TUNICA, MS- Looking for an escape?  Did you know the third largest concentration of casinos in the country is just 200 miles away in Tunica, Mississippi?  Just south of Memphis, the “South’s Casino Capital” is waiting to offer you good times, chance, golf, relaxation, and some of the finest food in the south.

The competition for your entertainment dollar is cut-throat and the winner is the consumer.  Harrah’s has re-branded the “Grand Casino Tunica” as a fully branded “Harrah’s” property.  The $50million+ makeover knocks you over with spoils upon entering the resort.

Three dramatic entry ways take you over a “moat” populated with huge turtles and fish.  New carpet greets you with easy to navigate signage.  The restrooms are the nicest public restrooms I have ever seen, complete with marble, tile, ample toilet and wash facilities and it was well attended to. 

None of this is going to make you hit 21 every time, but you feel better about being in the casino.  You feel like a high roller even if you are playing with your quarter rolls from home.  But the real difference is upstairs, and this is perhaps the most promoted part of any casino I have seen in 14 years of tracking Tunica’s casino industry.

Paula Deen, of Food Network fame, has her signature on the buffet and store.  Bar none, it is the best buffet I have ever been to.  Deen’s signature is southern cooking, and her favorite ingredient is butter.  The buffet is expensive, but well worth it.  Dinner for two will cost you $58.  It takes about 2 hours of table play with consistent play to get the meal “comped.”

The buffet:  Prime Rib, Alaskan King Crab, southern soul food, and home-made desserts are all must samples.  But what I cannot stop talking about is the bread.  The biscuits and hoe-cakes are beyond words.  The biscuits have cheese and a hint of garlic.  The hoe cakes are a soft type of cornbread that are out of this world.  Both have butter beyond belief… and are served with, of course, MORE BUTTER. 

I told my wife I would drive the 400 mile round trip for two of those biscuits.    WOW WOW WOW.

Yes, it’s still a casino.  Yes, it’s a buffet.   But Harrah’s has created a resort that leads the pack in Tunica.

Writer- Ben Boles