Page 11 - January 2003 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Luxury gaming and accommodation have come to San DiegoCountywiththeof cialopeningonJanuary1st of Southern California’s newest resort casino. The new
$260 million Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in rural Lakeside, thirty minutes from downtown San Diego, is de ned by its 1930’s ranch-style elegance complete with rancheria hallmarks—barns, a stone silo, a waterwheel and windmill—and contrasted with a sweeping graceful four- story spired hotel with 364 deluxe guest rooms and 33 luxury suites, pool, gym, and a medley of world-class dining opportunities, including 24-hour room service, plus
the lakefront Barona Wedding Chapel—a rst for California casinos.
Long a gaming xture in San Diego County, Barona Casino is known all over Southern California for its
“Loosest Slots” (certi ed by Strictly Slots magazine for the past two years), and recently received the distinction of
“Best Casino for Video Slots” in California and “Best Casino for Video Poker” among Native American casinos by readers of the 2nd Annual Strictly Slots Reader’s Survey of 2002.
The Barona expansion began with the completion of the Barona Creek Golf Club in January 2001, and the ve-story parking garage completed a year ago. In fact, by parking in the garage, you can enter the casino by a moving walkway into the plush carpeted 315,000 sq. ft. casino (twice the size of the old Barona Casino). Two thousand slot machines,
52 table games, and a stylish high-limit room (called Parlor 32), plus a new 11-table Poker Room are housed in an elegant and beautiful area. Off-track betting has returned to Barona, and Founder’s Hall, a 20,000 sq. ft. multi-purpose
room, houses a 660-seat Bingo Hall, with sessions every other hour, and
is also available for
special
Barona Tribe and the era, from tinted photographs culled from the Barona Museum to more than 500 fascinating artifacts of the 1930’s collected by interior designer Larry Rafferty (who designed Las Vegas landmark resort Paris, and many others) mounted throughout the restaurants, hotel, and even the exterior of the casino’s main entrance.
The spacious deluxe hotel accommodations are an amazing value: $79.00 per night per room on weekdays, $129.00 per night per room on weekends. The luxury suites can include in-room whirlpool baths and butler
service, plus world-class amenities. You can reserve rooms at 1-877-bv-ranch, or online at www.barona.
com.
The resort has varied dining establishments includ-
ing the 850-seat Ranch House Buffet, the classy Barona Oaks Steakhouse (the resort’s signature upscale restaurant), The Branding Iron Café (open 24 hours); and the Food Court that includes Feisty Katie’s Malt Shop, DaBoyz Original Style Pizza, Javier’s
Sombrero Mexican Food, and the Barona Coffee Com- pany. Plus Barona’s convenient jackpot dining, where patrons are served meals as they play.
The beautiful 18-hole championship Barona Creek Golf Club is rated the fourth best course in California by Golfweek Magazine and rounds out the resort’s offer-
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events, concerts and meetings. The casino’s interior includes a
centrally located four-sided huge stone working replace, and open ceilings with hewn wooden rafters where beautifully woven colorful tribal blankets hang from the beams. Decorative details re ect the rich history of the
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE