Tropicana Evansville: Stay, dine, play

Tropicana Evansville:  Stay, dine, play

Stay at the very nice Tropicana Evansville Hotel or go upscale at the LeMerigot?  Enjoy casual dining at Max & Erma’s or a steak at Cavanaugh’s?  Try your luck at the slots or table games in the casino or listen to live entertainment?  You’ll have lots of choices to make at the Tropicana Evansville in southern Indiana, but whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong.

Our comfortable room at the Tropicana Evansville Hotel overlooked the Ohio River, a picturesque view of the sparkling river with a walkway alongside it that beckons you to go out for a stroll.  Later.  Right now it’s time to grab a bite to eat.

Room

With ten venues for cocktails and food, from casual to gourmet, not even counting the bars on the casino floor, it’s easy to find something that whets your appetite.  The hard part is deciding between them.  When we wanted a dessert, we opted for Max & Erma’s decadent triple chocolate cake.

Triple_Chocolate_Cake

Our splurge meal at Cavanaugh’s started with our choices of ten signature martinis.  I went with chocolate, which seems more like a dessert martini, but it’s the one that most intrigued me.  Our waiter assured me that people order it before dinner all the time.

Cavanaughs_martinis

Sipping the martini, watching a barge pass by on the river outside the window, and listening to live piano music set the tone for an elegant meal.

View_from_CavanaughsI ordered basic but my favorites: a salad, prime rib and double baked potato.  After the salad and bread served with garlic oil, lemon sorbet was a nice palate cleanser.

 Cavanaughs_salad

Cavanaughs_bread

Cavanaughs_lemon_ice

I purposely didn’t finish my succulent, medium-rare prime rib, because I had seen the dessert cart and knew I couldn’t pass it up.  We ordered the crème brulee, the brittle, sweet caramelized topping a crunchy contrast to the creamy custard.

Cavanaughs_prime_rib

Cavanaughs_creme_brulee

If food quantity is your style, try the all-you-can-eat weekend brunch at the Temptations Buffet.  You’ll find everything from breakfast meats, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and potatoes, to lunch foods like a salad bar, turkey, fried chicken, mac ‘n cheese, and too much more to list here.

Buffet

If you want to eat while you’re in the casino, you can do that, too, at the Diamond Deli on Level 1.  Level 1 is completely non-smoking, which is where I stayed while I was playing the penny slots.

Just outside the casino entrance in the riverfront Pavilion Hoosiers Lounge, enjoy free live music.

Hoosiers_Lounge

When you’re in need of a breath of fresh air, step outside the casino and take a stroll down the paved riverfront walkway.  After you’ve burned off some calories, return to the Evansville Tropicana for more casino action before trying another dining venue.

Riverfront

The Tropicana Evansville is located at 421 NW Riverside Drive in Evansville, Indiana.  Visit the web site for further details or to make hotel reservations.

Disclosure:  I won my stay at the Tropicana Evansville, including dinner at Cavnaugh’s and brunch at the Temptations Buffet, in a drawing, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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