Casino Road Trip - Wind Creek Bethlehem
Wind Creek Bethlehem was the last “Casino Road Trip” we took before COVID-19 shut down the gaming industry for many months. But the recent opening of a new hotel tower merited another visit.
First impressions: There is no other comparable casino site in the world as the 1,800-acre complex on which Wind Creek sits for decades housed what was the Bethlehem Steel works. At its peak in 1943, the company employed more than 31,000 people and provided steel for everything from bridges and skyscrapers to World War II materiel. Most of the factory’s buildings remain, with many repurposed.
Guests entering the 13-story, 268-rooms-and-suites tower are greeted by a spectacular reception area that announces Wind Creek has taken a huge step up, luxury-wise: The space has a high-end-hotel feel accentuated by soaring rectangular columns of dark wood and copper.
Accommodations: Our modern (standard) room was an above-industry-average 400 square- feet with a panoramic view of the surrounding Lehigh Valley. It boasted a number of upscale details including a three-faced digital clock with two UBS ports and a huge flat-screen TV (possibly the largest we’ve yet encountered in a gaming-hall hotel) housed in a three-dimensional dark-wood frame. And it’s probably safe to say the bathrooms are the only ones anywhere with Bethlehem Steel building blueprints on the walls. Bottom line: The new hotel obviously represents a significant upgrade over the existing tower that has been in operation since 2009.
Let’s eat: There aren’t an overwhelming number of dining options, but you certainly can’t go hungry. The flagship operation is Chop House at Wind Creek, a sleek and sophisticated, yet welcoming, space done up in earth tones set off by maroon chairs. It checks all the beefeteria boxes in terms of food, service and ambiance. My 16-ounce New York strip (a not-unreasonably priced $48) started out as superb and laddered up with the addition of a subtle, but perfectly pitched, beet-infused horseradish.
There are multiple casual-dining options, including Urban Table, which offers burgers, wings, ribs and the like. Another outlet is Steelworks Buffet & Grill. The smorgasbord part is offered 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday and from 2 to 8 p.m., while the a la carte menu is available 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.
Also available are the Chinese outpost Chopstick, and The Market Gourmet Express, a food court offering a variety of stations (burgers, pizza, salads, etc.).
Say spaaaaaaaah: Casino-hotels tend to hide their spa facilities in windowless parts of their buildings. But the Spa at Wind Creek is unique: It’s located on the top floor, which provides guests with natural light and killer views via multiple floor-to-ceiling windows. Visitors can avail themselves of two whirlpool tubs, one set at 104 degrees and the other at 100, as well as heated porcelain lounge chairs. And my 80-minute Swedish massage was nothing short of sublime—a vacation—within-a vacation that was the perfect blend of therapeutic and relaxing.
That’s entertainment: Thanks to its affiliation with concert-promotion giant Live Nation, Wind Creek regularly books top acts in its Event Center (which has a capacity of 2,550 for seated events and 3,700 for standing-only shows). Among the upcoming dates are those of Steve Martin & Martin Short (May 18), Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (June 21) and John Legend (June 22).
Off-campus: The Lehigh Valley is filled with a variety of interesting and popular tourist attractions. The City of Bethlehem is a must for history buffs as it boasts numerous colonial-area buildings. And the town owns the holiday season (it is, after all, known as “Christmas City U.S.A.”). Outside of the city, notable destinations include the Crayola crayon factory in Easton, the C.F. Martin & Company (of guitar-making fame) complex in Nazareth and the America on Wheels automotive museum in Allentown.
