Maven Meter: Grand Emperor Casino & Hotel
(Last updated: August 23, 2023)
INTRODUCTION
The most centrally located casino in all of Macau, Grand Emperor commenced operations in 2006. Interestingly enough, Jackie Chan is said to hold a minority share in the venture.
Grand Emperor Photo Gallery
EMPEROR PALACE CASINO GAMES
Spanning 5 floors, the Emperor Palace casino offers 51 tables and 140 slots, along with some Live Gaming Baccarat.
Unfortunately, Blackjack, Three Card Baccarat, Sic Bo, Roulette and Pai Gow are no longer available.
Baccarat – Spotted a couple of $100 tables.
Slot machines – The 130 slots at Emperor Palace are all found on the 1st floor. Most machines are either 5 or 10 cents, with one solitary one armed bandit $1.
There’s also electronic versions of Roulette ($5) and Sic Bo ($30), along with Live Gaming Baccarat for just $20.
EMPEROR PALACE CASINO PROMOTIONS
The Emperor Palace casino has one program for slot players and another one for high rollers.
Slots program – Slots players have three different cards: a Red, Gold, and Black. The Red one is the introductory card, while the Gold card requires 888,000 points to attain and the Black 9,999,000. Slot points are earned on the following basis: every $100 bet results in 200 points. Most of the prizes available for redemption are smaller things like shopping coupons and hotel vouchers.
I’m not sure if the slots program is still on, but I’ll leave the info up anyway.
VIP program – Grand Emperor’s VIP program is a little stingy, not even touching 1% till you go over $10,000,000.
Without a doubt, we could be looking at the worst one in all of Macau.
In addition, I believe you can get a free room with each million that you roll.
GRAND EMPEROR HOTEL
Two gold carriages parked outside, Buckingham Palace style guards in bearskin hats with fake machine guns, and a pathway in the lobby flaunting 78 bars of pure gold.
Is this Macau or the mainland?
Needless to say, I’m not very impressed.
Rates at Grand Emperor are probably higher than they should be. With similar prices as the Sofitel and Artezyn Grand Lapa, I know where I’d rather be.
Prices are in Macau Mops and include all taxes and service charges.
GRAND EMPEROR DINING
The Grand Emperor has a trio of restaurants that each does a different kind of cuisine: Chinese, Western and Japanese. Prices across the board are all pretty decent.
Grand Emperor Court – Located on the 9th floor, Grand Emperor Court does Guangdong style meals. Appetizers run $48 to $198, while soup is $58 to $198 and vegetables $88 to $168. Pricier selections include shark’s fin and bird’s nest ($300 to $1988), Sichuan staples ($128 to $680), Cantonese favourites ($88 to $298), meat ($138 to $1200) and seafood ($68 to $380.)
At lunch dim sum takes over with most selections between $36 and $48. The same menu also features appetizers ($48 to $118), barbecue dishes ($88 to $228), cold dishes ($48 to $198), chef’s recommendations ($138 to $240), and rice and noodle favourites ($68 to $198).
Hours are from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm daily. On Sundays it opens an hour earlier at 10:00 am.
The Royal Kitchen – Royal Kitchen is also located on the 9th floor, across the hallway from Grand Emperor Court.
They offer a daily breakfast buffet for $118, while dinner buffets only run from Fridays to Sundays for $328 (adults) and $228 (children).
On weekdays, an executive set lunch special runs from $98 to $168, which is composed of one main along with access to a soup, salad and sushi bar. On weekends, it’s a full lunch buffet that costs $198 for adults and $178 for children.
Hours daily are from 7:00 am to 10:30 am, 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm on weekends.
Royal Robatayaki – Located in the lobby, Grand Emperor’s Japanese restaurant is pretty reasonably priced too. The small menu is composed of appetizers ($48 to $128), sashimi ($88 to $888), sushi ($38 to $150), teppanyaki ($58 to $158) and rice and soup ($68 to $138).
At lunch it seems they run a small semi buffet for $118 to $288.
Hours daily are from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm.
GRAND EMPEROR SPA
The Royal Thai Spa – The Royal Thai Spa is completely legit and offers a good assortment of massage and beauty treatments. A little cheaper than most hotel spas, 1 hour massage only costs between $480 and $900, while 1.5 to 2 hour varieties top out at $1250. Facial treatments run $950 to $1250 and all manner of body work including scrubs, masks and wraps are $500 to $650.
2.5 hour long packages are the most expensive things on the menu costing $1500 or $1650. If you just want to use the sauna or steam room, the door pass is $200, but neither facility is very large.
Located at the 20th floor, hours daily are from 12:00 pm to 2:00 am.
Royal Thai Spa is temporarily closed.
The Excellent Sauna – This little beauty is a blast from the past, as all of the hot posters in the hallway have sadly been removed. Maybe people are right when they say Macau is only getting worse!
No real need to elaborate on what they’re selling here, but I’ll do it anyway. Door pass is $1568 and good for 12 hours, while full service runs between $2888 and $5888.
Located on the 10th floor, Excellent Sauna is open 24 hours.
GRAND EMPEROR BARS
Lobby Lounge – Well appointed lobby bar offers a Majestic Tea Set for $78 composed of a pastry, salad or sandwich and one beverage.
Beers cost just $35 while house wine is a very appropriate $40. Other drinks include tea ($42 to $48), soft drinks ($30), and coffee ($42 to $45).
Lobby Lounge keeps hours between 12:30 pm and 6:30 pm.
THE LAST WORD
The Grand Emperor puts on one hell of a good show with its Buckingham Palace guards, fancy carriages, and gold bars, but don’t let appearances fool you.
The hotel is basically a pimped up version of the President or Fortuna built a decade later, with prices to match. I’ll gladly keep the extra $300 Mops in my pocket thank you very much, and stay at the nearby Sintra instead.
With this Grand Emperor, all that glitters is certainly not gold!
LOCATION
At least it has a very good location, right beside New Yaohan shopping mall one block west of the Grand Lisboa.