There’s a moment, about ten minutes after checking into the MGM Tower at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, when the outside world stops mattering.
The floor-to-ceiling windows frame the iconic Atlantic City boardwalk, the rooms are the kind you don’t want to leave, and the noise of the casino floor feels like it belongs to a different universe. That’s the whole point—and Borgata pulls it off as good as any resort in the Northeast. Maybe better.
We spent a long weekend at the MGM Tower, working through the property’s dining portfolio, a couples massage at Spa Toccare, afternoons spent at the pools (yes, plural), and evenings at B Bar.
Here’s an honest breakdown.
The MGM Tower: First Impressions
The MGM Tower, connected to the original Borgata property at 1 Borgata Way, is the newer, quieter, more refined wing of the resort.
The rooms are thoughtfully appointed with premium linens, clean contemporary design, and floor-to-ceiling windows that frame Atlantic City like a postcard. The check-in was seamless. There’s nothing to complain about and a lot to appreciate, which is exactly what you want from a hotel before the real experience begins.
Start and End Every Night at B Bar
B Bar lives at the center of the casino floor and somehow manages to feel both electric and relaxed at the same time.
The cocktails are serious—not in a pretentious way, but in the way that signals someone behind the bar actually cares. Live music runs through the evenings, the bartenders are knowledgeable, and the sightlines out over the gaming floor give the whole thing a cinematic quality.
We opened and closed multiple nights here. You will too.
The Best Meal of the Trip
Dinner at Angeline wasn’t just the best meal of the trip—it was the kind of dinner that recalibrates your expectations for Italian food.
Chef Michael Symon’s ode to his Sicilian heritage centers on handmade pastas that are rustic and precise at once: the rigatoni with Calabrian chili and fennel sausage hits every note, and the cacio e pepe is stripped down to basics, allowing authenticity to do the talking.
The wine list is expansive, with a service team to guide you through it, and that attentiveness extends to the rest of the experience. Servers are there when you want them to be, and invisible when you don’t. Angeline by Michael Symon is worth a trip to Atlantic City alone.
Block the Whole Morning for this Spa
Spa Toccare—toccare meaning “to touch” in Italian—feels like something more than your typical hotel spa.
The couples massage suite is private and unhurried, the therapists are genuinely skilled, and the post-treatment relaxation area is the kind of space you linger in far longer than planned. Herbal teas, low light, no rush. It rivals urban spa destinations that charge twice the price. Block the whole morning.
The Pools at MGM Tower
The MGM Tower pool area is a proper resort escape—heated indoor and outdoor pools, private cabanas, hot tubs, and full bar service that comes right to you. The adults-focused atmosphere keeps the energy calm and the experience elevated (read: no kids running around).
For a relaxing afternoon—perhaps in between lunch and dinner—it’s exactly what it needs to be.
The Rest of the Dining Portfolio
For more dining, Noodles tends to get overlooked next to Borgata’s celebrity-chef heavy hitters. That’s a mistake. The house-made noodles are the real draw—chewy and slurpable. The dim sum holds up, the BBQ dishes draw from multiple regional staples without feeling scattered, and the room itself with its flowing ceiling and intricate floors tells a story about the symbolic weight of noodles in Asian culture. It earns its place in the rotation.
Old Homestead has been doing steak the classic way for nearly 150 years in New York City, and the Atlantic City outpost carries the institutional confidence you’d expect. The Wagyu is well-sourced and properly prepared—ordered medium-rare, it arrives exactly that way, with the kind of marbling that makes the price tag feel worth it. The service is formal without feeling stuffy. If Angeline is the soul of Borgata’s dining portfolio, Old Homestead is the backbone.
The Metropolitan is where you go the morning after Old Homestead. Think: European bistro energy, good natural light, contemporary American breakfast done correctly. Nothing revelatory, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s the right gear change after two days of high-octane dining, and it does the job well.
The Bottom Line
Borgata is less than 60 miles from nearly everywhere within New Jersey, which means world-class dining, a legitimate luxury spa, resort-quality pools, and rooms that actually justify the rate are all a drive away.
Simply put, there is no comparable property in Atlantic City—or in the Northeast, for that matter—at this price point.
Book the MGM Tower. Go to Angeline. Spend a morning at Spa Toccare. Start and end at B Bar. The rest takes care of itself. It’s a perfect Atlantic City weekend, wrapped up in one property.
Tom is a lifelong New Jersey resident, Rutgers and FDU alumni and the publisher of The Digest.
