To start off, I did not stay at the MontBleu, I stayed at Harvey's but spent most of my time here.

My brother and I dined at Cafe del Soul on December 5th and each had their $9.99 1lb steak dinner that included a baked potato and steamed veggies. I really liked the meal. For $10 you cannot go wrong. The steak was cooked the way I liked it and although it was tough in an area or two, 90% was pleasing. The baked potato was big and the veggies were perfectly cooked and seasoned. For dessert we had the deep fried snickers which was deep fried to perfection and covered in vanilla ice cream and whipped cream..... it was awesome. Note: You must have a players card and swipe it at the kiosk at the restaurant to get your steak. The waitress told us it was a way to track their steaks or something of that nature.

Besides winning/losing on slots, my brother and I hung out a lot at the one bar, The Zone Sports bar. Where else are you going to find shots of chilled Patron for $2??? NO WHERE! Also enjoyed the $2 Coronas. On certain nights they have mini buckets of wings(12) and pitchers of ShockTop or Bud Light for $6.....sick deal.

Next to the bar are two Sigma Derby machines. Sigma Derby is an electro-mechanical horse race used for gambling. Players can buy in with quarters and place bets on the five horses; a quinella of two horses in any order pays out according to the odds. The house has roughly a 10-20% advantage, depending on the machine. The only big win I had is when I bet 25 cents on a horse combo that was 77-1 and I won 77 quarters. The lowest odds are 2-1 and highest 200-1.

The best part about this game besides the cheesiness is of course free drinks....and good free drinks. People around us were drinking Makers Mark, IPA's and I helped myself to a Sierra Nevada and Vodka/RedBull. These machines were crowded when we were there and cocktail waitress was around every 15-20 mins.

We played a 4pm poker tourney here for $45 which mostly consisted of drunk people in the same clothes for 36+ hours....they gameplay was horrible and I wanted to blow my head off...although I cannot blame the casino for this. Only 10 people showed to play and I wish I had my $45 back.

All in all I will def. return to this otherwise cheap food/booze casino. Had no problems, hit a 4 of a kind and straight flush on poker, and had a great buzz going while doing it.

Great location, good value. Bed was uncomfortable. Biggest problem, the whole hotel reeked of tobacco smoke. I have asthma & sinus trouble, so I suffered the entire trip. You have to walk thru casino to get anywhere & the smoke is terrible there. Went into Harrahs where smoking is also allowed however smoke wasn't as bad. They must have a much better ventilation system. With that being said rooms were bib, clean and overall good value.

As I hadn't been to the South Shore of Lake Tahoe in a while I thought I would take my wife and spend a week. We had been to both Harrah's and Harvey's, pretty much stock and standard casino hotels whose only plus is a fantastic view of Lake Tahoe, so we thought we'd try the newly remodeled MontBleu. All I can say is "not impressed." We stayed in a suite whose jacuzzi jets didn't work, the safe was broken and numerous lights in the room were burnt out. Hotel staff were informed and repaired everything but the jets but never offered any compensation for the inconvenience or even to move us to another room. Won't be going back anytime soon.

We just returned from a pre-Thanksgiving ski trip at South Lake Tahoe (the advanced slopes at Heavenly were open). Montbleu is perfect if you're on a budget but want a lovely, spacious room. The quality is a great value for the rate. I've read reviews in which people refer to 70's decor, but the only thing that appeared dated to me about the room itself was the popcorn ceiling.

We were in a premium room (originally reserved a spa room -- more about that later).The queen-sized beds were extremely comfortable with thick, soft bedding.

The bathroom, very large with marble-like flooring, is thoughtfully designed to provide for plenty of space for four people to get ready in the morning. The toilet is separated by a door from the rest of the bathroom; a large area with two sinks and a shower, so the facility can be used simultaneously for different purposes. Additionally, a large jacuzzi tub is located entirely outside the bathroom, in the bedroom area, so two people can bathe at the same time as two others are at the sinks brushing their teeth.

In reality, of course, since our group consisted of me, my husband, daughter, and mother, the only one comfortable bathing out in the open in the jacuzzi tub was my young daughter -- but she really enjoyed it! She turned on the jets and watched the Disney channel - quite luxurious for a child!

The indoor pool area ("The Grotto") is really nice; the pool and hot tub are very large and kept at a good temperature. We all enjoyed it.

I've read reviews in which people complain about the buffet at the Montbleu, but really, if you use the $3.00 coupons in the local Entertainment paper, dinner is $10.00 a person, and I don't know where else you can get all the salad, turkey, prime rib, drinks and dessert you can eat for that price.

The only reason I didn't rate this hotel higher is due to the reason we wound up in the premium room. First I should say that the hotel staff responded promptly to my complaints about the original Spa rooms we were placed in, which we very much appreciated, and we enjoyed our stay at Montbleu.

However, we encountered issues with cleanliness at this hotel which might bother others more than it did us. To avoid being too graphic, I'll just say the first room we were put in had a disturbing issue in the bathroom, and the second, which was supposed to be non-smoking, did smell strongly of smoke. However, this could have been due to smoke wafting up from the casino area since the room was on a lower floor.

Montbleu then gave us an upgrade to the premium room, which smelled fine and had a nicer view. However, something we found rather comical even in this premium room but others might not is that apparently the "Hamburgler" had occupied the room before us. We kept finding hamburger wrappers at odd times stashed in various locations in the room. They were under the bed, behind the chairs, between the bed and the wall, and probably in other locations I'm not aware of.

We will stay at Montbleu again, but next time I'll just reserve a premium room at the outset -- still a great value. With the lower-priced rooms, you do get what you pay for.