Ty Pennington, known best as the host of 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', poses with a sign that displays his catchphrase. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)

To celebrate the grand opening of the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek’s $150 million renovation, VIPs were sent a bottle of champagne and an invitation to come join Ty Pennington open the new casino. It felt a bit like Las Vegas with club girls dressed in luxurious gowns, celebrities on hand and glasses of free champagne flowing. Well maybe not quite Vegas but for Coconut Creek it was spectacular.

Nestled underneath the new parking garage, the stage was set with tribal members in ceremonial dress dancing through the crowd, bringing out a 7-foot alligator. Speeches by CEO Jim Allen and general manager Steve Bonner built up the climax of the grand finale. On hand was Pennington, the face of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, along with his new show The Revolution. Pennington is notorious for his saying “Move that bus!” and that’s just what he and the other 2,000 on hand yelled as the bus was moved forward revealing the new entranceway. Fireworks and confetti filled the air, revealing tribal members cutting the ribbon.

Photos: Casino at Coconut Creek celebrates renovations | Visit Veda Jo Jenkins’ website

Stewards stood with glasses of champagne welcoming people into the casino and the new restaurants on the property. Inside attendees viewed the new easy to use players’ club, large-screen slot machines, a cigar store and the new high-limit action room with its own bar/lounge, 12 high-limit tables and slot machines located in the center of the casino.

These new additions compliment the new non-smoking poker room, which opened in late December.

One of the new restaurants, NYY Steak, has only one other location at Yankee Stadium. Inside NYY Steak, patrons can see large cuts of prime meat being prepared as well as find signatures on the walls of past Yankee players like Babe Ruth. There is a smaller lounge area with dueling pianos and a larger, more formal dining room.

Located across from NYY Steak is a more casual Sorrisi Italian Restaurant. The space has an airy, comfortable feel to it and the food was incredible. I had only planned to try one sample of mozzarella sorrisi but ended up tasting portabella mushrooms, calamari and some of their freshly made black ravioli along with some incredible pesto pizza. The topper was the tiramisu who head chef Claudio Sandri delivered to our table. The restaurant may seem more casual but the formalities are not lost on the food.

Needless to say by this time I was happy and full. While I was enjoying all this fine food and festivities Ty Pennington was meeting and taking pictures with VIP’s. Even a few non-VIPs had a chance to get their picture taken with Ty.

If that wasn’t enough, the casino had Foreigner help celebrate the new 1,200-seat Pavilion venue. The sold-out Pavilion was on fire as Foreigner invited people to stand up by the stage creating a whirling energy level between the band and the audience. Fans were singing their hearts out, band members were playing instruments in our faces, and Foreigner delivered hit after hit, even coming out into the audience. Around me people were saying, “Can it get any better?”

The Seminole Casino Coconut Creek truly created an upscale classy presentation and made a great impression on me. What a big improvement. The newly remodeled Seminole Casino Coconut Creek doesn’t even resemble the old casino. For me that’s a good thing. The old casino seemed “old.” Now it feels alive.