Rick E.

This has got to be one of the saddest casinos ever. I've never been at a casino where the sense of desperation among the gamblers was more palpable. Does anyone really ever think twice when they see a warning on the wall about problem gambling and a number for addicts to call for resources? Apparently not at Kla-Mo-Ya! Truth be told, I'm not a gambler myself, but I'm not here to judge anyone for their gambling problem. I have some beloved family members who have loved to gamble too much. And I have my own problems...such as too keen an affinity for buffets! (Is 2012 gonna be the year I make any progress toward getting back to my old "playing weight"?) So, yeah...My buffet addiction is what brought me to Kla-Mo-Ya. The first time was in April 2002. The buffet was the worst I'd seen since the Wendy's "Superbar" of the late 80s/early 90s. The choices were paltry, and the quality, freshness, and appearance of the food was an immediate turn-off. Several leaves of lettuce in the strictly-iceberg salad bowl were wilty, white, yellow, or even brown. Nearly everything looked like it had been sitting for far too long. As hungry as we were, my friend and I turned back. Thankfully, the hostess let us have a look before we agreed to pay, so we didn't hafta fuss over a refund. That really was the only positive we could take from the experience. Incredibly, the worst turn-off was the aggressiveness of the obviously drunk panhandler we passed. (Have you ever happened upon someone so drunk, they emitted a fog that made your eyes sting? It was like sticking your face near a nebulizer that had percolated rubbing alcohol!) She strategically blocked my path as I attempted to enter to ask me for--or was it more like down right demanding?--money to take back to the slots. "THAT MACHINE TOOK ALL MY MONEY!" she yelled in a barrage of booze breath. "GIMME SOMETHING, MAN!" An employee came close to calm her down. On the way back, she blocked me again and tried to tug at my heartstrings, plaintively beseeching me--"I don't have any other hope"--as tears welled up in her eyes. There's no way to win in that situation. It's just depressing. Years later, I'd noticed new developments including the truck stop at the entrance to the casino and a new facade, so I wondered if maybe Kla-Mo-Ya had straightened itself out. Things certainly did look better from the road, but upon entering the casino, I found the same kinda bleakness I'd experienced during my first visit. The buffet was entirely outta commission, apparently due to health violations. And this time, there was more than one down-&-out soul begging for money in the parking lot and near the slots. I google'd Kla-Mo-Ya casino to see if I could find the health report (I sometimes derive a sick sense of pleasure in reading these kindsa reports! (does that make me a terrible person?)) and unwittingly found two different community message board threads where the casino was getting blasted unanimously for mismanagement and accused of nepotism. It does seem like this place needs a shake-up because I've only randomly visited twice nearly a decade apart and left utterly disgusted. It certainly does seem like the place is plagued with pretty severe mismanagement. The place is a scattery mess inside. Everyone seems sad. The least of all its problems is me leaving hungry. For any community advocate who espouses the wrongs of casino proliferation (I can drive to eight different ones within an hour of me), Kla-Mo-Ya seems the obvious poster-child.