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San Manuel Casino has opened a sit-down Asian restaurant and two new high limit rooms, bringing the total number of high limit rooms it has to four.

The Highland casino will open its new sit down Asian restaurant, Hong Bao Kitchen, as well as the High Limit Tables and High Limit Slots rooms (located to each side of the restaurant) at 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19.

The new spaces are the latest addition to the casino. They follow the opening of a parking garage late last month, a non-smoking slots area over the summer and a steampunk-themed high limit room The Vault in late May.

The new spaces occupy what was a high limit room with slots and table games in the same space and an older non-smoking slots area. Those areas were closed to make way for the new concepts.

This is the first time that San Manuel casino has its slots and table games in two separate rooms. Its other high limit spots, Lotus 8 and The Vault, offer both slots and table games within the same space.

Peter Arceo, general manager for the casino, said the decision to create separate spaces for high limit slots and table games came from doing focus groups with casino patrons. He said those patrons who like to play high limit table games indicated that they wanted their own space and high limit slots enthusiasts expressed the same thing.

“We determined that there was an opportunity to be able to expand our high limit offerings and give our guests what they want,” Arceo said. “Ultimately it was about guest satisfaction and taking the guest experience to a whole new level.”

Located between the two high limit rooms is Hong Bao Kitchen, which is helmed by Chef Bob Zhang and Chef de Cuisine Jun Tao. The menu is filled mostly Chinese-inspired items such as Sichuan boiled beef, Kong Bao chicken and braised abalone but there are also some Japanese items such as sushi rolls.

Chief Operating Officer Kenji Hall said the decision to open an Asian cuisine restaurant had to do with the popularity of the casino’s Asian food court option, Thai Chi Express. He called the popularity of the fast dining spot “overwhelming” said that popularity spurred the casino to want do more with Asian food, particularly a more elevated, sit-down option.

“The joy of this is that we have such a variety on the menu that we have standard Chinese favorites that are going to be at a reasonable price range but we also have some of the more exclusive items like sea cucumber and we’ll have tableside Peking duck and abalone,” Hall said.

Inside the spaces

The High Limit Tables room sports rich, dark woods and earth-toned paint as well as design elements that include glass work and marble sculptures. The room offers 15 high limit table games including baccarat, 3:2 double deck blackjack and six deck blackjack. Blackjack limits inside the room are one hand at $25,000, two hands at $15,000 and three hands at $10,000.

The High Limit Table Games room also has its own bar area where guests are able to order top-shelf cocktails.

The High Limit Slots room, located on the other side of Hong Bao kitchen, sports a more opulent look, including a long marble hallway leading to the slot machines, bright lighting and ornate glass decorations, including 79 glass hummingbirds descending from the ceiling. Hummingbirds are an important symbol to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, according to Hall. The space has 202 slot machines with betting denominations up to $1,000.

The High Limit Slots room also has its own bar area as well as a separate, living-room like space featuring a display case with items from San Manuel’s high end of Collection 86 spirits, including the $100,000 per botttle Balvenie 50-year single malt scotch whiskey.

Guests at either of the two high limit rooms who don’t want to break away from their slot machine or table game can order food from Hong Bao’s menu and have it delivered, but if they want to take a break they’ll enter through an entrance decorated by faux cherry blossoms into a room full of bright red accents, teapots and Asian design elements.

Though both of the high limit rooms will be open 24 hours, the restaurant will be open 11 a.m.-3:58 a.m. each day.

“One of the reasons that we decided to keep it open until 3:58 in the morning was to allow those in the hospitality industry, who typically work long hours, to be able to come in, after work, and experience the flavors that we’re going to have here at Hong Bao as well as to enjoy the high limit gaming space which is why it’s positioned in between both,” Arceo said.

Why 3:58 instead of 4? It’s all about luck, according to Arceo.

“Four is an unlucky number in Asian culture, so we wanted to avoid that number,” he said.