Buffalo Thunder Resort Casino

From the ample parking to wonderful bedrooms with large bathrooms. Beautiful lobby with a very welcoming staff. Registration was super efficient and explained all restaurants, bars, casinos, and pool. Rooms were a tad larger than average with super large closet. Very nice large dresser. Night dtands on each side of bed. Small desk with chair. Nice upholstered chair. Bathroom eas spacious with nice layout. This is a lovely Hilton and very nice spa resort. Nice smpkefree casino. Several places to eat throughout resort. Beautiful hotel.

THE GOOD: it’s beautiful! The setting, the architecture, the art. It really is gorgeous and the rooms are pretty nice. It’s pet friendly with lots of areas to walk your dog, plus a small dog park. THE POOL: the pool area is aesthetically nice, but the pool itself is too small. The indoor pool and hot tub are often “closed for maintenance” and the pool bar indefinitely closed. It’s more of a kid pool so adults can’t really enjoy the water without constantly being splashed with jumping kids. Not trying to be anti kid they’re just innocently having a blast being kids in the water and that’s a beautiful thing! I’m just trying to make the point that it’s great for families, but maybe not ideal for couples or solo travelers looking for a quiet retreat. Also, there is a huge shortage of umbrellas outside so most of the lounge chairs are not shaded. BARS DINING: bars and dining options at Buffalo Thunder Resort (BTR are subpar at best. I live 5 minutes away from BTR so I can say without a doubt my feedback is not an isolated incident— I’ve eaten here many times (just for the sake of convenience and I’ve never been impressed. All the dining places and bars have limited hours of operation unreliable. The food is poor quality, especially for a Hilton resort. The Red Sage, which is the high end restaurant, is a solid OK at best — the cocktails they serve are weak (who wants to pay $17 for a one shot Manhattan? and the food is overpriced too (an overcooked steak is a big no no for a place like this and yup they’re served it . You’re better off driving the 15 minutes to downtown Santa Fe for a real fine dining experience. The other places to dine here are, again, overpriced for what you get just lots of processed Cisco foods that are “out of a bag and microwaved” rather than made to order. Ugh I swear the food here all around is just not good. THE ROOM: pretty nice and comfortable. The bathtub closure didn’t work, which was a bummer because the hot tub is out of order. THE CASINO: I don’t gamble and don’t enjoy the casino environment so I couldn’t care less, but as a FYI I’ve been to Vegas and this casino ain’t even remotely similar to Vegas, as it claims. They don’t allow alcoholic beverages on the floor — this because NM has a long standing drunk driving problem, so I’m not advocating that they should allow it, I just want to let people know ahead of time that they don’t allow (for better or worse . Do not come here expecting it to be anything like Vegas. OVERALL: it’s a nice stay in a beautiful setting, but for the resort price I think it falls short of expectations.

Ensure to stay on a day all the restaurants are opened if you plan to eat dinner on site. Only one bar grill inside the casino was opened for dinner on Monday and Tuesday with limited food options (like burgers and chicken strips). Resort and room was clean, spacious and balcony was a plus. If you’re taking your pups, there’s not much “comfortable” ground for them outside to take care of their business. Lots of sticker burs!!! We walked them nextdoor to Homewood Suites to let them enjoy the large patch of grass. However, the property does provide doggie waste bags which is nice. Staff wasn’t overly friendly and younger lady at the Starbucks counter was somewhat rude. When trying to make small talk to hopefully help with what seemed to be an unpleasant morning for her, she responded rudely and gave me “the eye”. The casino is big enough to have fun if gambling is your thing. Smoking and drinking is prohibited on the casino floor. After being to multiple casinos in the past, I found their “no drinking on the casino floor” rather odd. They do play promotional games which is fun! Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Buffalo Thunder and would visit again.

I really enjoyed my stay at Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder. The hotel is beautifully designed. The lobby, pool area, hallways, and facilities are very well maintained. My room was exceptional. It was very clean and spacious with a balcony that provided a nice view of the hotel and surrounding mountains. Sorry I did not stay longer. Next time I will!

Hotel is nice, room was okay but for $350 a night I expected better. Zero options for food on a Monday evening other than nasty overpriced bar food. 2 people, 2 burgers and fries, 1 beer, 1 Water wound up $72 without tip. 4 other options closed or not available. No breakfast option until 8 on a Tuesday. Casino also closed from 9 PM until 8 AM. Indoor pool and spa under maintenance since March. Still not operating at the end of July. Could have stayed next door at Homewood Suites for a 1/3 of the price and got to use the same amenities as a sister hotel of Hilton and they serve a complimentary hot breakfast from 6-9.