Danny Schaub

Review of Barona Resort & Casino

I have won a lot of money at Barona....I have also...

I have won a lot of money at Barona....I have also lost A LOT of money at Barona...lol...The major plus is that you CAN actually win money here. Obviously a casino is never a guarantee to win, however, some casinos seem to have lower payout per bonus/spins on their slots and slots that hit a lot less. Barona's pay out great and you can hit really big spins/bonuses.

One thing I love about Barona is their player's club does "teir matching" so if you are a high level at another casino you can show them and they will upgrade you to an equivelant level of their players club. If you lose a lot/play a lot in a day or over several days you can ask your host or the players club for a cash comp and they literally will give you $100 that you can cash out. I've never seen another casino do this. They also offer free play that is loaded on your card- I believe it is loaded bi-weekly but tbh I am still a little confused on their time but i frame for loading the free play but i know for sure that it is based on your play the prior month.

The Casino itself is pretty big and they have lots of different machines including plenty of lightning link and dragon link machines (The ones along the walls in the room that you enter from the parking garage seem to pay the best but that may just be personal experience) I haven't had any luck in their high-limit area- not even a little bit.

I know that this is supposed to be convenient, but I hate that they only have people that walk around and cash out your tickets and don't have ANY ticket redemption machines. You are supposed to be able to push for service and someone will come give you change or cash out your ticket right at your slot so you don't even have to get up, however, I feel obligated to tip the person every time. Which is usually fine but sometimes I don't have a ton of extra money lol. I like being able to win big, walk over to a ticket redemption machine, and then saving most of the winnings and putting in just $100 into the slot to play with. I tend to lose less this way. (at least lose it a little slower)

IMO Dragon Link > Lightning Link here but that is just based on the luck I have had- although I have won pretty big on both. I have gotten a hand pay on Autumn Moon Dragon Link and on Dancing Drums and I cashed out with $2300 on Timber Wolf Grand. Lots of people win big and even win the GRAND here. I hardly ever see anyone win the GRAND at the other casinos.

Oh I do love that their ATM machines are free....literally....they don't charge a fee to use them. This is really cool.

The Casino and all of the related buildings/land look really cool as you are driving down Wildcat Canyon Rd into the valley. It has a different theme than most of the other casinos who all are built to be modern and very las-vegas like. Barona has the feeling of a county-like mansion or something. I believe it is even made to seem like the casino is in a barn. However, don't be fooled, it does not look like a barn inside. It is very nice. There is actually a real, very large tree inside that the casino is built around- I though this is kind of random but pretty cool.

In summary, Barona is one of the best Casinos in the greater San Diego area. The casino is nice and large with lots of slots. The property is well maintained and there is lots of parking. The staff is generally friendly (although they all wave at you and say "welcome home" which is kind of weird/different especially since they take your money lol). Don't expect to win big, but know that there is at least a chance that you can (a bigger chance than some of the other nearby casinos).