Grey Eagle Casino Hotel and Event Centre
The Grey Eagle Casino facility is located on the South West side of the City of Calgary, on the NW edge of the Tsuu T’ina Reservation. The facility was built as a large gaming casino with an ajoined hotel. In addition, it features a large auditorium and concert venue attached to it referred to as the Grey Eagle Event Centre. When it first opened, this casino was notorious in Alberta as a place where the minority of the population who were still smokers were able to go and smoke cigarettes inside a building, even after indoor smoking had been banned by Provincial and Municipal bylaws in all other public locations in Alberta. Since the location of the facility is on the Treaty 7 Tsuu T’ina reservation, the Native owners were not bound to follow those Provincial or Municipal laws. To this day, the casino still allows smoking inside but the novelty of it has declined quite a bit as the number of smokers has declined as well. Still, there a large number of patrons who just hang around the Casino so they can smoke indoors and also to drink the free coffee from the coffee bar in the lounge.
Grey Eagle Casino & Hotel
Inside the casino you will find the same slot machines that can be found at all the other casinos across Canada and even in Vegas. They are spread throughout the building with traditional table games like cards and roulette being located in the center of the room.
In addition, there are 2 high limit slot machine rooms which offer greater privacy and exclusiveness, while hosting the same slot machines set at higher denominations.
The casino also has a large bingo room which is popular with the older crowd, bathrooms, security, guests services, a lounge that frequently hosts live music, and two restaurants. One of the restaurants is a highly rated buffet and the other ( The Blaze) is more of a Calgary sports bar & grill lounge style with lots of televisions. Both are known for having great food quality.
The Blaze is very busy and turns over tables at an amazing rate. There is often a line up just to get a table. The night we attended was no different, we waited 15 minutes to be seated. As I frequently do, I ordered the ginger beef, which is fantastic and priced well.
For some reason the Asian food at the Casino is fantastic. I have tried a few is them and every one of them is a good as the best Calgary Chinese restaurant anywhere else in town. With so many of the classic original Chinese restaurants closing this year, it’s good to know that good Chinese dishes can still be had someplace.
The service here is always decent despite it being very rushed. The atmosphere isn’t great, but it’s a good place to watch a game and the good food makes up for it. They have regular low table seating as well as bar tables, and you can also sit up at the bar if you’re feeling social.
Concerts in Calgary
The Events Centre at Grey Eagle has concerts or events running every week. They can probably seat about 3500 people in the venue and bring in new bands as well as road warrior veteran touring bands dating back to the 70s and 80s. The most recent was The Cult in concert this weekend which was phenomenal. You can check an exclusive video of the show here or follow our Calgary Facebook page.
The Cult in Concert at Grey Eagle, Calgary
Grey Eagle Event Centre
.
King Calgary: I am a living in Calgary, enjoying exploring and experiencing the city and sharing it with others through words, photos, and videos. I like to write about the places I visit, the venues and businesses I go to, and the things that give Calgary its own unique character. With your support and suggestions I will continue to document cool things in the YYC area. Please help a local guy out by hitting the like or share button on any content you enjoy.