I stayed at the Trump Taj Mahal with my family to celebrate my brother's 21st birthday at the end of May 2007. The valets were very nice, and the car had no damage upon its return to us after a two-night stay.

Check-in took around half an hour, which can be annoying, but long check-in waits are to be expected in many hotels once the busy season rolls around. Our room was beautiful, and it had a great view of the Taj Mahal's rooftop sundeck below, as well as a fantastic view of the ocean and a number of the hotels down the boardwalk. (Our hotel was on a pretty high floor -- the elevators are really fast, and you will definitely feel the descents and ascents!) We were five to our room, so we had to ask for a cot. I don't know much about how comfortable the beds are because I was the one who got the cot, but even the cot was comfortable at the Taj Mahal! It was about the size of an actual bed too -- nothing flimsy.

Our room was spotless when we got it, and housekeeping did a great job of keeping it clean during the stay. The bathroom was beautiful and spotless as well, and there were angled mirrors around and above the main vanity mirror -- convenient for styling your hair or checking an outfit. The shower was big, and the showerhead was great -- a fine spray, but enough pressure to feel kind of like a massage.

The Taj Mahal's pool area is rooftop and indoors and looks absolutely beautiful! Adjoining that is the outdoor sundeck, and it's high enough that you don't get a lot of shadows obstructing the sun. There can be a lot of wind up there though!

The casino is quite large and has a lot of fun games (Ask for a card at the card services desk; it's free to sign up, and you can accumulate points to put towards benefits at the hotel in the future.). Know ahead of time though that no machine will allow you to insert coins of any kind, nor any bills of less than five dollars. It can be easy to gamble more than you wanted when you're not allowed to put in any less than multiples of five in cash at any given time, so watch your wallet.

As far as food goes, the Taj Mahal isn't renowned for its food, and I'm not going to challenge negative reviews of their food either. However, the breakfast buffet is still a decent deal; it's average-quality food for a reasonable price (by Atlantic City standards -- I think somewhere around $15 per person), and the selection is rather large -- omelettes made to your liking, oatmeal, gritz, scrambled eggs, cold cereals, bananas foster, waffles, lox and bagels, pastries, fresh fruit, pancakes, toast, and probably a lot more that I forgot to mention. Just because the Taj Mahal's own food doesn't get good reviews typically doesn't mean that there is nothing good to eat there; there are a few franchises in the food court, such as Sbarro and Starbucks. There's also a fantastic place for frozen yogurt, but, unfortunately, I forgot its name (It's close to Sbarro.).

If you're hoping for a fantastic dining experience in Atlantic City though, PLEASE do yourself a favor, and don't pass up the chance to eat at Harrah's dinner buffet. (Ironically, it was recommended to us by a staff member at the Borgata, where they have their own dinner buffet to be promoting!) Harrah's dinner buffet is well worth its $30 price, especially if you're a fan of crab legs. The buffet is enormous with salads, seafood, Chinese, sushi, Italian, and Southern US selections. I particularly enjoyed the crab legs and crab cakes, the fried rice, and the fried plantains. The dessert buffet there has everything from ice cream, chocolate-dipped cannoli, cheesecake, pies and brownies, even to sugar-free options! (If you've tried the Harrah's buffet in Las Vegas, trust me that you will find Harrahs' Atlantic City buffet surpasses that one by far.)

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Taj Mahal. Every staff member I encountered there was more than friendly and helpful, and everything (down to the public restrooms on the first floor) was spotless. I have only minor complaints about the decor (In some areas, it was sort of tacky.) and the hotel's food. Again though, tacky decor in a hallway never hurt anyone, and the Taj Mahal isn't Atlantic City's only place to eat, so don't be afraid to stay there! Every other aspect of my stay at the Taj Mahal was fantastic!

The Trump Taj Mahal was gorgeous. The check in was really slow, but the day was also really busy. The room was big and nicely decorated. The room service was excellent. We called to use a microwave and one was delivered to our door in less than 30 minutes while they found one. The roomservice attendants were so nice and really tidied up our room. They only fault was that on day 2 of our visit they decided to do construction and renovations on the casino floor, so the place was busy with workers and dusty and cluttered. The casino is HUGE and the smokers/non-smokers are divided, so that was good for me (asthma). My husband didn't like the poker rooms as we are from Canada and poker rooms here are different. But overall our stay was really nice. 4/5 stars.

The Trump Taj Mahal was not worth the money I paid! I stayed one night and it was horrendous.

Upon checking into my room I went to shower and someone's pubic hair was all over the shower. Then the woman who came to clean it up missed half of it; plus she seemed like it was a huge bother to fix her mistake!

Extra towels took seven hours to receive.

The showerhead came off in my hand while i was showering plus a piece of metal was missing from the drain which was very sharp.

Trying to talk to management was like pulling teeth. It took over an hour to get a manager to come speak to me.

As part of our 20th wedding anniversary celebration my wife and I booked a "Grand Suite" at the Trump Taj Mahal on April 11th. Note that there are different types of suites at the Taj. There are about 25 "Maharajah" (sometimes call "Rajah") suites, as well as about 125 Grand Suites, all of which have been recently refurbished. Some of the Grand Suites have jacuzzi tubs, some do not. The Rajah suites feature a huge floor-to ceiling, wall to wall mirror in the main living room and a fireplace, and a marble jacuzzi tub in the bedroom, but no full-length wall mirrors in the bedroom. All the Grand Suites feature mirrored floor-to-ceiling closet doors in the bedroom. We wanted to have something special, but for price considerations elected to go with a Grand Suite (about $420 including tax per night) rather than a Rajah, which goes for about $550 (including tax) and requires special permission from management. Note that if you're not a high roller you can only book a suite Monday thru Thursday night. Friday thru Sunday the suites are reserved for high rollers exclusively. As it turns out, we ended up going on a Wednesday because our originally desired date, Thursday the 12th, was completely booked. I mention this to let readers know that, even in the semi-off season, the suites are a bit hard to reserve. When we entered our suite (room #3233) we were impressed. All the Grand Suites seem to be located on the corners of the building, well away from the elevators and noise. Our suite (as advertised) was BIG--1200 square feet encompassing a big foyer, a hall bathroom, a dining area, a living room area, a dining area, a bedroom with jacuzzi, and a main bathroom. As can be seen from the attached pictures, the living and dining rooms were clean, tastefully decorated, and spacious. We especially liked a balcony that overlooked the boardwalk and Atlantic Ocean. As can also be seen from the photos, the bedroom was sumptious, featuring a mirrored ceiling, two mirrors on either side of the bed, the aforementioned full-length mirrored closet doors next to the bed, a very comfortable king bed, and a jacuzzi. I was a bit disappointed in the jacuzzi because it was fiberglass rather than marble and did not feature wall mirrors (apparently, the tubs in the Rajah suites are made of marble and are surrounded by mirrors), but it still was quite nice. The adjoining bathroom was marble lined and quite luxurious. Overall, it was quite a love nest. The mirrors in particular provide for a romantic, sensual décor. In terms of service we had NO problems at check-in, which took perhaps 10 minutes including standing in line. Check-out is also no problem; you can simply fill out a form on an envelope, stick your room card in the envelope, and insert the envelope in a box in the lobby. The staff was also courteous and respectful. As others have noted, the hotel buffets are mediocre at best, and in mid-week they close obscenely early—7:00 PM! We kind of wished we’d gone to a noodle place called “The Rim” (which is open after 7:00 PM) instead. The casino and other public portions of the hotel have been modernized and to me seemed well in character with the place—overdone but nice. We had no luck with the slots but still had fun. Because of price and distance we can’t visit the Taj more than about once a year for a romantic get-away, but wouldn’t hesitate to book a Grand Suite again if time and money permits. Pricey to be sure, but there are worse deals out there (f’rinstance, the overwrought, ridiculously expensive, and tacky Pocono resorts). If you’re looking for a luxurious place for a romantic get-away with a spectacular view of the Atlantic, the Suites at the Taj may be exactly what you’re looking for.