I was in Cleveland a few weeks back and staying at the Renaissance which is basically on the same block and physically connected.
Outside the casino there's a large city center that is under construction, which I guess used to also be a bit of a bus depot. Right now, if you walk outside the main doors of the casino you are basically walking through a crowded bus stop. This was true of any hour I was outside, even very late into the evening. I figured out later that there was a way to walk through the hotel lobby, then through the adjoining building lobby and directly into the casino without walking outside. First night there before I realized I could walk through the lobby I walked out the exit and cops were cuffing several guys in the middle of the crowded bus stop. This was maybe 11pm?
Related note to maybe paint that picture a bit - the night before the big debate in Cleveland the regulars at the poker table I was sitting at were discussing the parking garage situation, and the roadblocks coming with the debate (arena is basically a block away from the parking garage). They were wondering what time they had to get to the room the next day to not be impacted. The garage utilizes a second floor level skyway to enter the casino so you don't have to walk through the bus stop crowds. A couple local guys mentioned that if that garage wasn't there, and they couldn't use that skyway they'd never go to the casino. I call bullshit because degenerates needing to get their gamble on would walk on lava into the building, but you get their point.
Casino has three levels. If you go, and you want to play the house pit games, go directly to the second floor. Every time I was there the first floor seemed dead and had no energy. Second floor had a better feel. Poker room is on third floor, was a decent size, and in my limited experience was well run and the dealers were decent. Alcohol is served but only soft drinks, water, coffee are free when playing. So if you drink while playing, you'll have to pay for an adult beverage.
I played several short sessions at the Horseshoe. I was there on a Sunday, a regular weeknight and a Friday night. Decent size crowd in the room each time. I almost never play anything in the casino besides poker, but this time around I was there with a few work colleagues who don't play poker, or really gamble at all, so I did a bit in the pit area to hang out with them a bit. Like I said, I don't play craps or blackjack often, so I don't have much experience with other places but I was a bit surprised by the minimums at the table, especially on a Sunday night and the weekdays. There wasn't a single $10 blackjack table that I could find. On the strip, I could expect this, but Cleveland on an off night? Ended up playing craps for a bit trying to teach a girl I was with how to play. Know how a crowded hot streak at the craps table looks and sounds like the funnest place in the casino? Well we've got a shooter that couldn't screw up and everyone was making money, but I felt like I was at a funeral. It was the twilight zone of dice games. People seemed angry they were winning.
Otherwise, once I found the third floor poker room I played 3 sessions over the week of 1/2 NL Fold'em. First night the table was quiet and lifeless, but profitable. Had a couple sunglass and hoodie types at 1/2, One California sunshine sunglass guy on my left who wouldn't say a word the whole time, even when I talked to him directly in between hands about stuff that had nothing to do with cards. I just wanted to see if I could get him to talk at all. Second night I sit down and the table was fun, loud, lots of jokes, decent action happening... it was great. Changed my whole perspective because people were actually alive and having a good time for the most part.
When I sat down the second night there was a guy immediately to my right who had three stacks of reds, and an oversize pumpkin chip, value $1000. Hell of a nice run. He ran it up more too while I was there. I should have grabbed a photo of his stack. Guy was the room regular I guess, and was the social oil for getting people talking. We played a few hands together, he won some from me, I won a bunch back from him. Good player. Third time I came back I saw him at a full table and instead of taking an open seat elsewhere I waited for a seat at his table to open up just because he was actually fun to play with.
3 sessions of poker, 3 small wins. Left the casino at the end of the week up $350, and had fun at the table doing so. I'm a pretty small time player so I was happy.
Chips:
Anyways, that turned out longer than I expected.
TLDR Recount... basically... use garage if you can, or if staying at the Renaissance walk through the lobby... just go straight to 2nd and 3rd level... poker room decent size, some fun action. They were spreading the usual 1/2 and 2/5 NL, some Omaha (didn't look at levels), had some daily tourneys that were running but I didn't play or even look into those.