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Akwesasne Casino Promotions are worth paying attention to. A friend of mine used to scoff at even obtaining a slot card. He did not want his name or personal information given to the casino. He was afraid that some of his friends would somehow find out that he goes to the casino once and awhile. I explained to him that some of the promotions are just the same as winning a small jackpot. Readers should note that at the present time the casino is closed on Monday and Tuesday as if 2022 07 22.

Whether it is free play or a free meal or a free hotel room, they have value just the same. He might as well take advantage of these promotions. Akwesasne has some of the best casino promotions in the area. Their big disadvantage is that they are an hour’s drive from many local cities in Canada and the US. They have to work a bit harder to attract patrons. All casinos offer some level of promotion. However, this casino is one of the best that we have come across.

Akwesasne Casino Promotions

The promotions change from time to time, however, we will list some of the better ones. These are promotions that we take advantage of on a regular basis. Note that to receive any promotion at all you must register for a free casino slot card. Always use it while playing the slots or tables.

Free play – They add free play to your slot card on a weekly basis. The amount is based on your play and can be quite a large amount for heavier players.

Point Balance Dollars – They add point balance to your account based on play. Use point balance for many items such as meals, hotel bills, gas, etc.

Free Hotel Rooms – Once a month they will send a newsletter along with personal promotions which will include reduced room rates. Or in some cases free rooms at specified times in the week or month.

Rooms at Par – Canadian guests pay cash using Canadian dollars. Depending on the exchange rate, this can be a savings of 20% to 40%.

Special Draws – are offered at various times, often coinciding with special events or times in the year.

Birthday Promotion

Free play offered on your birthday along with a free buffet

Anniversary Promotion – Free play offered on your anniversary date of signing up for a slot card

Silver Stars – Buffet prices are slashed by 50% on Mondays and Wednesdays for seniors. Add Free Play to your card

Drink Specials – Casino adds Ladies night, half-price deals, and special drink prices.

Promotions are offered from time to time. The best way to see them is to obtain a slot card. Add your name to their mailing list. Also, install the smartphone app. They will keep you up to date and prepare offers to entice you to return to their casino.

For more posts about this popular casino, click here.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Sticks restaurant is being updated in August of 2017. They have added slot machines at the bar for patrons to enjoy while they watch their favorite sports game on TV or grab something to eat. We posted this post in Oct of 2017 and will add an updated picture to the post to show the final result. The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is busy making some changes to their facility to get ready for new competition in Ottawa later in 2018. They recently added a Starbucks themed coffee shop in the lobby area. There is free soft drink machines in the casino area as well.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Sticks restaurant

The Sticks restaurant is a great place to grab a meal. The food is pretty good although the service can be a bit slow at times. They never seem to be able to have enough staff on to serve all of the customers. As long as you are not in a hurry, you can enjoy your company and the various TV’s on the wall with various sports being shown.

The bar area in the Sticks restaurant is a long bar with a full suite of cold draft beer, bottled beer and of course all the mixed drinks you can imagine. The food is basic, fries, burgers, fish and all of the usual bar food that one would expect.

Customers can use their points on their slot card to pay for meals. Not sure if you can also use the points for drinks or not. We have dined in the restaurant for breakfast. The price is reasonable and there are large quantities of food on all of the dishes. They also have a small buffet for breakfast and the price includes coffee and juice in the price.

For more information about the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, click here.

We enjoy the Akwesasne Casino and the hotel. In fact this location is probably one of our favorites to go to in the area. It is clean, bright, the staff are friendly and helpful. There are more than enough slot machines of the type we like. This is by far one of the best casinos in the area to visit.

The buffet is well organized, kept clean, with excellent food. It is easy to navigate even when it is really busy. The busiest days appear to be Monday and Wednesdays. Which are considered senior days. On these days the buffet is half price and your automatically receive free play on your slot card to use in almost all of the slot machines. If you need to line up at the cashier to get some money or to cash in chips, you may want to chose your time. The lineups can belong. We will talk about this issue and one other that we think patrons should be aware of to make their visit more satisfactory.

Akwesasne Casino – Dining

As we mentioned, on Mondays and Wednesdays it is seniors day and the casino is very busy. There are long lines of people waiting to get into the buffet at lunchtime and also at supper time. Sometimes people can wait in line over half an hour. If you have a preferred slot card, you can bypass this line and enter the buffet immediately after paying with your slot card using your points.

The problem is that due to poor signage, some people in the regular line get quite upset especially if they have been waiting for over 30 minutes when they see others bypassing them. They will even try to jump the line and step in front of people even though they do not have a preferred card. This can get very uncomfortable until the staff straighten it all out. Bottom line is that if you do not have a preferred card, you cannot go in the preferred line and you just have to wait.

Akwesasne Casino – Slot Card

The slot card at the Akwesasne Casino works very well. As you rack up points, you can use them to pay for meals at any of the restaurants. The only problem is that they have combined the Winners Circle with the Cashier and now the lines are even longer than they were before due to both sets of people waiting in the same line. This has not made customers very happy, however, we hope the casino will eventually straighten it out.

We once again are staying at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino and are extremely impressed with the level of service that all of their employees provide to their patrons.

We had a conversation with one of the guest concierge managers who indicated to us that it is their job to make sure that their customers, guests are more than satisfied with all of the services that they provide. In fact, he said that we want to provide our services with a smile, and we want to be able to recognize our frequent guests at all times to make them feel at home.

Guest Service at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino

We have found this to be the case with all of the employees that we have encountered at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. From the waitresses in the restaurant, from the technicians who service the slot machines to the waitresses that provide drinks at the slot machines, they are all providing great service to their patrons.

Of particular note is the waitress that brings coffee to us in the morning at the slot machine. She has come to know us and will bring a coffee for us exactly to our request without even having to ask us how we want our coffee.

It is a very nice treat to have someone who is thoughtful enough to remember u. They remember what we drink and bring us the coffee exactly the way we like it. This is an example of the kind of service that you can expect to receive at the Akwesasne Mohawk casino.

Front Desk Checkin

We also found that the people manning the check-in counter also greet you with a smile and try to help you any way they can. Of course, there will always be some things that are beyond their control and this is just part of the job. You cannot make everyone happy all of the time.

The Concierge is always greeting people and making a point of offering help to everyone instead of hiding behind a desk waiting for someone to talk to them. We really enjoy and appreciate the service they provide throughout the complex. It is one of the best casino hotel complexes in the North East US and Eastern Canada for this reason. Other locations we have been to just do not have the same attitude towards customer service that they do at this particular facility.

We recently had dinner on a Saturday night at the Akwesasne buffet at the casino. We really like the buffet and the food value is usually pretty good. The quality of the food was excellent and the service is also very good. However this time we found that for the price that we paid, and the expectation of more seafood Friday or Saturday night we found that the seafood was not as plentiful as expected.

We were not concerned about the quality of the food, the content of the food, or the assortment, it was all great. We just felt that for $19.95 per person for a buffet on Saturday night with the expectation that there would be more seafood, it was a little bit overpriced.

The prices for the buffet are as follows & listed. On Mondays and Wednesdays, it is considered seniors day and the price for the buffet for those people over 55 is 50% of the cost. That’s a pretty good deal in our minds. In addition, you can use your points that you accumulate on your winner’s club card to pay for all of your meals which makes it even a better deal.

Akwesasne buffet Prices

Here are the prices for the buffet:

• Monday to Friday lunches $10.95
• Sunday to Thursday dinner is $17.95
• Friday and Saturday dinner is $19.95
• Saturday and Sunday brunch is $12.95

For any of our readers going to the Rideau Carlton racetrack Casino, the Alwesasene buffet is far superior then the buffet at the Rideau Carleton. Even if you have to pay a little bit more it is well worth the price. The buffet at the Rideau Carlton racetrack is sloppy, messy, and crowded. The food is not great.

For more information about the Akwesasne Casino, click here.

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One of the casinos we really enjoy going to often is the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in upper state New York. It is about a 1.5 hour drive for us compared to 30 minutes to another closer casino. However, we enjoy this one much more.  It is not nearly as crowded, there are lots of machines and tables, the food is excellent and they have lots of free casino promotions that are interesting to us.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Promotions – Why Look for Comps

This is really what got us thinking about doing a blog comparing the promotions or comps that casinos offer. These are an enticement to get you to come to their facility. The old adage about competition works here. Local casinos are just not offering very much in the way of enticements to come to their casinos. They have no competition. The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is a bit out of the way and for us a long drive. However, the advantages of the casino comps make it worth our while to go to this location compared to others.

They have great hotel promotions and great meal promotions. There are a variety of other comps that really make a difference in our decision to go to this casino vs. others.

We decided to add a checklist of casino comps and/or promotions to this post. We will add others that we will be doing, which you can see below. Not all comps and promotions will be of interest to you. If there are some that you do not understand leave us a comment. We will add a post to let you know what they are. If we missed a comp or if there is a new promotion we are not aware of let us know and we will add it.

Compare Comps and Promotions

We will complete and add comments about the other two casinos that we included on this chart shortly. Watch for these posts or view our categories.

Service with a smile seems to be the motto of the staff at the Akwesasne Casino Service and also at the hotel. We have personally had great service and after sitting in the lounge near the check-in counter have seen this same service offered to many other customers.

Ready to help whenever they can, in fact, I asked a slot tech if he could call a server to bring us a drink and he personally went and got it himself rather than make us wait. Of course, if he had been really busy he might not have done this, but the fact that he did it speaks volumes in our mind. We have never seen that level of service at any other casino ever.

Akwesasne Casino Service – Concierge

The Concierge helps with the bags and other things that a concierge is supposed to do, however, these guys do so in a very friendly manner, joke with the customers, and do all they can to help the customer. I watched them for over an hour one day and everyone appreciated their attitude and support.  They provide directions and are very friendly. While readers might think that this is something they should automatically do, and it is true they should, we have seen enough places where they can barely give you the time of day. These guys are doing a great job.

Waitresses

The Waitresses are always helpful and friendly as well. They are fast and efficient and acknowledge return customers. We always tip, but a few times we have not had any money to tip, and they brush it off with a smile. They know we will tip them in the future and not put out by missing one tip.

This level of service is so different than service at Canadian casinos. When have you ever seen a technician get you a drink? How many times does the bartender or the waitress smile at you? Frankly, they just do not care about the level of service that Canadian casinos provide to their customers.
The Canadian casino staff is not nearly as friendly. When it comes to paying out jackpots, not only do you have to wait for them to show up, they expect a tip as well. The Akwesasne staff are fast and are not looking for tips when they pay out jackpots.

The writer is a Canadian, however, I would much rather spend my money in the US casinos due to the level of service and the comp’s you get. The Akwesasne casino is clearly at the top of the service bar and well worth the money spent to stay there.

The Akwesasne Casino Hotel is a very nice place to stay. It is brand-new, it is modern, and the people are very friendly. In fact, the hotel administration works really hard to keep their customers happy. But sometimes they just cannot do enough for some customers.

We recently stayed again at the Akwesasne casino hotel and found the service to be excellent. There was one customer who had a problem with the staff at check-in. We are not sure who was right, but the hotel definitely lost business over this confrontation.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Administration

He had made reservations – for an AARP discount which gave him a 25% discount. He was asked to provide his AARP number which he had forgotten at home. Based on this they would not provide him with a discount. Even though it was clear that he was a senior and over 55. We felt that this was really making an issue out of something that did not need to be a problem. This particular client told me personally that he would not be coming back to this hotel.

In fact, the hotel is losing business over something as trivial as a senior discount is not good business. Not for the hotel and especially the casino where the real money is made. As a Canadian traveling in the US, all I need to do is show my driver’s license which proves that I’m over 55. All hotels that I’ve ever dealt with have excepted this ID, The Akwesasne Casino Hotel administration needs to get some of these bugs out of the system to maintain client loyalty.

The bigger picture as well is that they are going to gamble at the casino and this is where the real money is made so by discouraging this particular customer, they are not only losing money from hotel stays, they lose money from restaurant and casino spending that this particular customer will not spend in the future. The front desk needs to rethink and possibly re-educate their people so that this sort of thing does not happen in the future.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Room upgrade to a king suite is not really worth the extra money. Yes  it has a larger room, bathroom and shower. But it is essentially the same room as other regular priced king bed rooms. In addition location in the hotel means everything . Always ask for a room overlooking the parking lot facing south. Otherwise you could end up looking north towards trees and over looking the roof of the casino which is not very appealing.

We like the hotel, the casino and the room but this room for us is not worth the $30 upgrade they wanted to charge us. We also think that the rate would have been even higher. However we had a coupon which gave us the upgrade at a reduced price.

Fortunately we were able to negotiate the lower price of the room. Because we would have been a bit annoyed to pay $30 extra for this room. If you want a larger room and a slightly larger bathroom, then you may be interested in paying the $30 upgrade, but we sure do not.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Rooms – Comments

Other than that the room is very nice, clean. It has all of the modern conveniences that most people would look for in a hotel room.

One other point that might be of interest to readers is that these rooms are all located at the extreme end of the hall. While it is not a long walk, never the less for people who may have a hard time walking they may want something a bit closer to the elevator. The hotel and casino is closed on Monday and Tuesday as of 2022,07,22.

The Akwesasne casino hotel lobby is nicely decorated in earth tones. It is just off the main entrance of the casino to your left. You encounter the check-in area initially. A little bit further on there is a lounge area to sit and wait to meet your friends or just to relax. This is where I’m sitting right now as I dictate this particular post. The only complaint I have is that it is cold at this location. It is very hot outside at the moment. I guess the air conditioning is working over time right now to keep the casino cool for their patrons.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Lobby – Lounge area

The second picture in this post is the actual  sitting area. I have noticed that in addition to the comfortable chairs and couches, there is lots of great lighting along. There is also free WiFi in this area and in fact throughout most of the casino.

The Akwesasne Hotel and casino is really well organized. They have managed to keep walking down to a minimum for folks who have a difficult time walking. Valet is at the main entrance of the casino. When you walk in you have the check in area immediately on your left, the Sticks Bar and Grille restaurant on the right and the casino immediately straight ahead. The lounge or sitting area is just past the check in counter which is where many people wait while their partner checks into the hotel.

This is a very nice place to spend one or two days relaxing and enjoying the casino. If you like swimming there is a very nice pool area. There are lots of windows to let in the sun and make it bright and cheery.

The Akwesasne Casino Hotel complex is now fully completed. It provides people who are interested in going to casinos a full experience that rivals many other casinos much further away. It is located close to the US – Canada border on the US side across the river from Cornwall Ontario. Many Canadians as well as Americans go to this casino every day.

They now have a full service modern hotel, with a very nice pool, spa and exercise room. It also has conference rooms to set up meetings. They have one of the best buffet restaurants, and a la carte restaurant called Sticks. There is also a fast food area if you are in a hurry. Of course a high-end restaurant where you can celebrate your winnings.

They offer table games, over 1000 slot machines, a poker room and a bingo hall all under one roof.  All of the standard slot machines that have become popular to choose from are available. They have a high-end room as well. There is a very nice bar in the new area of the casino and all drinks are very well priced. For example a draft beer is only a $1.50 and ice cold!  You can also get a small snack at the bar of pretzels and other similar things that are free.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel – Deals

The Akwesasne casino offers a variety of deals to it’s customers such as free play, free rooms, or rooms at casino rate as well as collecting points on your slot card which can be used for a variety of things such as paying for meals or even a bridge pass for the trip back to Canada.

About the only concern we have is that during the summer it is just too cold inside the casino. They have the AC turned on high and it is literally freezing. We suggest that you wear long pants and we have seen some people even wearing jackets or sweaters inside the casino when it is 85F outside.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel rooms are brand new since this hotel has been open less than a year at the time of writing this post. The room we stayed in included a king bed, desk, chair, great bed, a Keurig coffee maker, and a large flat screen TV. One of the things we were concerned about is that the casino allows smoking and we thought that maybe the hotel would allow smoking as well. It turns out that the entire hotel is non smoking and this policy really keeps the place looking ans smelling clean. Once people have smoked in a room, it is never the same even if they use air freshener.

We also especially like the idea of being able to make your own coffee in the room when you get up in the morning. A lot of hotels want you down in the casino or in the restaurant where you are going to spend money right away. We are still going to go to the restaurant for coffee and breakfast, but at least we can have a coffee first as part of our waking up morning ritual. Thanks to who ever made this decision to add coffee machines to the rooms and high quality coffee machines as well. the Keurig machines are among the best machines for making coffee.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel – Review

We have stayed at this Akwesasne Hotel twice now and enjoy it very much. It is a nice outing and not too expensive especially if you win at the casino. They also do not charge taxes on the rooms which is another big savings. We will write more about this in the future.

If you are looking for a mini vacation, this is the place to go. You will enjoy the hotel, the pool, the spa, the 4 restaurants and of course the casino and bingo hall.

We recently had an opportunity to stay at the new Akwesasne Casino Hotel. The people who designed the hotel have measured up to what everybody expects from a Casino Hotel. This is a very nice place to stay with beautiful rooms and a beautiful pool. There are also great restaurants and the rooms are extremely well appointed.

A big flat-screen wall-mounted TV in the room with a bar and fridge. There is no microwave in the room that we had.

The shower is very clean very nice and a standup shower. The room also comes with a Keurig coffee maker as well. The best thing about the hotel is that there is no smoking anywhere in the hotel. If you want to smoke, you need to either go into a smoking area in the casino or go outside and smoke.  In fact, fewer and fewer people also seem to be smoking in the casino which is really a great thing.

Room Costs at the New Akwesasne Casino Hotel

The rates for rooms are running at $119 to $129 during the week and at higher prices during the weekend. Of course, if you are a casino member of their winner circle card you can enjoy rates much lower. In some cases, you’ll be given free rooms on the weekend and during weekdays.

Receiving a free room that allows you to stay over and not have to drive home is like winning a small jackpot in many cases. People from Canada and northeastern parts of New York State all appreciate being treated to a free room when they would be gambling anyway.

Winners Circle Card

Their slot card is called the winner’s circle card. For those readers who do not know what a slot card is, it is a plastic card that you insert into the slot machine’s card reader. It identifies you to the machine when then keeps track of all of your slot play. Based on this play the casino will then reward comps to their most frequent playing customers. These comps can include free rooms as mentioned, free meals, and even a free bridge pass for those that need to cross the bridge back into Canada.

This is a great place to stay at and we highly recommend it as a nice hotel to spend a day or two at.

Cell phone coverage at the Akwesasne casino for AT&T services is not very good. Our cell phones virtually did not receive any signal whatsoever while we are in the casino. When we went outside the casino our coverage was normal. We had five bars but inside the casino there was zero bars of coverage. We could not make phone calls at all. There may have been a few locations in the casino where we may have received one bar of service, however we did not do a full coverage test at this location since we were so frustrated in trying to make a call. The hotel and casino is closed on Monday and Tuesday as of 2022,07,22.

Akwesasane Casino – Reported the Cell coverage Problem

I spoke to several managers at the casino and none of them were very interested in doing anything about it. They said that we should just get another cell phone carrier. Or we should walk outside and user cell phones. When I said to them that the customer service for the casino was not very good and that they really did not want us going outside the casino they seemed to get it and they said that they would talk to the management about it. However they might have just been saying that to appease me.

It is interesting that the casino has just updated the casino and the hotel, updated to the buffet, and added many more machines,. However they have not thought about improving the cell phone coverage within their building. This is something that they should tackle and most casinos around the country have in fact made sure that all carriers signals will work within their casinos so that people do not have to leave the building. Anytime a customer leaves the casino, this is potential revenue that they will be missing.

Since this post was written in June of 2013, they have taken steps to improve the service by installing repeaters throughout the casino. Much better service now. For more posts about this casino, click here.

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We visited the new Akwesasne Casino Hotel and Casino on May 28th for the first time in 5 months. This was the first time for us since the hotel portion of the reconstruction of the casino was completed.  This is now a modern casino and hotel that rivals many other casino hotels in the state. We spoke to several people about how they liked the new hotel and they mentioned a few things we thought might be of interest to our readers. Basically everyone loves the new hotel and the convenience of staying at the casino hotel.

Everything is new of course and this is always a great time to visit a hotel. Our visit was during the week when it would be normally a slower time for the hotel, however the hotel was sold out and there was a bus load of people arriving as we entered the casino. All of these people were staying at the new hotel. It is also rumored that the Comfort Inn, next door which is also very nice was sold out as well.

The Comfort Inn has a no smoking rule for all of their rooms. We do not know what the policy is for the new hotel, although they do allow smoking in the casino including cigars which is a huge negative for us and many other people. These new pristine rooms will be quickly ruined if they allow smoking in the rooms.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel – Pool

There is also a very nice pool facing south so the room will be kept warm by the afternoon sun and be in full sun even in the winter time. It is large and bright with lots of windows. The lobby is just off the main entrance of the casino making it easy for everyone to find and check in.

Unfortunately the elevators are down a long hall from the check in counter. It is a bit of a walk. But the hallway has a rich thick carpet on the floor which is a bit of a drag for anyone pulling a heavy suitcase. We mention this since most of their clientele are older seniors. They sometimes just do not have the strength to pull their suitcases over a carpet. Marble is far better for this purpose.  The pool is just off the elevators making it convenient for anyone who wants to go swimming.

There are multiple choices for dining at this complex. You can choose the Native Harvest Buffet, a Sports Bar, a fast food court or a full top of the line restaurant. There are also several bars and drinks are still very inexpensive as well. This is a nice place to spend one or two days enjoying the ambiance of the hotel. Of course also doing a little gambling at the slot machines or the tables. They have a full complement of all of the popular slot machines  and a new bingo hall as well.

For more up to date posts about the Akwesasne casino, click here.

The new hotel at the Akwesasne casino looks like it is on schedule. We were told that it is supposed to be ready to open in March of 2013 and we expect that they will meet this deadline. They are working on the inside now that the walls and roof are up and the windows are all in closing off the interior from the cold winter snow. The construction crane is gone and they are doing the finishing touches. However, this project is a complex one. Not only are they building a new hotel, but they are also expanding the casino floor. Also updating the buffet and changing all of the carpeting. In addition, they are moving the table gaming area, moving many slot machines around. Also converting the tent portion of the casino to a bingo hall. A lot has been completed and everything looks great and on schedule.

Expanded Casino Floor

The expanded casino floor is already open in the new area and they are updating the old casino area with new rugs and new machines. The tables for blackjack, roulette, etc have all been moved into the newly expanded gambling area.

Even the old tent area is being updated. There is only a small area open in the tent with a few slot machines and a poker area at the time of writing this post. The rest of the tent area is under construction and the rumor is that they will add a large bingo hall to this area. It is all supposed to be done by March 2013. We think they will make it.

There is a lounge area behind the new bar where people can sit and relax to have a drink. They have a disc jockey in this area who was playing rap music. Which we do not care for. However, the management is still experimenting with entertainment. It was very loud and you could barely hear anyone close to you. The price of drinks has been raised, however, they are still very inexpensive compared to many other places that charge for drinks. At $1.50 for a draft beer, we really cannot complain at all.

Akwesasne casino hotel – Dinner

We enjoy going to the Akwesasne casino very much and usually make a day of it. Mondays and Wednesdays are senior days where you can have the buffet at half price. The buffet is excellent and one of the best around. It is even better than any of the Canadian Casinos in the Ottawa area. We always use the points from our slot cards to pay for the meal. As a result, we seldom have to pay anything when we eat, unless we are having a drink with our meal.

They have a brand new slot comp area near the main entrance now which is much more open and bright.

There is also a Comfort Inn next door. You can stay for the night if you plan to stay over. Note that there are no taxes on rooms and meals while staying in this area. Since it is on Indian Land which is another large savings. Once the hotel at the casino opens, they will have a lot more competition at the Comfort inn. We expect the prices for rooms to become much more competitive.

More to come on the Akwesasne casino. For more posts about this great location, click here.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino opened another section of the new wing of the casino on Nov 9^{th, 2012}. The Cascades bar has opened. It is modern, it is high class, and it has the same machines as the bar that was in the tent. For the information of readers, the old bar in the tent was being dismantled when we arrived on the 9^th of Nov. The new section has about 50% of the floor occupied with slot machines, the high roller area, and the Cascades bar. I am sure the rest of the floor will be filled in the next few weeks, and we will write about this over the next month or so.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Cascades Bar

The new hotel is progressing and is still expected to open in March 2013. As far as we know, it is still on schedule. The front desk personnel at the Comfort Inn next door tell us that the rates for rooms will be higher than theirs; however, we feel that it will depend on supply and demand. If the casino is not busy, they will be sending people invites with free rooms attached. We have discussed this in several of our posts, where customers can expect free rooms and meals from casinos as long as they use their slot cards in the slot machines when they are playing.

Drink Prices on the Rise at the Casino

The casino has also started raising prices for drinks. Formally we paid one dollar for a draft beer on the floor as well as at the bar. Now the price is $1.50, a fifty-cent rise in price. The price is still not high, and we cannot really complain, but just the same no one wants to see a fifty percent rise in price. They also no longer serve popcorn at the bar. I guess they think that it is not as cultured to serve popcorn. They did tell us they plan to serve something soon but are not sure what that will be.

Patrons Coming from Canada and the Surrounding Area

Lately, we have done well at this casino; however, that may all change as they strive to generate more revenue to pay for all of the expansion. The last time we were at the casino was on a Friday, and it was quite busy with many people coming from the area as well as from Cornwall, Ottawa, and Montreal. One patron I spoke to had been at the casino three times that week. Said she did not like the casino in Montreal and preferred to come to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino instead.

Restaurants are Getting Better Too

The restaurant Sticks has also improved a bit with a nicer entrance to the main lobby of the casino entrance. Rapids, a fast food place, serves up pizza, burgers, and salads. The buffet, which we also wrote about in a previous post, is great, with excellent food quality and decor.

We have been going to this casino once or twice a month for a while. Pretty soon, we will make our annual trip to the southwestern area of the US and write more about the casinos in this area.

We went to the  Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Buffet on June 30th, just one day after they re-opened in their brand new updated restaurant area. We snapped a quick picture to give readers a look at the newly revamped restaurant and buffet area. The entire restaurant and food area gets a real thumbs up. We love the decor and we love the layout of the buffet. This is a huge improvement over the previous buffet both in terms of comfort as well as the food. It is organized in a much better manner. You are not tripping over other people or waiting in line. The food continues to be excellent!

The only complaint we had was that the air conditioning was working overtime. It was overly cold in the buffet area and also in certain areas of the casino as well. We spoke to one of the managers who said they were definitely aware of the issue. Technicians were on the roof working on the problem. The casino is known to be cold with drafts in some areas. But you sure do not want that when you are trying to enjoy your meal in any of the restaurants.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino – Updated Buffet Menu

Menus do change depending on whether you are eating on the weekend or during the week. This was a Saturday night and we found that there were lots of items on the menu, with high quality as well. The salad area and the desert area are now separated from the main food items, providing a much better traffic management flow for people to get their food. They had the standard salads, peeled shrimp, meatloaf, pork, salmon, battered fish, mashed potatoes, and gravy. There was also prime rib and turkey, along with pizza and sever Chinese dishes.

All of the food was hot and well-presented. This is definitely a thumbs up for the new buffet at the Akwesasne Casino, considering it was only their 2nd day after opening.

The Rapids restaurant which had been temporarily used for the buffet has also been converted back to its original configuration. This is a place where you can purchase fast food quickly and also sit at tables in the restaurant to enjoy your meal. Burgers, pizza, salads, muffins, etc are included in this area of the casino.

Update On the Construction of the new New Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Hotel

We also spoke to another manager who gave us an update on the status of the hotel. We could definitely see progress in the construction of the hotel. It turns out that the additional casino floor should be open in Oct – Nov time frame of 2012, while the hotel will not open until March 2013. The entire casino floor is going to be updated with new paint, wallpaper, carpets, and probably new machines. We find that they have all of the latest machines in their current casino, although they are a bit limited due to space.

New Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Buffet Schedule

We also have to congratulate the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino management team for meeting the schedule that they advertised. The construction workers should also be congratulated as well.  Many renovations of this type experience many delays, however, this private industry not only met the schedule, restaurant area was fully completed and operational on the 2nd day of operation. Not many places can boast about that kind of performance. They did a great job and deserve to be congratulated. It also bodes well for meeting the schedule that has been outlined for the other areas that are currently under construction.

Hotel Rates

The Comfort Inn is still the only place to stay near the casino. We have not confirmed if rates are still high, however, we do expect the rates to come down once the new Akwesasne Mohawk hotel opens next year. let’s keep our fingers crossed. We look forward to the hotel opening and spending a night or two at this location next year.

My wife and I have recently been to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino and they are under construction in a big way. We had not been to this particular casino for several months. We were really surprised to see how much was completed and what the big plans are all about. The picture on the left is of the current casino complex in early 2012. It does not reflect what is planned.

Here is what we know so far. They are adding a 140 room hotel to the west of the casino. It will also house an expanded casino. When we talked to one of the security guards, he said that they decided to build the hotel because the Comfort Inn next door was charging too much for their rooms! Hopefully, he is right and rates will drop compared to the $100+ that the Comfort Inn currently charges. They are often full and can charge what they want. I suspect even with these additional rooms, both hotels will both be full. Rates will gradually creep up. What will be good is that the casino will now be able to award free rooms as part of their slot card comps which will be great for all casino players.

Other Changes

The second major change that we found out about is the current Native Harvest Buffet area is being totally redesigned. The buffet has been temporarily moved to the rapids area which had fast food. It is not a great place to have a buffet, but it is only temporary and the new buffet area will be much better. We had a glimpse of the new area and it will no doubt be the nicest buffet restaurant in a 100-mile radius.  Better than even the casino buffet area at Lac Lemay in Gatineau. Now we only had a glimpse, but the decor is a huge improvement and will be a huge compliment to the Akwesasne Mohawk casino.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino – Updates

The casino itself is being updated as well. We are not sure how this will change, but it will be for the better. The current casino has lot’s of great machines. However, it is getting to be a bit tired looking. We are anticipating a much more glitzy casino as a result. We can only hope for a large nonsmoking area. It would save them so much money in operating costs if they band it all together, but we really do not expect them to do that.

The casino is currently in the tent area. It has been there for some time in addition to the main casino. We understand that the bingo palace is moving over to the tent, once the main casino in the hotel area is completed. This is a multistage multi-year project so it will be some time before this section is completed.

All of these construction changes are moving this casino from being a 2nd rate casino location into a 1st rate casino-hotel complex. We did not hear anything about entertainment, however, I would not be surprised if they added a venue for entertainment as well. Lots of customers already come from Canada, from Cornwall, Ottawa, Montreal and surrounding areas. With the hotel added, customers will not only come for one day, they will stay for a couple of days at either the Akwesasne hotel or the Comfort Inn next door.

Comps Are Great

The picture on the left came from the site IndianTime.net. It was taken sometime in late May or June of 2012.  The buffet is scheduled to open in late June 2012, while the hotel is scheduled for March 2013

Right now we are receiving lots of comps in terms of free play, free buffets, and other free stuff. They are going through growing pains and construction pains so customers are being compensated for some of the disruption. We really enjoy the Akwesasne Mohawk casino and expect to like it even more once the construction is completed.

Once the construction is completed we will post an update to this blog to give you our comments and opinions about the new venue. The buffet is to reopen in the new location during the month of July. We will add another post about the casino buffet at that time. For up-to-date information on the Akwesasne Hotel and Casino, click here.

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.We recently visited the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino a couple of times in the past month. Either we enjoyed their buffet too many times, or it was not as good. Since this visit, we went back to the new decor and found it much improved. They usually have two kinds of soup, but this time, they only had chili and one soup, which I did not care for. Ok, you can put that down to personal taste; however, some of the other things are starting to make me wonder if it is really as good as I thought it was.

It is a nice buffet, very clean, and a nice selection of food. The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino buffet has all of the basics, so there is no problem with that. They were really busy, and some of the trays were empty; for example, you could not get any spare ribs when we went through the buffet. They may have brought some more out later; however, it was too busy to stand in line again to get to the ribs.

The buffet reopened after being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices have increased dramatically, and there are fewer items available. We found the quality to be very good, and there were no line-ups to enter the buffet, as in the past. I guess this reflects the client’s reaction to the increased prices and overall reaction to inflation.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Buffet – Deserts

There is a good variety of desserts. However, the crust of the pie is too thick and heavy. Obviously, these pies are not made on-site. However, they just do not appear to be fresh. Maybe I am just disenchanted with the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. Perhaps because we have been there one too many times, but I do not think so. Another couple who came with us felt that the Rideau Carleton Casino actually had a better buffet. I was really surprised when I heard that since we do not really like this casino’s buffet either. You can read a more complete review of the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino by clicking here.

The buffet costs $1799 at night and $10.00 for lunch, except on senior days when the price of the buffet at lunch is only $5.00. for these prices, one should not complain since the food is quite good. Although it could be improved, at these prices it is more than worth the money.

Crab Legs are not Great.

The last time we went to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino was a Saturday night, and my wife ordered crab legs, a special on the menu that evening. It cost an extra $5.99. It was not as good as other places where we have had crab legs. The legs were not cracked or precut, so it meant that you really had to fight to get at the meat inside the shells of the legs. We would not order this particular special again, preferring to save our money for better deals and crab legs.

Well, that is about it. Maybe this sounds like a griping session. However, we just did not enjoy the buffet as much as other times. If you have been there and tried the buffet, please leave a comment. Any well-written comment will be approved, with or without a link. We are looking for quality input for our readers.

We recently visited the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino and decided to stay the night at the Comfort Inn next door. Note that the Comfort Inn was purchased by the Akwesasne Casino and renamed “The Players Inn.” Visiting the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in Hogansburg, New York is so easy when you also stay at the Comfort Inn located next door to the casino. Many casino patrons will arrive around 2 p.m. or later, park at the Hotel, check-in, and then head over to the casino, which is less than a 2-minute walk from the Hotel.

Not only is the casino fun to play, but the Comfort Inn is also clean and close by. We have stayed there a few times and always come away satisfied with the deal we received and having fun as well.If you are planning to go to this area on the weekend and stay at the Hotel, it is a good idea to make your reservation ahead of time since they are often full on the weekends.

For more information on the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, click here.  For more information on the Comfort Inn, click here or at this location as well. The picture shown above is the main entrance to the casino, and the Hotel, which is not in the picture, is located just to the left of the casino.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino – Things We Like

We thought we would list some of the things we like about the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino and, later, the Comfort Inn Hotel.

• $2.25 beer prices at the slot machines
• $3.50 wine prices at the slot machine
• Smoking area
• Lots of different as well as popular slot machines
• Tables as well as poker room
• Sticks sports bar
• Buffet restaurant
• Steak house
• Fast Food area
• Free help yourself soft drinks
• Friendly and helpful staff

Comfort Inn Hotel (The Players Inn) next to Akwesasne Mohawk Casino

• Right next door to the casino
• Hot breakfast included
• Very clean
• Free WiFi
• Clean rooms
• Well-appointed rooms at competitive rates
• No Federal or State taxes are charged on rooms
• Friendly and helpful staff

Note: As of this writing, the Hotel is undergoing some remodeling, which is supposed to be finished by the end of March 2025. When you make a reservation, they do not always tell you about the construction that is going on.

The casino has also opened its Hotel, which is filled on the weekends. Call ahead to make reservations at either of these locations. They are both very lovely and well worth the money. Note that there is no sales tax when you are staying at either of these hotels.

If you have been to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino or the Comfort Inn (The Players Inn) beside it, leave your comments so other readers can benefit. Good quality constructive and helpful comments will be approved along with a link if you provide it. Generally speaking, spam comments are deleted by an auto-delete system.

This is just a short post to talk about our stay at the Comfort Inn in Hogansburg, New York just beside the Akwesasne Casino. This is a fairly new hotel built for guests going to the casino. You can park at the hotel and walk easily over to the casino across well lit parking lots with no concern about your safety.

The hotel is very clean and has everything you will need including WiFi (which I am using at this moment to write this post) and free breakfast in the morning. They have a quality breakfast consisting of hot and cold dishes along with fruit and cereal as well as yogurt. Lots of coffee is available all day long.

They even have hot chocolate chip cookies when you check in, in the evening around 5 to 7 pm. The cookies will all be eaten by 7 for sure so get there early if you want one.

Comfort Inn – Akwesasne Casino

The staff is friendly. Every time I meet someone from the hotel, they say hello or good morning, or how was your stay etc. Very friendly and very helpful.

If you are looking for a place to stay the Comfort Inn  is a great place to stay while you are playing slots or poker at the casino. It is convenient, with free parking and as we mentioned within very easy walking distance to the casino itself.

Oh and I forgot the best part. There is no tax since you are on Indian land and they are not charging New York State tax on your hotel stay. There is no tourism tax or city tax or anything of that sort when you stay at this hotel. This is really a bonus since many hotels are now charging not only state and city taxes, which they have no choice with, some are also charging resort fees. So you $100 a night room can suddenly balloon out to $125 or even higher for a one nights stay.  They do not tell you this when you check in.

Breakfast at the Comfort Inn includes both hot and cold items, fruit cereal, eggs, yogurt, toast and waffles. Of course you have to help yourself bu that is fine since you can take your time and enjoy your breakfast without waiters bothering you. They usually serve breakfast from 6am to 10 am in the morning.

Definitely a must stay, and do not forget to ask for a senior discount or Triple A discount. It will save you approximately $10 on your stay each night! We also ask to stay in the new section which is only one year old. The old section is  maybe 5 years old which is not very old either.

Comments welcome and don’t forget to read our review of the casino.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is an easy day trip from Ottawa, Canada, Montreal Canada, Watertown New York, Syracuse New York and points in the general area. Combined with a motel right next door you can make this a small holiday and avoid driving home late at night. In addition the Casino has been updating their facility and has opened a hotel of their own attached to the casino. It opened in March of 2013. The hotel is very modern, very clean and has a no smoking policy. It is a very nice place to stay in addition to the Comfort Inn next door. They also have a spa, indoor pool and a gym if you can take yourself away from the casino.

Description

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino has over 1600 slot machines with denominations from penny machines to over $5 per bet machines. Smoking is allowed in much of the casino, while there is a non smoking area as well. Unfortunately if you are a non smoker you are going to end up beside someone who is chain smoking and smells terrible. This is one of the few major dislikes of this casino in  our opinion. Never the less they have lots of slot machines for you to choose from . They also have a non smoking section which is near the main entrance and the buffet, which is very popular.

We have several pictures of the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino to show on this page. If anyone has a picture please feel free to send us one and we will add it to the post. We have been to this casino many times and have just forgotten to take a picture of the casino building while we were there.

There are 20 table games at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino including blackjack, roulette, craps, poker and a number of other table games for your enjoyment.

Patrons can also drink at the slot machines and waitresses will bring you a drink right to the slot machine. Beer is $1.50 and wine is $3.00. Add a small tip to the cost of the drinks, since these ladies are not paid very much and they depend on their tips to make a decent income.

Events

There are various days with different events taking place. For example Mondays and Wednesdays are often senior days with the lunch time buffet as well as dinner at half price. You can use your points from your slot card towards point play or towards a meal at one of the restaurants. The casino will also send you promotions from time to time with free slot play coupons once you sign up for a slot card.

We have only been to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino during the week and found the crowds at the casino to be very manageable. Other patrons have told us that there are lots of people at the casino on the weekends and sometimes it is difficult to get the slot machine you would like to play. If you have been there on the weekend , perhaps you can add your comments.

Surrounding Hotels or Motels

There are not many hotels or motels in the immediate area. There is the Comfort Inn right next door to the casino and of course the hotel attached to the casino. We have stayed at the Comfort Inn and found it to be very acceptable, clean and a decent breakfast in the morning. It is also fairly new and not tired looking at all. Rates are a bit high , however it always seems to be busy and you may want to book a room in advance especially if you wish to stay there on the weekend. There is no tax on rooms at the Comfort Inn. However the reservation has added a $10 pr night room fee.

There are also quite a few motels across the border in Cornwall. It is not a great distance, however depending on the time of the day , it can take up to an hour to get through the customs area, due to backups on the bridges. You will also need to have $3.25 for tolls to cross the bridge in both directions. There is a 13.5% tax on all rooms in Ontario.

Restaurants at Akwesasne Mohawk Casino

Recently added food court called “Rapids Food Court” with pizza, grill and a bakery

Sticks Sports Bar – great place to eat, have a snack or a drink while at the casino

Native Harvest Buffet – dinner is approximately $16 prior to any deductions for promotions or slot play

What We Liked

Variety of slot machines

Free  soft and coffee drinks while gambling

Beer is $1.50 and wine is $3.00

Buffet is very nice, well presented

Easy access from all highways

Safe environment in the casino, hotel and parking areas

The Casino hotel is also excellent

Comfort Inn motel next door is a great place to stay, with free breakfast

What We Did Not Like

There are several complaints about the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino

Patrons of the casino are allowed to smoke in the casino

Too many multi line nickel machines

Not enough poker machines

No Wheel of fortune machines

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino – Slot Player Card

They are part of the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino slot players card system. Slot members can take advantage of benefits at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. Once you are on the mailing list of the casino, you will receive free promotions for entertainment, free meals and free slot play at the casino

If you have not taken advantage of slot player cards, there are a number of benefits that many slot players should consider. Free or discounted rooms, email mailing list of promotions, free or discounted meals, access to entertainment, and a tax report outlining your losses and wins for tax claim purposes.

Parking

There is ample parking at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in a large surface parking parking lot in front of the casinos.  You can access the hotel from the parking lot at one of two entrances. The parking was not patrolled as far as we could tell. There is also parking for RV’s as well.

Directions to Akwesasne Mohawk Casino:

The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is approximately 13 miles east of Masena and approximately 5 miles east of the Canada – US border crossing.

From Canada and Cornwall: Take Exit 789 from the 401. Follow 138/Brookdale Ave/ south across the Seaway International Bridge. Turn left onto SR 37. The hotel is 5 miles ahead on the left.

From Western NY & Syracuse: Take I81 north to Exit 49. Turn right onto RT 411. Turn left onto SR 37 north. The hotel is approximately 90 miles ahead on the left.

From Eastern NY and New England: Take I87 North to Exit 38N. Follow 374 west to SR 190. Turn right onto SR 190 and follow to US 11. They turn Left onto US 11 south and follow to SR 122. Turn right onto SR 122 and follow to SR 37. Turn right onto SR 37. The hotel is 14 miles ahead on the right.