This past weekend my wife and I attended the ilani Brewfest in Ridgefield, Washington, an event I’d posted about previously. ilani is a casino resort located on the Cowlitz Reservation, about 30 miles north of Portland, Oregon, which opened in 2017. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe developed, owns, and operates the resort, in partnership with Salishan-Mohegan—which includes Mohegan Sun, a casino resort located in Connecticut that also hosts an annual brewfest.

The marketing agency behind the ilani Brewfest reached out to offer me an invitation to stay at the resort and attend the Brewfest under media credentials, so we accepted and stayed two nights (Friday and Saturday), attending two of the events (one event each night). So, full disclosure, it was a free stay, and we were able to attend Friday night’s Celebrity Chef Dine Around, and Saturday’s evening session of the Grand Tasting (the main beer festival portion).

I’ll write about the events and the beer in a follow-up post; this one is about ilani the resort and casino.

Also, a note about pronounciation. “Ilani” is not pronounced “ILL-on-ee” as you might expect based on the spelling, it’s actually pronounced “ay-LAN-ay,” a word that means “sing” in the native Cowlitz language.

The Casino and Main Floor

First and foremost, ilani is a casino resort, so that means a gaming floor with games — a lot of games, boasting 100,000 square feet of them. Much of the space is devoted to electronic slots, though there’s a nice selection of table games available featuring the usual suspects (Blackjack, Pai Gow Poker, Roulette, Craps, etc.).

ilani also hosts a number of restaurants and a food court for plenty of dining options. Roughly in the center of the casino floor is the 360 Bar, a full-service venue featuring a wraparound bar space with a number of tabletop (bar top?) games if you want to keep playing while sipping a beer or a cocktail. Other restaurants arrayed around the floor include Tom’s Urban, Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, Line & Lure, Bamboo 8, and more.

Also, coming soon, there will be a Rock & Brews restaurant and bar, which is a rock ‘n’ roll-themed franchise with locations across the country. I don’t know how soon it will open, but I mention it because you’ll notice the closed-off section with the giant wall mural promoting the upcoming restaurant.

There are several shopping options available, and the main one we checked out was the Cowlitz Trading Post Gift Shop, where to my delight they featured a fermentation display front and center, with a variety of “make your own” kits covering beer, wine, kombucha, and mead. Perfect for a Brewfest weekend!

Here’s an album of photos highlighting select parts of the casino and dining; yes, there’s even a “Bier Haus” slot game which I decided to track down and play (unfortunately it’s only located in the smoking lounge so I didn’t play long):

The Room

As I mentioned above, the resort provided us our hotel room for free, and even upgraded us to a suite, which was unexpected. The short verdict: We were very impressed by room overall, which included northeast-facing views of both Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams.

The longer verdict and writeup: It’s a new, clean, quite modern, and well thought out room layout (though to be fair, we didn’t see any of the smaller rooms to compare). The one bedroom suite features a living area separate from the bedroom, and both spaces boast big screen televisions, comfortable furniture, and large floor-to-ceiling picture windows facing the mountains.

There’s a half bathroom off the living area, and a full master bath off the bedroom, with soaking tub, separate shower, and dual sinks spanning a large vanity space. There was plenty of space to stretch out and unpack, and everything was quite comfortable. The half bath and the soaking tub are available in the suites only, however, and not in the standard rooms — I think (I could be wrong).

The living space featured a bar/dining area that included a Keurig coffee maker and a mini refrigerator; however one thing I found missing was a microwave, and there’s no sink either. (There is of course a sink in the adjacent half bath.) Otherwise, no complaints, and a bonus, there was complimentary bottled water, along with slippers and a good variety of toiletries, all of which had funny or clever sayings on the back of the package.

Here’s the album featuring the suite:

Around the Hotel

The rest of the (non-hotel room, non-casino) part of the hotel is quite nice as well. The lobby is expansive, with an inviting central seating area and an adjacent Lobby Bar & Bistro. The resort offers a fitness center and a swimming pool, with a hot tub and both an indoor and outdoor area with cabanas, and a pool bar. There’s a restaurant on the top (15th) floor of the hotel, Bella Vista, though we didn’t get a chance to visit.

The elevators in the hotel only work if you have a room keycard (except for the lobby and 15th floor for the restaurant), and even then the keycard will only allow you to select your floor, so that’s a nice feature for the security-minded. (Bear in mind, of course, anyone could get off on a floor not their own if someone else selected it.)

Artwork and informational displays about the Cowlitz Tribe are featured throughout the resort, particularly in the walkway connecting the hotel lobby to the casino floor. Much of this extended to the fixtures and other functional features as well. It fits within the mission of the Cowlitz Tribe, which is “to preserve and honor the legacy of its elders and ancestors by empowering a tribal community that promotes social justice and economic well-being, secures aboriginal lands, respects culture and sovereignty, and fosters justice, freedom, and mutual welfare.” I do think some additional educational resources would be a smart move, perhaps even a small museum-type area you could visit.

There are currently also a number of Chinese New Year themed displays set up throughout, which was an enjoyable touch.

There are plenty of hand sanitizer dispensers placed throughout, along with hygienic wipes on the casino floor, an important feature for those of us still taking pandemic precautions in public settings (as we are).

Overall, it’s an impressive venue with great hotel features while still promoting the main draw of the gambling. We would certainly visit and stay again.

Here’s the final album featuring additional around-the-venue photos: