Grand Portage Lodge and Casino

Where to begin. First there are no other choices to stay in this area, so they can pretty much do as they want. We could work with the uncomfortable bed and pillows, but the rude, arrogant women who were working the check in desk, is inexcusable. Our ac unit did not work very well and our room was hot, we called several times to have it looked at, but no one ever came to check or even called us back on. We stayed 3 nights, but they only coded are room key for 1 night. These women made us wait, 15 mins. (while they talked to friends, not business) to get our room key recoded. This happened 2 nights in a row. They were slow, didn't seem to care at all, how much they inconvenienced us (the customers). The housekeeper was very pleasant and helpful. The restaurant has fabulous food, reasonably priced, but they are the slowest in service. If you are in a hurry, eat elsewhere. We had to wait to be seated for breakfast 15+ minutes and there were only customers at 2 tables. Dinner was slow and if they had to bring you anything extra, your food would get cold. If they had been another choice, we would have stayed. Next trip up, we will stay in Grand Marais. We travel all the time in many states, and this place was a dump.

4 months ago

My husband and I met here which is why we decided to get married here. Besides the amazing view, everything leading up to the wedding went terrible. The WORST communication. No staff. They rarely answer the phone and when you get someone from the front desk they're rude. The call center guy is extremely kind and very helpful. When our guests would finally get through(took months to reserve their rooms) they were told there was nothing blocked off under our wedding(which there was). Every single reservation was messed up. We had people drive 10 hours and didn't have rooms and there was nothing available for hours. People who lived in thunder bay gave up their rooms for our guests. Which I could never thank those people enough. They wouldn't block off tables in the diningroom for our guests (30) so we had to stand in line with the public to get our guests their food and then bring it back to our room. We had to clean our own rooms. Which were all disgusting. They messed up so bad with our reservations that they out us in a cabin(which at first sounded great, till we found out it wad 3 miles down the road and we couldn't enjoy ourselves as we had to stay sober so we could drive back to the cabin) the cabin leaked water from the toilet all night. The night before our wedding our daughter had a medical emergency in her room and we couldn't get in. Went to the front desk and asked for help and they said "it can wait till tomorrow". Took maintenance 10 min to show up and had no idea how to open the locked door. Tried reaching out after everything and got attitude. The front desk people hate management and are sick of them avoiding their responsibilities as people just lose it on the front desk people. Not enough workers. We ended up getting refunded for all of our rooms. Which as great but was told to not leave a bad review. I wasn't going to, but a out of town friend lifted us $200 gift certificate for grand portage as wedding gift, so we out it towards our final fees (before we were reimbursed) but they wouldn't give us that $200 gift back. And when asked to, was told basically sorry we did bare mim and that wasn't food enough for you. I will say though, the prime rib and crab buffet was Amazing. Restaurant staff were lovely and very accommodating. Front desk staff sucked and we're rude except Anita. She was great but you can tel she is just over this place. Management really needs to get it together. You guys are really making this beautiful casino look terrible.

3 months ago

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at a conference held at the Grand Portage Casino and Lodge, and I must say, my experience was excellent from start to finish. The staff was incredibly welcoming and made me feel at home, which was especially appreciated after a long journey. The food from the kitchen was delicious—I'm still thinking about the creamy Cajun chicken Alfredo! The bathrooms were immaculate, and the lodge itself offers great amenities, including a swimming pool, hot tub, and even a little beach at the back where you can swim in Lake Superior. While the casino only has slot machines and no table games, it’s still a fun way to unwind. It’s real close to the Canadian boarder if you want to go into Thunder Bay, or you can travel south along MN 61 and soak in all the views of Lake Superior's northern shore. Overall, the Grand Portage Casino and Lodge provided a fantastic venue, and I highly recommend it to anyone attending a conference or just looking for a relaxing getaway.

5 months ago

A senic drive prepares you for a relaxed time in the casino. Interesting folk lore and really good coffee.We always go on a week day. No crowds;fun time. Rumors are the Prime Rib is like nothing you've ever had.I haven't tried it yet but would like to.

3 months ago

Where do I even begin… we stayed here over a year ago and it was not the greatest experience, but we use to frequent here before the pandemic for years and thought we would try again. Unfortunately things did not get better, in fact they were sooo much worse. We had four rooms booked for the September long weekend. My room being a suite that we checked into on the Friday. My brothers room was booked next to us for the adjoining room so our kids could all have room to run. We had these rooms booked months in advance and were guaranteed from the supervisor who booked our rooms that we would have them adjoining. I knew things were not going to be the best when Leading up to the Friday, I had called the front desk to ask if I could have a cot placed in my room for the weekend. The guy working was so incredibly rude, yelling at me immediately telling me they cannot do that and I would only be able to request one upon check in. When I tried to explain to him that if one wasn’t available I would just bring one from home, he started talking to me in a down right abusive behaviour. By this time I just hung up the phone. Luckily he was not at the desk when we checked in on the Friday. But due to that conversation I just brought an extra bed from home. Our suite was not the cleanest, from food under the tables to hair all over the sink. My toddler came out of the bedroom and found someone’s used pink vape that was left and he was using it a toy until I noticed what he had. This is completely unacceptable. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had BED BUGS! But it gets way worse….|Check in time comes at 4:30 the next day and the other three guests joining us including my brother whose room is supposed to be adjoining to us, tries to check in. Not one room is available. It was 2 hours past check in before one room was ready. When my sister in law went to check into her room she was told by yet another RUDE front desk staff that her adjoining room was STILL not ready and they will be moved to another location. After my sister in law said they will wait for it to be cleaned and we need these rooms to be connecting for the purpose of child care. The front desk lady rudely told her “we don’t work like that here! You’re going where we put you”, and gave her a key to a different room no where near ours. After that I went back down to the front desk with my sister in law, I was very frustrated and explained we booked these rooms months ago with a supervisor and at that point the front desk lady started calling my sister in law a liar and said she did not say anything to her like that and if she could wait she would go have a supervisor personally clean the room immediately, and called my sister in law a liar. After we went back to our room to wait for the adjoining room “to be cleaned” we had our door open to the hallway, and that same front desk lady went to the adjoining room and knocked on the door. At that point we realized she had actually given the room away to someone else, who had checked in while my brother was waiting for those two hours. She asked them to pack their stuff and move to another room. Then told my brother to take this room but there’s no one to clean it. He had no choice but to take it.|The next morning I went down for breakfast with my husband and two kids. The servers seem like they do not want to be there. After our food came we did not see our server once. My husband had to take our children back to the room as I proceeded to wait 45 minutes before I flagged down a different server to ask for my bill. She then left and never came back. Another 15 minutes pass and she said she forgot and would get it. Almost an hour after finishing our food one server brings the bill and behind her comes our server and throws down some cookies from the kids meal and says “here’s your dessert” and walks away. This was the service we got the entire weekend. The second breakfast we had, it was the lady who I had dealt with at the front desk. She knew it was me and completely avoided our table. I was sitting with my mom and my son, were the only ones ordering. She didn’t even bring me a coffee for about 45 minutes after ordering one. She stayed on the opposite side of the restaurant the entire time. |When we were checking out we had the pleasure of meeting the rude man I spoke with over the phone. He printed my bill incorrectly and overcharged me for my room as we were silver members and got a discount. After speaking with a supervisor we were told we would be refunded in 10 business days. Well it is now September 23rd and I am still fighting with them for my refund. Every time I call it is a different excuse. First they said it was my credit cards fault. After my credit card company assured me nothing was refunded to them. The newest one today was they had apparently charged me correctly in the beginning and emailed me an invoice. It’s actually shocking to say, they created a brand new invoice with the discount on it. I kept the original that was actually charged, and sent them my credit card bill which did not have any discounts on it. My next step will be to contact my credit card company and file a dispute on wrongful charges. There is never a manager on site to help with anything. So basically the staff working there can do anything they want. I mean it when I say I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN THE CASINO AGAIN!

5 months ago

I'm not usually one to write or read reviews as I think it's only fair to check things out for myself. I changed my mind after a visit last week and reading other reviews since deciding to write my own. Here is what I encountered on my stay, good and not so good. Although the bed/toilet and shower was very clean the rest of the room was so dusty you could write your name on the the furniture. The refrigerator did not cool properly, old tooth paste was dried on the counter, mold on the inside of the ice pail lid, pool area was dirty and unkept. Outside of the room the trash was overflowing for 2 days in front of the elevators, windows in the common areas was dirty the entire time of the stay. As far as the good: the staff was very friendly, especially the young man running the restaurant one evening. And the food was delicious. Don't know that I would stay again as I'm not crazy about walking into a hotel that smells of cigarette smoke but then again it is a casino.

4 months ago

Our room was a suit, the room was beautiful and beautiful view. However they had phones in there that didn't work, so If you need the front desk, you had to walk down. We had to clean the tub again before we used it. The tub water faucet was hard to figure out, because you had to turn them 3 full times to get good water pressure. I had to go down and get new room keys because they only had us registered for one day but we paid for multiple days.

5 months ago

This hotel needs alot of TLC. The phones in both our room and the pool area didnt work. We mentioned it at the front desk and the response was "yep". We had mentioned that during our trip to the front desk as we were there looking for a hair dryer as there wasn't one in the room and we weren't able to call down to ask. We visited the pool on two different days and on both days there were no towels. On the second day the hot tub didn't work either. Also on that second day we walked back to the front desk to ask about towels and were told that they had already filled the towels three times the day before. What happened the day before is irrelevant, we are asking about them now as there are still none. She said she would bring them on her next trip that way but we spent an hour in the pool after and those towels never came. This place needs a good cleaning to in both the rooms and common spaces too. They also have a promotion where you get $5 per person per nights stay in free play. We weren't told of this when we checked in and only noticed it on the second day when we saw it on fine print on a hotel banner in the lobby. Most importantly, the attitude of most of the staff here brings the energy down. Everyone has a "I dont give a crap" attitude. The energy is sad and depressing. Their only still in business because they're the only hotel in the absolute middle of nowhere because they wouldn't survive this way in a bigger city. The one positive though, we won over $300 in the casino over a 3 day span, so at least there's that.

4 months ago