Harrah’s Cherokee Lodging and Dining Options

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort has a 21-story hotel with over 1,800 rooms available, plus an array of casual and fine dining options to cater to their guests.  Their much-awaited expansion has wrapped up with a ton of new rooms in the Cherokee Tower, and new restaurants from Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay.  Read on below for more info.

Looking for more info on the casino and want to skip straight to the action?  Read our review of the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino here.

If you’re looking for more options, but you still don’t want to trek all the way to Vegas to try your luck, check out all the other casinos in NC and just across the border.

What Are Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Rooms Like?

The rooms are generally quite nice, with luxury finishes and bedding for discerning guests.

You’ve got your standard options like 1 king bed or 2 queen-sized beds for the rooms.  Furnishings include a couch and seating area, plus a refrigerator for the food and drinks you want to bring along with you.  The room costs vary a great deal.  If you’re staying during the week, you can expect to pay a room rate of $90 – $150 a night.  If you’re looking to enjoy the room over a weekend night, it’ll cost you a pretty penny.  Rooms are in high demand, commanding rates upwards of $400 – $500 per night.

If you’re a Caesars Rewards member, and you’ve got a history of gaming at the casino, you can be offered discounted or even free rooms, so that’s definitely worth a look.  Check out the Caesars Rewards website here to sign up.

Visit the Harrah’s Cherokee website here to look for room availability and pricing.

How Many Restaurants Are There At Harrah’s Cherokee?

Whether you’re looking for a quick meal to fill you up and get you back to gaming, or a fine dining experience, Harrah’s Cherokee has you covered.  Here’s the lineup by category:

• Quick Eats Inside the Casino – You must be 21 to dine here, since it’s inside the casino.  Expect most meals to be $8 – $10 here.
  • Pizzeria Uno Express – Pizzas, pastas and calzones on the go.
  • Noodle Bar – casual Asian cuisine and wok plates.
  • Johnny Rockets – burgers, fries, milkshakes and breakfast sandwiches.
  • Dunkin’ Donuts – coffee, donuts and other baked goods.
  • Earl of Sandwich – sandwiches.  Enough said.
• More Casual Dining
  • Lobby Cafe – a Starbucks next to the main lobby and check-in area with all the caffeinated options you need, plus an assortment of baked goods and breakfast sandwiches.  Good for a quick meal at check-in or check-out, or if you just want a little pick me up.
  • Selu Garden Cafe – A Southern style cafe serving breakfast and lunch daily, plus dinner on the weekends.  Breakfast items are served all day, as are an array of sandwiches, salads, soups, and southern entrees.  Prices range from $12 – $20 for meals, depending on what you get.  And the breakfast buffet served until 11 AM is a great way to fuel up for the day!  The buffet is $20, but it’s got a decent variety and features an omelette bar.  If you don’t get two meals worth of food when you hit the buffet, you’re not doing it right.
  • ESports Zone – located inside the entertainment complex with bowling and video games, you can get your standard bar food here, like wings, pizza and burgers.  A selection of local craft beers is also available, but this is in a family friendly area outside the casino floor.
• Upscale Dining
  • Ruth’s Chris Steak House – delicious (and expensive) steaks and other options available on the casino floor.  Entrees are served a la carte, with sides coming in large portions and intended to share.  If you’ve got some winnings in your pocket, this isn’t a bad place to spend it, but in our experience, the service can be slow, even by upscale dining standards.  Grab an appetizer or eat a snack before you go, because you may wait longer than you think for your meal!  Expect your meal to cost at least $70 per person, not counting alcohol purchases.  Unlike most of the other restaurants, you can’t earn Caesars Rewards Credits when you dine here.  Sorry!
  • BRIO Tuscan Grille – Italian cuisine with an array of pastas, meat and seafood entrees available.  It’s up on the second floor, close to Wicked Weed Brewpub and the Event Center where concerts are held. Actually, the steaks here are pretty good, if you aren’t in the mood for Ruth’s Chris.  It gets pretty busy at BRIO really at all hours of the day.  Either make a reservation, or you may luck out at getting a chair or two up at the bar.  We’ve only had to wait 20 minutes or so even at peak times for a bar spot, and you can order off the menu.  Entree prices are in the $25 – $35 range, so it’s a little easier on the wallet than Ruth’s Chris.  Note that, like Ruth’s Chris, Brio doesn’t allow you to earn Caesars Rewards Credits on your purchases.

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  • Wicked Weed Brewpub – new to Harrah’s Cherokee in April 2021, the famed Asheville brewery has taken its talents to the resort with a great selection of their beers paired with a menu of Southern styled appetizers and entrees.  We ate here on a recent visit in June, and while the menu was small (only about a page), both our meals were great.  Prices are about on par with BRIO in the $20 – $35 range.  The beers are priced around $8 for a 16 oz (8 oz pours also available) on most varieties, but the high alcohol stuff will cost more.

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What Did The Harrah’s Cherokee Tower Expansion Add?

In 2022 Harrah’s Cherokee completed an ambitious expansion with a price tag of around $250 million.  The new space has 725 hotel rooms, 83,000 square feet of space for conventions and meetings, a parking garage, and new shopping and dining options.

We got to stay in one of the new rooms in March 2022, and it did not disappoint.  The rooms are quite nice, with upscale furnishings, mini fridge to store your goodies, plenty of dressers and all the amenities you’d expect for a high end resort.

There’s plenty of new restaurants and shops to visit. We visited Guy Fieri’s Cherokee Kitchen and Bar and enjoyed it!  The menu features a lot of upscale bar food type dishes, like the Bacon Mac-N-Cheese Burger or the Signature Bourbon Brown Sugar BBQ Wings.  You can view the full menu or make a reservation here.  Get a peek at the menu:

We visited the restaurant right when it opened at 4 PM.  It gets busy, quick.  We recommend making a reservation or putting your name in as soon as possible.  Then, go enjoy the atmosphere in the new Cherokee Tower lobby for a bit!  There’s a nice bar and a DJ shows up for the evenings on most nights.

Also, the bar does serve a limited version of the Guy Fieri’s Cherokee Kitchen menu, if you’re in a hurry to do some gaming and can’t wait for a table.  It’ll do the job in a pinch.

Gordon Ramsay Market Takes Over The Old Buffet Space

It was one of the last pieces of the expansion to get done, but it’s finally done. Say goodbye to the buffet, and hello to Gordon Ramsay’s Market, which opened in 2022. The world-renowned chef has lent his name to a grab-and-go concept and we loved it. This is a great spot to get a quick, yet high quality meal for $15 – $20 and get back to the action. We’ve got all the details here.