After the encore: food and drink at River Cree until dawn

The Venue's calendar is mostly 9 pm starts, with a few at 8 pm. When the lights come up the question is food, and River Cree answers it better than most hotels around Edmonton.

Food

Fatburger is open every day from noon to 4 am. The resort says its burgers use fresh, never frozen Alberta Angus beef and that every order is cooked to order, with fries and shakes. Cree Subs runs from 11 am to 5 am daily with sandwiches, hot dogs and a taco in a bag, made fresh each day and sold as combos. River Cree Eats sells ready-to-go meals from 5:30 pm to midnight on Thursdays to Sundays and on show nights. And the Stay page lists a 24/7 Eats In-Room Dining Service, with its menu linked from there.

Drinks

Centre Bar is a 360-degree bar in the middle of the casino floor, 18+, open from 10 am to 2 am. Onyx is the lounge inside Embers, the smoke-friendly casino area by the north entrance; it is 18+ and keeps the same hours. Tap 25 serves drinks from 9 am to 2 am and, under its posted rule, all alcohol must be finished by 3 am. Unfinished drinks from The Venue may be carried into the casino after a show, and unused Venue drink tickets can be spent at Centre Bar the same night.

Getting home — or not

The Venue runs a designated-driver programme: a green wristband from any food and beverage staff member gets free fountain pop or water all night. Taxis pick up in front of the casino entrance. The simpler answer, and the reason this paper exists, is a room upstairs. Ask for a late check-out in the note on your coupon if your show starts at 9.

A word on the gaming floor at night

The casino is open 24 hours and two of the late bars sit on or beside it. If you came for the music, it is easy to walk straight through. If a late night at the tables is turning into something you did not plan, the Alberta Health Services Addiction Helpline answers at any hour on 1-866-332-2322.