Watch this video BEFORE staying at Hard Rock Bristol in Virginia

I just got done with my one night stay here at Hard Rock Bristol. Let's go in and check it out. Also, we're trying to hit 60,000 subscribers this year. So please do me a favor, hit that subscribe button. Thanks guys. All right, so let me tell you a little bit about this place before we get into it. Now, Hard Rock Bristol did open in November of 2024 in their permanent location with the hotel. But before that, they were a temporary casino here and it was just called the Bristol Casino. Now that opened up in July of 2022. And then before that, it was just a mall. That's right, this was the Bristol Mall. And then it started dying. And then in 2020, they passed a law here in Virginia to convert it into a casino. I may be wrong here, but I think this is the only casino that has been turned into a casino from an abandoned mall. Now the resort here is around 620,000 square feet. It has roughly 1,500 slot machines, around 50 tables. When I was walking around, I saw the table minimums. I saw $10 blackjack. I saw $25 double down madness, $15 roulette, and I believe five or $10 craps. Now I am staying here on a Tuesday to Wednesday. So those prices might change on the weekend. Bristol, Virginia is located right on the Tennessee line of Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee. I can literally see the Tennessee side from my room. Bristol is known as the birthplace of country music. So a lot of the memorabilia around here is themed to that, but there's tons of memorabilia here. So it's very cool to see if you're a hard rock person who stays at hard rocks everywhere, you know this place is packed with memorabilia. As you can see, we are sitting in the room. So let's go ahead and do the room tour from yesterday. All right, guys, let's get started with the room tour here in this king size room. We're on the fourth floor. Let's head to the front door and start from there. All right, right here at the front door, you can see we're right here and we are right next to the elevators right across from them. That's a great location for me. On the door, you do have double locks. You have a lock down here and then the lock right there. Now, when you come in, you do have the bathroom to the right, we'll be right back to that. And then after that, you do have this full length mirror that is your closet. You do have an extra blanket up there for the winters here. Do have a lot of hangers and some plush hangers as well. And then your two robes, which is very nice. And then you even get a steamer here, very cool. Lots of room for suitcases if you're planning to stay a while. After that, you do have this little nook area where your coffee machine is and drinks. Up here, you do have your ice machine. Down here, you do have your Lavazza coffee, free of charge with pods to go with it. Glassware, ceramicware, two free waters. And then down here, you have a refrigerator. Nice and cold. And inside, we got some Ollipops, which is the sponsor of today's video. Now, over here, you do have the king size bed. And if you're sitting on this side, you can enjoy a crisp apple Ollipop. And if you were on this side of the bed, you could enjoy a raspberry sherbet Ollipop. Let me go ahead and show you the rest of the bed. Now, the bed here is very detailed. If you can see in the sheets, there's guitars all through the sheets. The pillows feel firm and soft. I think you get one of each on each side. And the nice little detail here on this pillow, you have the guitar. Very nice. Overall, good bed, very comfortable. Now, over on this side of the bed, you do have your end table. Looks like you have two regular plugs, and then you have a USB-C and a regular USB, as well as in this drawer, you do have your safe. Ooh, that's heavy. And then under that, you do have a little cubby area. And on the other side of the table, you do have another end table here, a little cubby area, your phone, a clock here that does have a USB and a USB-C, as well as your two plugs, USB-C and regular USB, and then all your lighting controls. And then they do give you a notepad that you can use for writing down notes. On the back wall, you do have this really nice wallpaper. And then as we come back to the front of the room, you have this little area with a little chair ottoman. Right now, I have my backpack on top of this little table. And then you have this welcome area right under the TV. Very big TV, looks like a 60-inch TV. And then you have your two deep, deep, deep drawers. And then over on this side, you have your table, and you have a chair, as well as the window outside. Now, if I was sitting at this table right here, and I was working on my laptop, I could enjoy a Cherry Cola Ollipop, or if I was sitting in this chair, I could also relax and have a Cherry Cola Ollipop. Now, I've been drinking Ollipop for a while, and that's because it's not just soda. It's actually good for you. It's a prebiotic soda, so it's got fiber and plant-based ingredients that support gut health. And it tastes like the same sodas you grew up on, just with less sugar. It's perfect for when you're sitting on the bed, or sitting on a chair, or writing down your thoughts and feelings at a table. Honestly, it's my go-to, no matter where I'm traveling. If you wanna try Ollipop for yourself, grab yours by using the link down in my description or the pinned comment. Right now, they're doing 25% off, but if you're watching this in the future, you can use my code SODALOVE for 15% off your next purchase. Thank you to Ollipop for sponsoring this video. Now, let's get back to the room tour. Now, this table over here is pretty wide. You do have a lamp, as well as another mirror. The seat is a stationary seat. No wheels or anything, but very nice maroon-purple color. Then on this side, you do have your table, and then your chair, which does swivel. And then you have the view out of the fourth floor. We are staring at the front of the building. So there's the parking lot where everyone parks. There is free parking here, so you don't need to worry about that. And if you're staying here, you get free valet. All right, now let's go check out the bathroom. This is very well done. You do have a barn-style door with frosted glass. Dual sinks here. Gold and blue accents everywhere. Very nice in here. You do get glass in here, no paper cups. And then you do get one outlet here, plus another outlet if you wanna unplug this. Over on this side, closest to the door out, you have your toilet. And then on this side, you have your shower. Very well done. You can turn on the shower on this side so you don't get wet. Two shower heads. And then you have their body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. Now that's gonna be the room tour for you guys. Let's head downstairs and check out some of the food. So let's talk about when I got here on property. I got here on property around 3.30. Check-in time is 4 p.m. I did check in around 3.50, and they did let me check in early. I got a basic king room here. And the price for this room was $211 after taxes and resort fees. The resort fees, I think, are $24. And then they do hold a $100 incidental charge for up to three nights. So it's $300, and then that's the max. So if you stay a week, it's $300 for incidentals. The room here was great. I slept wonderful. It's a firm-ish bed, but then the pillows are like a soft, firm, way more comfortable than Caesar's beds. I will say that. The room was spotless. It was so clean, so new. Everything looks great in this room. The bathroom was great. No stray hairs anywhere. Shower pressure was great. Overall, the stay in this room was a 10 out of 10. There's nothing I can complain about about this room. The one thing I will note is a lot of people always complain that there's no microwaves in rooms. So I will say there is no microwave in this room, but you do get a personal fridge. You do get a coffee machine, and you do get coffee pods. The Lavazza coffee machine is great. Had a cup of coffee this morning. It was good before I headed down to the Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast, but I'll get onto that later. But overall, this room, 10 out of 10. You will not be disappointed in this room, and this is just the basic room. They do have, I believe, 50 suites here, and I think those range from $300 to $400 a night. If this video gets like 50,000 likes, I'll book a suite next time. When I checked in, everybody was super nice, super informative. The customer service at the front desk was 10 out of 10, and the elevators here are super quick. Now, after I checked in, I did go downstairs and have dinner. I went to Yuzu, I believe is how you pronounce it. It was the Asian restaurant here. I got the Hong Kong chow fun noodles, I believe. It's the first time I ever had this dish. It was amazing, good quality beef, really big portion size. It was $17, way, way, way worth it. I saw them cooking it right in front of me in a wok from scratch, so it's not some prepackaged microwave meal or anything like that. It was very good quality. The service there was great. Honestly, everything there was a 10 out of 10 once again. Hard Rock is really doing it big here. Now, other restaurants that they have here on property, on the top floor, they do have a marketplace food hall area with three places to eat at. They have Bricked Italian Kitchen, which is a pizza place. From what I could see, people were enjoying it. Prices looked pretty good as well. They have Fish and Chicken Co, which was not open. They're not open on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I didn't get to try that place out, but prices again looked great. And then the third place that they have is Street Tacos. Tacos were around $4. Once again, not bad prices. Overall, everything looked good. And then on the other side of that, they did have a bar area that was not open on Mondays and Tuesdays called Studio 621. All the theming and everything looked good. The food hall area looked great as well. Pretty small, but it'll get the job done. Now, from the food hall, you can go downstairs. There is a non-smoking casino area. I'll get back to that later. But downstairs, you have a place called Constant Grind. Now, upstairs, they do have a Constant Grind Express, but that is only open until 1 p.m. every day. The one downstairs is 24-7. You can get pastries and things as well as coffee. And then for their sit-down places, you have the UU Noodle Bar, which I ate at. You have the Hard Rock Cafe, which I did eat at, but we'll get to that later. And then you have their Steakhouse, which is Council Oak Steak and Seafood. That is not open on Mondays and Tuesdays, or I would've tried that. Once again, if this gets like 50,000 likes, I'll come back, get a suite, and get a steak there. I think this place has really good food options. You are in kind of the middle of the town of Bristol. So next door, you do have a Wendy's and a Kroger as a grocery store. And there's plenty of other restaurants all scattered around here within a five or 10-minute radius. So you're not gonna go hungry. You're gonna find something if you don't wanna eat here on property. So after I ate dinner, I went down to the pool area. They do have a heated pool. The pool and the gym is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. So yes, you can go late night swimming. It is a indoor-outdoor pool that is heated, and they do have a jacuzzi as well that can sit probably 10 to 12 people. There's a lot of loungers and places to sit. There was nothing for an upcharge other than the cabanas. I did not check to see how much the cabanas were. I really don't see a point in getting a cabana here, especially if they're like $100 or $200. It's probably not worth it, unless you're somebody who wants to sit at the pool all day long. But they have an indoor side that is a seat with very comfortable seating, and then they have the outdoor with outdoor seating as well. Lots of umbrellas for free. So overall, the pool was great. Now let's get to the gaming. I did gamble a little bit last night. They have an upstairs, which is the main area, and that is all smoking. Now I will say, I did not really smell smoke unless somebody was directly smoking next to me, which I just got up and walked away. The ventilation system here is very, very good. If you've ever been to Caesars, Virginia, I don't think their ventilation system's that good, and you can really smell smoke, and they don't have a smoke-free section. Here, you have to go out of the casino floor into the food hall area and go downstairs, and past the Constant Grind coffee shop is a downstairs smoke-free casino section. Now this is pretty small, but it does get the job done. I mostly gambled down there. And then next to the downstairs non-smoking room is the poker hall. They do have poker every single day here, and they do post the poker tournament schedule online. So for all you poker people, I know you guys complain that Caesars, Virginia does not have poker. Hard Rock, Bristol does. They had a lot of brand new games, no old games in sight, but a lot of the brand new games that have been coming out in the past two months, three months. So you do have a good variety of games here. The casino floor was like a square, so you won't get lost here on the casino floor. It's kind of broken up into four quadrants with the car in the middle of the casino floor. They do have a high-limit tables room and a high-limit slot room as well. Overall, I thought the gaming was good. The servers were coming around multiple times. I don't drink, so I didn't order any drinks, but I will note that here in Virginia, they do not offer free drinks. The beers were around $8. The cocktails were around 15. So just to keep that note in your head. Also, there was no soda fountain machines anywhere. I'm not sure if sodas were free, but they did have bottled water that they were walking around with. I would say I was downstairs for about an hour and I had a server come up to me probably five or six times to make sure that I needed anything or if I wanted anything. So service is a plus here. Gotta give Hard Rock that. After that, I came back to the room, went to bed, had a good night's sleep. The TV here, you can cast from your phone, so that's a great plus for me, but they do have a lot of channels here if you're interested in watching TV. Now, once I woke up, I did go downstairs and I ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and I got the Big Ole Pancake Breakfast, which was a big ole pancake. I got it with fresh berries on the inside. And then it does come with two pieces of bacon or sausage and then two eggs cooked however you like. This was so good. And it was $11.95 and then a dollar extra for the berries. So it came out to like $12.95. And then I got coffee as well. My entire breakfast with tip came out to $24. I tipped $6 on it. Service, once again, was great. Very attentive, refilling my drinks. Inside of the Hard Rock Cafe, they do have a stage where they do live music. I'm guessing it's on the weekends. I don't think it's every night like they do in Atlantic City if you are familiar with that property. But overall, good theming, memorabilia everywhere, fast service. I think it took about six minutes to get my food and my server was great. After breakfast, I did go to the gym. The gym here is very small, but there's only 300 rooms here. So it fits the purpose and the gym was very nice. There was only one other person in there with me. You have to go through the pool area to get to the gym, but it does the job, no complaints there. So overall, my stay here was pretty great. This is my first time ever staying at a hard rock property. I have gambled at other hard rock properties like in Biloxi and in Atlantic City. I personally used to work for hard rock down in Florida around 15 years ago. So I know the service level is supposed to be good. First service, I'm gonna give this place a 10 out of 10. There was not a second that I needed something. And if I did need something, somebody was there to ask me, how can they help me get something? Or they gave me all the information I needed. They're very upfront about making sure that you get your points on your player's card. They ask for your player's card upfront. Whereas like Caesars and MGM, I don't really get that. They don't ever ask for a player's card. I always have to remind them to scan it. So service here, 10 out of 10. Everyone was so nice. And overall, a great, great crew here at Hard Rock Bristol. The room, once again, very comfortable. Gonna give that a 10 out of 10. The only con I can really give this place is that you have to go through security to get onto the casino floor. That's totally fine. That's pretty normal outside of Vegas and Atlantic City. But to go downstairs to the non-smoking casino, you have to go out of security, down the stairs, and then through security again. And yes, they do scan your ID, even if you are older. So that's really gonna be the only con. I wish there was a way to get downstairs to the non-smoking area without going out of security, back into security, and out of security again, and back into security. That's gonna be my only con of this place. So my overall score for this place is gonna be like, I'm gonna give this place a 9.5. For it being a regional casino, I just felt like there was nothing that they did wrong here. Everything was super clean. Everyone was super nice. The food was good. The casino gaming selection was good. I do wish they had older games, but that's just my preference. But overall, this place was just an amazing stay. And if you're in the area, I would say within a three-hour drive from here, I would definitely come check it out. There is an airport here in Bristol called the Tri-City Airport. A lot of major airlines do fly out of there. It's about 20 minutes away from the casino. You are three hours west of Caesars, Virginia, and about three hours northwest of Harrah's, Cherokee. So I do highly recommend coming to this place if you are in the area or if you are a hard rock fan who loves staying at hard rock properties. Anyways, guys, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. I put out videos every two weeks reviewing different places, reviewing different resorts and casinos around all of America. So thank you guys for watching and I'll see you on the next one.