstairs but they are electronic tables (no cards or chips)
Live dealers for blackjack and roulette. They were pretty great for not being in Vegas.
Dealers were courteous and knowledgable
Other reviews about them checking your ID a lot is true, so just be prepared. I have no problem with them being careful.
Overall a GREAT experience. Much better then the Murphy casino, but it was busier with higher minimums (could be a reflection of the date and time that I was there). I take one star off for charging you for drinks. If not free, at least make them cheap. It is a casino after all.
Harrahs river valley:
2 hours from Atlanta
Looks like a warehouse, not much to look at
Drinks are not free while playing like in Vegas.
Domestic bottles are $ 4 dollars, other beer and liquor drinks are $ 5 and up
There is only one bar (but large enough to satisfy the crowd)
All of the food is located together in a food court, much like a mall.
At 11am there were a few $ 5 blackjack tables, but 10,15, and 25 dollar minimums were more common. At 11pm you could only find 15 and 25 dollar tables. Roulette minimum was 10 dollars at 11am and 11pm.
Waitresses come by roughly every 30 min for drink orders. Drink prices are the same at the bar as they are with the cocktail waitress.
No poker room
Live dealers for blackjack and roulette. They were fairly good for it being a new place. Only noticed one mistake made.
Dealers were courteous and knowledgable
If you just want to drink and gamble this is not a bad trip!
Other reviews about them checking your ID a lot is true, so just be prepared. I have no problem with them being careful.

You’ll think a casino with the name Harrahs, it would be good at best, This one is terrible! Prices are way higher then they should have been.
$ 55 for 2 people at the buffet. $ 35 a NIGHT for Wi-​fi access! Room was clean but mediocre. The only thing that was good was breakfast buffet. $ 10 a plate with plenty of choices to eat.
They were kinda understaffed in there because I never had one waitress stop and get me a drink. There weren’t many at all in there.
Now all employees were friendly and very helpful. We had a problem with one of our slot machines paying out. Asked a blackjack dealers if he could help. Found out we weren’t doing it right. Then he told us very quietly the machines were better on the other side of of the tables. Same machines, same prices but they pay out more. Go figure
. I will not come back and will advise my friends not to go there

1 star because of horrible customer service at the front desk hotel. Canceled our reservation without our confirmation and made absolutely no effort to help us look for another hotel near by.

Room–
Pros: wonderful shower
Comfy beds
Nice tv
Top notch modern décor
Good lighting
Cons: no alarm clock
No free wifi?
Pubic hair on toilet seat upon arrival.
Told no outside food or drinks were allowed in building (hotel included).aka forced to spend gambling money on mediocre nourishment.
Food/​foodcourt–
Pros: food exists here
Choices between seafood, hotdogs, pizza, chinese, and sandwiches. cant conplain too much.
Food exists here.
Cons: overpriced. way overpriced. (Food and especially drinks)
Cafeteria-​like feel. no personality.
Wait is long. except getting soup and/​or salad at restaurant on end closest to casino.
Casino–
Fun but hardly any payout. (Drains the fun fast)
Pretty smokey. even for a smoker.
Not much else to say about that.
Staff/​customer service–
Most of the staff I (and two friends) encountered were quite pleasant.
Whats not pleasant is trying one hand at three different tables and getting IDd at each at least twice… within 30 minutes total… with a highly overpriced beer in hand…
Then to come down from room to get more overpriced food, to be carded on the way back up.
My friends and I got very annoyed with this.
Understandable to a point. but over doing it feels like harassment.
IDd at least 13x in 5 or so hours. :/​
Overall this is a nice one night getaway with friends. for once in a blue moon

Depressing place. Dark. Machines not kept up. Lots with lights no working correctly. Do not plan to win, even a little. It’s no fun to go and not win a little here and there. We don’t go to win big money. We go for the entertainment but there is none if all you do is lose. We have been to many casinos and never had to pay for a soft drink till Harrah’s. Horrible place. We will not ever go back.

One of the downfalls of this casino would be the fact that people are allowed to smoke inside. I made my way over to the «nonsmoking» section but you cannot escape the smoke. I am also disappointed that alcoholic drinks were $ 6 a pop. Overall, very clean and safe place. Can’t really compare it to much as far as the gambling goes.

I was excited to go entertain myself while my husband was at a conference in Asheville but I have to say, the best part of my visit was the drive getting there and back. Beautiful views through the smoky mountains through twisty turny back roads. When I arrived, I immediately went and got my players card. There was no line on a Sunday afternoon so that was nice. You then have to be checked by security to take the elevator down to the gaming floor. No problem, I appreciate them controlling under age gambling. It’s simply showing your ID or your new players card.
Once on the floor, I was listening for the sound of winning machines. nothing more than just the wheels spinning. I noted I was in the non-​smoking section so I headed to the smoking section figuring there would be a little more action and excitement… Nope. I’m sure people were winning but it just didn’t create that feel that you want to be a part of the action and blow all your money. I played for a little bit but actually ended up leaving without spending all of my money (which is unheard of for me.)
I went to check out the shops and dining options. Again — not impressed. I guess when you’ve been to Foxwoods and Mohegan, it’s hard to measure up but I didn’t come with high expectations and I probably won’t be back.

Over priced, just called To book a cheap we
Elena away with my spouse for the end of January. Yes booking 5 months in advance and they prided a regular room for 499 a night. I’ve found a Vegas package just the same for flights and a hotel. Vegas it is. Don’t waste your money for location

The rake is horrendous the ½ NL has pocket rockets against KK popping out every other hand. I’m no clown my poker career I’ve won more than I’ve lost with over 1 million online hands under my belt
Only way to win more than a hundred bucks is ²⁄₅ NL and it plays like ⁵⁄₁₀ or even ¹⁰⁄₂₀ bc no higher games exist. Played slots a few times it’s complete robbery. Had over 100 play hrs at holdem in less than a yr would not comp room would not even discount below standard rate. On Vegas they would be out of business but in the sticks its the only show in town.
I try to beat em anyway I can bc of this. Dealers and cage people are unfriendly only in the poker room do they speak the right way to you. Id checkpoints reminiscent of tsa inspections. People spending all this $ and you want to harass them.
Have to go only No limit game In the state

This is the closest casino to Georgia. I heard that it was hard to win here and they are right. We played blackjack and everyone around me pretty much lost. I came back home with about $ 10 winnings. The casino itself is nice but too much smoke for my taste. The restaurants were a little far from the play area. Also they need more $ 15 blackjack tables as people had to wait to play. Dealers were nice and were helpful to newbies like me.

Pool service is non existent. One server for the entire pool! Never once asked what we wanted after giving us a menu… Finally had to go order at the bar… That two bartenders were useless… wow

Mehh… I’ve seen better Casinos, especially on every level. Cherokee for NC is purely for those who want to go to a Casino, but not fly out of the state. And for that purpose, it makes perfect sense. Plenty of parking, and the multiple ways of losing (or winning) money is endless as well. Now, the only thing about Cherokee is that there are table games, and during WSOP events, it gets pretty exciting. I think that is the only time I visit the Casino, as I have friends who are poker players.
What to say, you can either stay at the Casino, or you could stay at a plethora of hotels around the Casino. Now, you can’t really compare this casino to any other casino. If you come here, you are here to do one thing: Gamble. There’s not that many attractions. Maybe, you’ll go here for a show that they have, but that’s a planned event. However, if you’re in the world of gambling, there’s plenty of things for your grind: Roulette, Craps, its also a slot machine galore.
Let’s talk about restaurant and food at Cherokee:
Well, let’s just say they have a buffet. What other Casino doesn’t have one? Honestly. How is it? Not bad. I’ve been here a couple of times to take a break from the tables, and just gorged on all the food they had. Note, they do have seafood, however I can’t tell you if it’s good or not. To me, I’m going to say they’re average, especially taking into account that it’s all shipped in.
How about the restaurants right next to the tables?
I’ve been there maybe once? Can’t really comment much, other than the noodle bar is pretty dope from word to mouth.
What else is there to do? I pretty much summed up everything that Cherokee has to offer. Go and win big (or small, win’s a win in my book)!

This is my first bad review. I had fun in the casino but the two things that I really hated about this casino were the mounds of cigarette smoke and the extremely high prices of the food in the food court. Pack a picnic lunch or dinner and eat it in your car to avoid the high markup of food. A box of Goobers which are $ 1 at Dollar Tree were $ 3 in the food court. SMH. I guess they have to make money but the house is winning from the gambling. If you hate cigarette smoke then you’re going to be miserable, the filtration system doesn’t totally remove the smell.

Harrah’s is an Indian casino so it is limited to everything that it can offer. This casino has renovations over the past few years to add more games, improve the poker room, and create an overall better experience. The casino itself is divided into two floors with the first floor containing the majority of the action with all the slot machines and table games. The second floor is home to the poker room. If you plan on playing slots, you are pretty much going to get a taste of smoke in the majority of the slot machine area since they allow smoking on the most of the first floor.
For the table games, they have your usuals such as blackjack and roulette. They used to only have electronic blackjack but recently have gained real blackjack tables so you can actually get a real game. They don’t have a real craps table but only virtual craps so sorry to all you craps lovers. In the corner of the first floor, they have a small food court with simple selections such as a deli bar, burger bar, and pizza/​pasta bar. There is also an actual buffet in the casino that is actually pretty good and offers a wide variety of different food that is available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
As for the poker room, it used to be located on the first floor so could also get hit by smoke. The decision to isolate it on the second floor was a huge plus. The attendants of the poker room are very professional and will help you get what you want. The only downside to their poker room is that some of their games are played with the electronic PokerPro system. In the past, every table was using that system but now they have actual live dealers mainly for the higher stakes games. The poker room also provides food delivery and snack services for the players has many televisions scattered throughout the room so you can watch sporting events while you play.
Overall, Harrah’s is an average casino. It pretty much is your only option in the Southeast area and offers the basics but if you want the full casino experience, I suggest you head out west or up north.

Overall, this is a surprisingly nice casino. I was expecting a pretty rinky-​dink kind of place, but it’s actually pretty legit. If you’re looking for a place that compares to the top places in Vegas, well, go to Vegas, but I’d say Harrah’s Cherokee is certainly better than the bottom tier of Vegas Casinos. I’m going 3 stars instead of 4 for one very simple reason. Drink prices. Now, I knew going up there that the drinks aren’t free, even if you’re gambling, apparently because of State Law (it’s illegal to serve alcohol without charging for it). But I did not know they swing completely in the other direction and gouge on alcohol prices. $ 5 for a bottle of domestic beer. $ 7 for Jack and Coke, and we’re not talking about a healthy pour drink — it’s a measured shot. I’m not a broke college kid or anything, but if I were to go back, I’d probably pack a flask just on general principle.
Other tips/​observations/​thoughts:
1. If you’re driving up there from Atlanta or elsewhere, beware of speed traps. They’re everywhere, and you do NOT want to get a ticket in NC. 15 mph over the speed limit is a mandatory court appearance in NC.
2. The casino hotel apparently books up way in advance (I was told you usually have to book a couple months in advance unless your a Total Rewards Diamond member), but there are several hotels basically across the street — a Fairfield Inn, a Holiday Inn Express, and a couple others.
3. Don’t waste your money on the buffet. Most Casino buffets are bad. This one is worse.
4. The poker room is better than I expected, but the cheap games are still played on video tables — i.e. no dealers. 1−2NL Hold’em, 3 – 6 PLO, and I think 2 – 4 Limit Hold’em were played on video tables. Personally, I don’t mind the video tables. You can still see your opponents, and the game moves quicker (more hands per hour than a real table). And you always know exactly how much money your opponents have, and how much is in the pot.
5. Last call on a Saturday night is around 1:45 am, and all alcoholic beverages need to be finished by 2:15 am. Not sure if this is the same every night. Very strange to hear «last call» called in a casino.
6. Comps for table games are close to worthless. I played about 7 hours of blackjack (averaging about $ 20/​hand) and 2.5 hours of poker and got a whopping $ 6 of comp value.
7. On Saturday afternoon and evening, $ 15 blackjack tables are scarce. I never saw a table with a minimum below $ 15 (including on Sunday morning).
8. Dealers I saw were mostly below average. We had one blackjack dealer who made some kind of mistake almost every hand.

Wow is this in the middle of nowhere. We came from Asheville and after driving 15 miles through a small touristy area and long winding roads over the mountain top, Harrahs just appears towering on the side of the road.
The main reason we were there was for a concert. It started on time though there was a 15 minute delay before opening the gates to get in. There is not a bad seat in the place so any ticket allows you to see. There are also video screens, albeit not too big to help the balcony seats. The sound was decent but nothing to write home about.
We spent about 90 minutes in the casino prior to the show. Not impressed. A $ 6 fee to pull cash from the ATM so bring yours with you. The «tobacco free» area is more like the «less tobacco» area. It is located on the way towards the food court so there were people with lit cigs walking through the aisles on their way towards it because they did not want to walk around. There were also no staff people standing at the entrance to patrol it as I have seen in other Harrah’s around the country.
Will go back for shows but nothing else.

Closest casino to Georgia besides going to Biloxi or Vegas. Its on a Native American’s reservation in North Carolina. The majority of the gamblers are older. It is in a pretty huge hotel and you have your slot machines, your dealers, your high rollers.
Don’t forget to sign up for your Total Rewards so that way you can get comp food and room. The employees are really nice there. I don’t mind the drive back.

A casino… in the middle of nowhere.
Like a behemoth, Harrah’s towers rises out from the North Carolina/​North Georgia mountains. The place is huge with several buildings and parking decks. Went here for a weekend wedding.
If you’re going here for a wedding, definitely make sure you park in the hotel parking deck which is separate from the Casio parking deck to avoid the valet fee. From the hotel parking deck, you can easily reach the ballrooms via the skywalk on the third floor.
I was surprised at how nice Harrah’s looked. Everything looked very clean and classy and the three hour drive up from Atlanta, was very easy — pretty much a straight shot on I-​85.
I was also surprised at how popular the casino and hotel are. The rooms were completely booked months in advance and it wasn’t just a bunch of hillbillies playing slot machines.

It seems fitting that there is an Indian Casino in Cherokee, after driving past all of the touristy Native American shops on our way there.
I’ll start the review by saying I’m not a huge fan of casinos generally, as I understand basic probability and am not 60+ years old. That being said, I find myself in some from time to time, and this one was only average as far as casinos go. Lots of slots and table games, smelled vaguely of smoke, had a confusing layout that I got lost in for about ten minutes, and I lost $ 10 in a fishing game slot machine. It was a lot cleaner than other casinos I’ve been to, but a lost less cocktail waitresses/​waiters serving patrons at the tables and slots.
Overall, pretty average if you’re indifferent to casinos.

The casino is beautiful.
I like to drink a little and I didn’t like how they charge you four dollars for a beer even when you are gambling.
The video poker machines at the bar are ⁶⁄₅ but away from the bar they are ⁷⁄₅
It is a good place to take a break from everyone if you are staying in Gatlinburg.
The drive from Gatlinburg is absolutely worth it.
Make sure you check out Mingo falls while you are here