The room was in the casino, but you hardly noticed it. It wasn't smoky or noisy at all. There was a snack bar right next to the poker room, which is perfect for grabbing a bight during the break (the first break is 20 minutes).
The competition was a mix of locals who play daily and tourists many of whom were playing their first live tournament ever. Compared to other downtown tournaments, the action was relatively loose, but still tighter than online and California tournaments that I usually play. The structure was limit for the first hour and no-limit after that. I had never played a tournament like that, but it turned out to be a great format in my opinion. An example of the looseness is that there was one hand almost 2 hours into the tournament where 8 players saw the flop (I was the only one at the table who folded preflop). I've never even seen that online, especially halfway through the tournament.
I tried the 7pm tourney on Tuesday night since I had so much fun at the morning one, but it was completely different. The buy-in was higher and from what I saw, the competition level was too. There was only one table (11 players) in that game. Maybe the Friday or Saturday tournaments would be more populated with inexperienced players, but I wouldn't bet on it.
The dealers all had their own personalities at the table and most were friendly and jovial. Most kept the game moving well, though some seemed a little green, at least at dealing tourneys. I'm sure with a little more time, they will only get better.
I never had to wait for a waitress as they made regular rounds through the poker room during the tournament.
Management was very efficient in managing live games and tournaments simultaneously and seperately. They even posted what prize each finish "in the money" would receive after the first break. They were the only tourney I played that did this. Also, they were the only one which provided a breakdown of the blind structure prior to the tournament.
$100 of the prize pool was taken to give as a prize to a random tournament player playing in a live game at a certain time after the tournament was over.
