For a long time this was the king of the casinos in Atlantic City -- it was the largest and most expensive. But since the Borgata, and the other casinos like Tropicana and Harrahs trying to out-Borgata the Borgata the Taj Mahal has gone by the wayside a little bit. This is one of three casinos owned by Trump in Atlantic City and the only one to have a poker room.

The casino floor is pretty much as you'd expect with the variety of table games, a big asian area, a decent sized high-roller area and the normal amount of slots and video poker spread all over the large casino floor. The poker room is large (70+ tables) and hosts one of the widest varieties of games throughout the city along with hosting two major tournaments (the Trump Classic and the US Poker Championships) each year, along with a variety of daily tournaments of varying games and buy-ins. The casino caters to a large asian population and the place is a zoo on the weekends. They also have a popular nightclub, Casbah, that is kicking on the weekends.

They have three high-roller clubs (Bengal, President, and Maharaja) and you need varying levels of play to get into them. The bottom rung of the high-roller ladder (Bengal) is obtainable by getting a set number of points on your players card over a 6 month period. This can be tracked through the machines on the floor where you can print comps. The players card is only good at this property.

Restaurants - wow, this is a tough one. They have quite a few. There are a few that are not casino owned; Hard Rock Cafe (with merchandise shop), Stage Deli, and Sbarros. Their own restaurants are the Bengal Cafe (24 hrs) and the Sultan Buffet along with Marc Anthony's (great) and the Safari Steakhouse (great). They also have an Indian restaurant and a great new Pacific Rim Noodle Bar. In years past, I used the work "vile" in conjunction with the buffet -- but they have gotten the message and done a lot to fix the problem. Its now moved up to "passable" -- not great, passable. The Bengal Cafe has a mini-buffet that is a little substandard. There is also a super-secret poker room snack bar on the sixth floor only accessible from the poker room, but you didn't hear that from me.

The hotel is starting to show its age. It was only in the past year that they changed over from keys to cards. But its comfortable and usually available inexpensively on the weekdays -- impossible to get on the weekends. Indoor walkways to Resorts International and Showboat.

Parking is fairly standard in AC. $5 for self or valet with a transfer to another casino. Valet parking is usually pretty good, and self parking is easy as well, leaving you off on the second floor near some of the shops.