What’s on the menu at Happy Valley Casino? Here’s a look at the restaurants, bars
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- State College’s new casino offers two restaurants and a full-service bar.
- Browse menus for the sit-down restaurant and quick-service cafe.
- Complimentary soda and alcoholic drinks are available for guests playing on the floor.
Guests who visit State College’s new mini-casino will have plenty of options for eating and drinking.
After years of planning and construction, Happy Valley Casino is now open for a pair of “test days” before possibly beginning regular hours as soon as next week. The mini-casino, equipped with up to 600 slot machines and 30 table games at the Nittany Mall, also features a pair of restaurants, a full-service bar and several drink stations to satisfy cravings while guests play on the floor.
The Centre Daily Times received an early look inside the casino during a media tour on Thursday. Here’s what we learned about Happy Valley Casino’s restaurants and bars, their menus, drinks specials and more.
Aces Social
Happy Valley Casino’s sit-down restaurant is located at the back center of the casino floor. There, diners will find a large, modern dining room that offers a break from the neon lights and excitement of the casino floor.
Aces Social boasts a wide-ranging menu that largely serves American fare, including crowd-pleasing appetizers, premium steaks and sandwiches. Beverage options include Pepsi products, double-brewed iced teas and Rothrock coffee.
Eric Pearson, the casino’s general manager, said it was imperative to offer both sit-down dining alongside quick-service options for guests on the go.
“I always approach casino food and beverage from the standpoint of, ‘You have feeding and dining, and they’re equally important,’” Pearson said. “Dining is your sit-down experience with a wait staff, specialty cocktails, [and] the menu’s pretty expansive. We have steaks, seafood, burgers, wings, nachos, salad, soup, and kind of everything in between.”
Here’s a look at some menu highlights:
- Appetizers at Aces Social include bone-in chicken wings, chili nachos, caprese platters, roasted and fried pork belly and fried shrimp.
- Guests can order a wide range of soups and salads, including made-in-house beef chili, caramelized French onion soup and chicken Cobb salads. Guests can choose from between blue cheese, ranch and green goddess dressings, as well as dark balsamic and sour cherry vinaigrettes.
- A prime rib French dip and “mile-high” club sandwich highlight the menu’s sandwiches, which are all served with waffle fries or a wedge salad. Aces Social also offers a hot honey chicken sandwich and build-your-own half-pound burgers that are cooked to order. All sandwiches are available on gluten-free buns upon request.
- Aces Social’s entrées, served from 4-10 p.m. daily, include vegetarian pasta primavera, pan-seared crab cakes, filet mignon and a New York strip steak. A 12-ounce herb-crusted prime rib, served alongside bacon and onion potatoes and grilled asparagus, is available daily while supplies last.
Appetizers at the restaurant start at $12 or $13, while salads range from between $12 and $19. Build-your-own burgers start at $15 and increase in price once you add cheese or other toppings, while full-fledged entrées can cost up to $49.
Aces Social also features a full-service bar offering tabletop screens that allow guests to continue playing without leaving their seats. The bar and restaurant serve several hand-crafted cocktails, martinis, red and white wines and beers, including several brewed in Pennsylvania and overseas.
Aces Social is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Lucky Break Cafe
Happy Valley Casino’s quick-service restaurant is a one-stop shop for hungry guests on the go.
Lucky Break Cafe, situated in the back corner of the casino floor, serves a vast menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pizzas and sweet treats. Guests can also order espressos and cappuccinos, energy drinks and juice, among other drinks.
Here’s a look at some menu highlights:
- Appetizers and snacks include fried cheese curds, fried pickles and soft pretzels served with beer cheese. Pennsylvania’s own Middleswarth chips are also available for a quick snack.
- Grab-and-go salads are prepared daily. The menu includes Greek pasta salads and a chef salad offering greens, ham, turkey, cheese, red onion and hard-cooked egg.
- Pizza, served by the slice or as whole 16-inch pies, is made using a dedicated oven in full view of guests. Specialty flavors include Buffalo chicken, meat lovers and Florentina, featuring spinach and ricotta.
- Guests can chow down on a wide array of sandwiches and finger foods, including smash burgers, chicken tenders, fish sandwiches and Italian subs. Select handhelds are served with house-made coleslaw and french fries.
- The cafe offers some desserts, including baked goods like muffins, cookies and croissants, as well as Meyer Dairy’s chocolate, French vanilla, black raspberry and mocha chip ice cream.
Pearson, the general manager, said his team sought to partner with local vendors to provide some unique flavors and products for the cafe and support the business community.
“We try as much as we can to partner with local brands because we’re really a community casino,” Pearson said. “I know I always get a lot of questions about what we do during big event weekends and things like that, which, quite honestly, is not the primary focus of why we’re here. We’re not here for ‘X’ number of home games per year. We’re really here to serve the community that lives here every day.”
Prices at Lucky Break Cafe are a bit more modest across the board than Aces Social, the sit-down restaurant. Appetizers start at $8, while most sandwiches fetch between $13 and $16. An oversized slice of cheese pizza costs $5, but a whole pie will run guests at least $25.
Lucky Break Cafe is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Quenching your thirst
The casino floor features several drink stations. There, guests can fill up on complimentary Pepsi products, coffee and tea.
Guests who are actively playing slot machines can order complimentary cocktails and alcoholic drinks using a one-of-a-kind system, Pearson said. Those playing at table games will receive traditional service from staff members working the floor.
“I believe we’ll be the only casino in the commonwealth that allows for adult beverages on demand — being able to order drinks directly at your game,” Pearson said. “That order will pop up right in the service well, and cocktail servers will be able to bring it right out to your machines so they’re not waiting for a server to go out, take a bunch of orders, go into the well, have service bartenders set them all up and then bring them out. It actually makes beverage service 100% more efficient because we’re able to eliminate that one the slots side of things.”
It’s not immediately clear what drinks and cocktails are included in the casino’s complimentary service. Pearson intimated some more premium offerings may be exclusively offered to casino patrons with higher rewards statuses.
Happy Valley Casino’s restaurants and bars are available only to casino guests. The non-smoking casino restricts access to only patrons who are at least 21 years old.
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