Rincon trip questions

for those of you who frequent Rincon, knowing what you do about the property.. the casino, the hotel and the surrounding area.. IF you weren't local to the area would you pick it as one of your aspiration trips ?
some background info.. I live in the north east.. I've been to Vegas 10+ times, been to NOLA & Ak Chin.. heading to Cherokee for the 1st time tomorrow.. planning to save Tahoe for my SS trip.. enjoy hiking and the outdoors.. so I'm trying to figure out where to go for my Diamond II trip.. thanks in advance.. Paul

While I have never stayed in the hotel at Rincon I can't imagine why you would want it to be your aspiration trip. Except for a crowded pool on the weekends, and one decent restaurant, there is nothing to do there. And even the video poker isn't good anymore. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

I believe there are nice things to do in the surrounding area. I loved the San Diego Wild Animal Safari park http://sdzsafaripark.org/ which is nearby Rincon. Also the Pauma mission church is a well maintained old Spanish Mission about 10 miles from Rincon. If you are so inclined and had a rental car, you could do worse than visit San Diego to or from your trip to Rincon. The USS Midway is near the San Diego airport.

FAB

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

While I have never stayed in the hotel at Rincon I can't imagine why you would want it to be your aspiration trip. Except for a crowded pool on the weekends, and one decent restaurant, there is nothing to do there. And even the video poker isn't good anymore. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

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Alan, if you are referring to Fiores as the one decent restaurant, I have gotten sick the last two times I have eaten there and I go to Rincon quite a bit...The food is terrible. There quality of food has dropped way off.

Yes, I referred to Fiore as the one decent restaurant but we won't go back there either. Our last two dinners were horrible and one of the two was a "make-good comp" on a previous mail. None of our meals there were ever paid for with cash -- always with comps -- and even with comps the last two (or three) were terrible with lobster undercooked, portions small or just not well prepared, and presentation lacking.

However, I did go with friends to Outback Steakhouse the other night and Outback was even worse than Fiore.

If you did want to make a trip to Rincon you are about an hour from Disneyland and various Orange County theme parks and you're 90 minutes from downtown LA and the sports arenas and the beaches. But if you really wanted to go to those attractions stay in Anaheim so you are closer to them and make a side trip to Rincon (if you must). I just can't imagine going to Southern California to make Rincon your primary hotel.

Outback is absolutely awful.

Fiore has been okay in the few times I've been there, including when I went in February. Not great, but okay. I paid mostly in comps, and a little with RCs.

I heard that the steakhouse down the street (I forget the name) is much better than Fiore, but of course you can't use comps there.

I did get the worst stomach flu in my life in January 2014 right after eating at Fiore, but I think it came from the buffet, not Fiore, given the timing of the symptoms. I ate at Fiore at around 9pm and felt symptoms around 1am, and that's just too quick for a stomach flu to show up. That particular stomach flu caused me not to be able to keep any fluids down and vomit 13 times throughout the day, and eventually led to me passing out and breaking 3 ribs. So that wasn't a nice memory.

There isn't much to do in the immediate area surrounding Rincon. It's in the middle of nowhere, and there's not even any good hiking nearby. If you don't have an interest in visiting the San Diego area attractions (zoo, Sea World, wild animal park, etc), it might be boring for you there. Plus, as Alan said, they have degraded most video poker.

I dont know about stomach flu but four hours is about the right time for food poisoning to kick in.

I think I am the world's leading expert on food poisoning since as a news reporter I traveled around so much and I had fast food in many places -- and they usually have "food poisoning" on the menu.

Yes, four hours is about right for getting food poisoning after you eat something. And food poisoning is much different than stomach flu.

Dear JustaDiamind

I'm approx 120 miles away from Rincon and have stayed in the hotel on many occasions. I have even gone to a Sunday Mass at the Pala NOT Pauma Mission that FAB was talking about. The rooms are nice, the staff is pleasant, the coffee shop is no longer 24/7. We could help you more if you told the group what you go to a casino for. The craps table is CARD CRAPS so I would not recommend it for craps, however, it's not their fault, California law states that outcome must be determined by cards, which also makes roulette "card roulette". They have recently downgraded their video poker pay-tables which was a big disappointment to many. You will be going through miles of single lane each direction mountainous road to get their and back. I am a night owl and have seen the craps tables close after midnight if their were no players and not open up for hours.
If I was given a choice I would probably choose Caesars casino in Las Vegas myself. Real craps and roulette. 2 free show tickets for diamond/month. The last 2 years I have taken my mother to Vegas for her birthday and spent my $100 diamond dinner on her at Ruth Chris in Harrah's across the street from Caesars. More nightlife, more things nearby, shorter safer ride from the airport (they will pick you up in a limo at the airport in Las Vegas. Real craps, real roulette, Better Video poker pay-tables if you go off strip to where the locals go, more choices for shows, I took mom to the Rio to see Penn and Teller, I enjoyed the show very much.

Did you say the Rincon cafe is no longer 24/7 ?? When is it closed?

HOURS
Sunday - Thursday 6am - 11pm
Friday & Saturday 6am - 1am

So there no longer is a place to go for late night eats at Rincon? Just the few candy vending machines?

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

I dont know about stomach flu but four hours is about the right time for food poisoning to kick in.

I think I am the world's leading expert on food poisoning since as a news reporter I traveled around so much and I had fast food in many places -- and they usually have "food poisoning" on the menu.

Yes, four hours is about right for getting food poisoning after you eat something. And food poisoning is much different than stomach flu.

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It wasn't food poisoning. Most notably, there was no diarrhea, and also no fever or abdominal pain.

However, I had severe nausea, dizziness, lethargy, a complete lack of thirst and appetite, and I vomited 13 times.

Much more likely to have come from the buffet, for obvious reasons aside from the timing.

You can sue a restaurant if you became ill eating their food. I'm not sure what the law is about restaurants on Indian reservations, and I don't know what proof you would have at this point.

One evening After eating baked beans in Rincon's buffet I became very I'll went to the restroom the baked beans came back up the way they went down, and I felt better right away.

Be very careful if you are using a $100 portfolio credit to charge to your room. I was one of many people ambushed at checkout and told that the portfolio credit would not apply to the charges I made. At checkout time I had a full belly from eating at the "wrong place" that was not covered by the credit, so I was asked to pay for the charges and had $150 portfolio credit good for food and drink only that expires at check-out and it was checkout time. Alan was with me and we had to get his host involved to help out. A very extremely disappointing experience that CET should be ashamed of, and I would not wish on anyone.

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Originally Posted by ke6cdh

Be very careful if you are using a $100 portfolio credit to charge to your room. I was one of many people ambushed at checkout and told that the portfolio credit would not apply to the charges I made. At checkout time I had a full belly from eating at the "wrong place" that was not covered by the credit, so I was asked to pay for the charges and had $150 portfolio credit good for food and drink only that expires at check-out and it was checkout time. Alan was with me and we had to get his host involved to help out. A very extremely disappointing experience that CET should be ashamed of, and I would not wish on anyone.

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Wasn't this at Caesars in Las Vegas? If so it shouldn't be in this thread.

Yes it was, however, since I was suggesting he go to Vegas instead of rincon, and he will be having a $100 portfolio credit, I wanted to warn him

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

I dont know about stomach flu but four hours is about the right time for food poisoning to kick in.

I think I am the world's leading expert on food poisoning since as a news reporter I traveled around so much and I had fast food in many places -- and they usually have "food poisoning" on the menu.

Yes, four hours is about right for getting food poisoning after you eat something. And food poisoning is much different than stomach flu.

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The last time I got food poisoning was also in San Diego when I ate seafood at Mission Beach. We stayed at the Hyatt but I sent my family home while I battled all the symptoms including fever for the next 36 hours.

Stay away from San Diego.

ok thanks guys.. I'll probably just go back to Vegas again.. probably the best bang for the buck...

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

So there no longer is a place to go for late night eats at Rincon? Just the few candy vending machines?

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Pinks has late night dining until 6 AM and if your stomach can't take the chili hot dogs you can always get an omelet or eggs.