Eating Our Way Through The Las Vegas Buffets
Written: May 03 '02 (Updated Aug 20 '04)
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Pros: Great food and shows you can afford. Terrific hotels.
Cons: You can lose a lot of money and gain a lot of weight!
The Bottom Line: I love Las Vegas. There is so much to see and do. If you rent a car you can see the site outside Las Vegas also.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Las Vegas |
My husband and I have been eating our way through Las Vegas for the last three years. This review will focus on the best and worst of what Las Vegas has for buffets. Obviously we haven’t been to them all and each can’t be reviewed as an individual restaurant would be but I will do my best to give you my impressions of some of the local fare.
1. Hawaiian Seafood Luau at The Palms Hotel
The first buffet we went to this past February 2002 was on Wednesday evening at The Palms Hotel and Casino. We chose it because the neon light that was flashing could be seen from our hotel window at The Rio and it flashed $15.99. During the month of February, the Hawaiian Seafood Luau is only offered on Wednesday nights from 4pm – 10pm.
As you will see many of the buffets are “around the world” concepts meaning they have food from all over the world! You will rarely find for example an Italian buffet or only a Chinese buffet. The Hawaiian Seafood Luau at the Fantasy Market in the Palms was no exception.
The food:
Most of what we ate here consisted of peel and eat shrimp, crab legs and steamers. Really, you can’t buy all-you-can eat crab legs for $15.99 very many places and they were delicious. Here, as in many places, you will find them hot or cold. I had both.
You will also find at all the buffets a large assortment of desserts – some buffets were better than others were. This one was excellent, but first some more of the food offered: sushi, duck, beef, teriyaki chicken and beef, mahi mahi, ono yams, poi, and hundreds of very good desserts which sort of taste the same after the first 6 pieces of cake!
The service was good with the waiter coming over frequently so we never had dishes with food or shells on our table. All the buffets have all the iced tea, soda or lemonade you can drink. This one also gave what was supposed to be one free glass of wine but in actuality, it was an unlimited supply of wine in plastic cups served at the buffet bar.
Décor:
This is not a fancy restaurant. I will call these places restaurants. Some look like restaurants, some look like cafeterias and some like dance halls. This was the cafeteria type. It was crowded, noisy, you could make a mess and no one cared! You will find booths as well as plain tables and chairs. My husband and I chose a table and we were pretty much in the middle of everything, but it is the type of buffet that no matter where you are you will be in the middle of something! At the Fantasy Market Buffet you’ll be given paper napkins. The restaurant was clean. I won’t mention cleanliness unless one was not clean. In general, I never encountered a buffet that wasn’t clean with well presented food and a swept floor!
Other information:
You can make no reservations at any buffet I know of in Las Vegas. We had a 45-minute wait, which actually isn’t bad. The worse part was that the wait was in the very smoky casino. The best part was that my husband stood in line while I played the 1, 2 and 5-cent slot machines!
We were serenaded by a luau band and entertained by a luau dancer. Other than the fact it was a very plain facility, noisy and crowded, this was a great meal. I will rate each one in terms of what you get for your money and I will take into consideration the atmosphere: 4 stars.
2. The Mirage Breakfast Buffet
Thursday morning we had breakfast at The Mirage Hotel. We ate there last year and in a review I called it the best breakfast of that trip.
We went at 9:00am and had no wait at all. The breakfast buffet is open Mondays – Fridays 7:00am - 11:00am. Saturday and Sunday there is a Champagne Brunch for $14.95 from 8:00am – 3:00pm.
The food:
Unfortunately a few items on the menu changed and they were significant items. Missing from this year’s buffet was lox (smoked salmon – usually eaten on a bagel with cream cheese and very, very expensive) and another type of fish called sable – also delicious and very expensive. We were very disappointed with the lack of those items. The price has stayed the same - $8.95, but obviously the food hasn’t. There are over 150 choices and the food is excellent. Made-to-order omelets are delicious and you can have shrimp put in as one of the items. You will find the usual items: potatoes, waffles, pancakes as well as cottage cheese, ambrosia, yogurt with granola, nuts, raisins, and breads of many sorts. You won’t leave hungry and in spite of the lack of expensive fish available because of the décor, price and quality of food, The Mirage Breakfast Buffet will get 5 stars.
Décor:
Breakfast at the Mirage is a very different experience than eating at The Palms. At The Mirage you will find wrought iron chairs with fake marble table tops and cloth napkins. It is decorated really nicely with green and red matching carpet and ceiling inserts. Everywhere there were palm trees – fake, of course, but really pretty. The table was set beautifully and we had real service. We didn’t feel as if we were at a Las Vegas buffet. You can play Keno from your table if you wish.
I won’t note the bathroom unless it is extraordinary and in this case it was. I will go out on a limb to say this was the prettiest bathroom I was in during this trip to Las Vegas. The mirrors are set in gold frames; the sink counters have a marble look to them; there was a gorgeous 3-mirrored dresser in the middle of the first room you enter. Each stall had its own picture on the wall and a marble type shelf with a built in ashtray.
Other information:
Stop at the registration desk area to see the wall-length aquarium. Although Casear’s Palace has one also, this is really nice and worth the visit if you are eating here.
3. Fresh Market Square Buffet
On Friday we had the lunch buffet at Harrah’s in the room they call the Fresh Market Square Buffet. This is one of the buffets that Las Vegas is known for as featuring food from around the world.
Lunch is served from 11:00am - 4pm Monday through Friday. It is priced at $9.99 for adults and $6.99 for children up to 10. We went in the early afternoon before one of the shows we saw at Harrah’s and had no wait.
The food:
Often times when you find huge quantities of food and so many choices you get quantity without quality, but I was really impressed with the food here. It was all delicious. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once. The buffet prepares fresh food at individual cooking stations such as Asian, Italian, Mexican and seafood. You may feast on everything from fresh shrimp and crab legs to Belgian waffles. Selected dishes, such as omelets, are cooked to order. I had a lot of Asian/Chinese food at this buffet – rice, crab Rangoon and several types of noodle dished. But I also tried the American food such as the fried chicken and delicious steak fries. You may want the carved turkey or carved roast beef. There are also salads and pasta dishes of all sorts such as ravioli and pizza.
This buffet had the most desserts I have seen at any buffet. I am typing from notes and I wrote that. I do remember these deserts – save some room! The ice cream was actually good, as opposed to some frozen concoction out of a machine that I would recommend staying away from. This was worth the calories including the various toppings you can add to the ice cream.
Décor:
The Fresh Market Square Buffet is adorable. It is decorated like a market place with the theme of vegetables on the walls, wallpaper, rug and pictures. It was really cute. There are poles around the restaurant in the shape of vegetables so you’ll see a pole that looks like a carrot or cucumber. Others were green peppers and red tomatoes.
The chairs and tables were very pretty – made out of wicker and booths are available also.
We were given extra paper napkins and iced tea without having to ask, but in general the service wasn’t as friendly or as quick as we had found in other buffets. Of course, I am just speaking for our particular waitstaff on this particular afternoon.
Other information:
Downtown on Freemont Street a couple of parking lots validate parking stickers but every hotel/casino we had been to in 3 years had free parking with no attendant. This was the first time we had to show a card. We were staying at The Rio, which is owned by Harrah’s so we had a card we showed to park. I don’t know this information, but I will guess that if you do not have a card you will be given one to have validated once you come out. Again, this was the only hotel on the strip we found this.
This same buffet is available all day but at different prices. In addition to lunch The Fresh Market Square Buffet is open for breakfast Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., and from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast is priced at $8.99 for adults and $5.99 for children to age 10.
Dinner is served daily from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. It is priced at $14.99 for adults and $9.99 for children to age 10.
A champagne brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is priced at $14.99 for adults and $9.99 for children to age 10.
In spite of the service this lunch buffet gets 5 stars.
4. Ports O'Call Buffet
Next door, versus The Palms, which was diagonally across the street from The Rio, is Gold Coast. Once again we saw the sign and couldn’t pass up their breakfast buffet on Saturday. Some renovations were going on here including an expansion of the parking lot and Bingo areas.
The food:
We paid $4.95 for breakfast! Lunch is only $6.95 and dinner is $8.95. This is functional food. There is plenty of it, but you won’t get the quality that you have at other breakfast buffets, but you can’t get a cup of coffee for $4.95, so how can you complain! There are 7 cooking stations here with food from around the world. You’ll find made to order eggs, tacos that you can make yourself or have one made, orange chicken, steak, carved ham. The food was good, but not excellent. You get what you pay for and it is certainly worth the price. Of interest was the lack of deserts. For breakfast they only put out donuts. The desserts are in a case and if you want one you have to ask for it, which was the only time I saw that being done. I am sure it is because in order to keep the price down, they at least can control the amounts of desserts that get thrown away thousands of times a day.
You cannot go to Las Vegas thinking about all the children starving all over the world, that is for sure, so if you go, put that out of your mind!
Décor
The restaurant, called the Ports O’Call Buffet looked new. It was one huge room which would have looked like a cafeteria but the pretty bright colors of the carpeting with pictures of ships and countries embedded in it and neon lights on the ceiling added a little pizzas to the restaurant. The tables were really nice wood and the chairs were functional with red vinyl seats. We sat at a table and were given cloth napkins.
Other information:
Gold Coast was the only casino where the cocktail waitresses were “frumpy” for lack of a better word. Going from near naked ones at The Rio to matronly waitresses was very different, as is the crowd here. It seems to attract a lot of local
Also of interest, although I didn’t check it out is the availability of childcare. Its hours of operation are from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 a.m., seven days a week and parents have to be on the premises.
This was also the only casino that had non-smoking rows in the casino. Some had non-smoking areas, though not many but this was a new concept for me.
I am giving this one a 4, although for the price, it probably deserves a 5.
5. Garden Court Buffet
Saturday night we had a late night buffet at Main Street Station, which is downtown. The buffet themes and prices differ by night. Saturday through Monday and Wednesday, dinner is served from 4:00pm – 10:00pm and costs $10.29. For children under 12 it is $6.59. You will pay more for other nights when T-Bone Steak, Steak & Scampi and the Seafood Buffet is offered.
The food:
In my opinion this was an example of huge quantities and not terrific quality.
According to their website "Critics voted it Downtown's Best Buffet, and it's been rated among the top five buffets in the nation. Nine action stations still highlight the garden-themed restaurant, offering American, Southwestern, Pacific Rim, Chinese, and Mexican foods, designer pizza and pasta, a rotisserie station and the mouth-watering dessert bar.” The food was adequate. The pizza was fairly cold; my husband didn’t enjoy the fried calamari. I stuck with the salads there.
It was the first buffet that I can say I may not have gotten my money’s worth. We went there late at night and they were closing in an hour so perhaps they were not at their best. There was no wait at around 9:00pm.
The décor:
I was really, really impressed with the look of Main Street Station. It is a gorgeous hotel/casino that looks like a coliseum. There are gold statues, pillar columns, filigree ceiling with stained glass inserts, oriental rugs. The restaurant was also very pretty, although not as ornate as the hotel/casino. There was a huge tile decoration embedded in the center, as you walked in which was beautiful.
The service was poor. It was the first time our dishes sat on the table and items were not refreshed. As the deserts were disappearing they were not being replenished.
Other Information
Make sure you go to the nightly outdoor show in the sky on Freemont Street.
This is my review and I am not rating it among the best in Las Vegas let alone the nation. I am giving it 3 stars.
6. Carnival World Buffet
We left on Sunday morning but had a coupon for one free breakfast at the Carnival World Buffet at The Rio. The Rio is also well known for its wonderful Masquerade Village Seafood Buffet ($27.99) which is how we discovered the hotel last year. Breakfast is served Mondays - Fridays from 8:00am – 11:00am.
There is a wait for the buffets here as in most buffets. We were very lucky this trip and rarely waited. The usual wait for the breakfast buffet is 45 minutes or more. Since we were hotel guests, we walked right in.
The Food:
This buffet is obviously an “around the world one” with countries such as Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Japan, China and Asia represented. You can also get a hamburger and French fries so it really is an around the world buffet. It was all good but I didn’t find it special.
The service was excellent, though, and our waiter was always on top of our needs. We had paper napkins. (Crazy as it may seem, I think the nature of napkins correlates with the restaurant.) There are more than 1,000 dishes served. There are 12 stations with more than 500 types of pastries Since it was very early in the morning and I was going to board an airplane, I kept my food to a minimum with some eggs, fruit and yogurt. My husband had the stir-fry, which he said was very good.
The Décor:
I was not at all impressed with the Carnival World. First of all, it is as close to being in the casino as an eating establishment can be so it was very, very noisy. The Rio is a beautiful hotel and I expected a little classier restaurant. We sat at a plain booth, nothing special. The restaurant is very colorful with the Rio bright colors running through it. It was very busy with people almost bumping into each other. It is also very large and every time I left the table, I wasn’t sure I would find it again!
There is a lot of food but you are looking at over $30.00 for a couple for breakfast, which is a lot of money. Personally, I don’t think it is worth it and this breakfast buffet will rate 3 stars.
If you have any questions, you think I can answer, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment. For a complete list of buffets in Las Vegas I found 2 websites. I didn’t use them for this review so I haven’t looked carefully at them, but they work!
http://www.vegaswebworld.com/restaurants/buffet.html
http://lasvegas.citysearch.com/best/results/13?cslink=cs_generic_10_6
Last year I said that the buffet in Paris was the best and it really is one of the best. It will cost you $$22.00 and is one of the buffets where there is less quantity and a deal more quality. It is also much smaller and a more intimate atmosphere if that is what you are looking for. Paris is gorgeous, go visit, even if you don’t eat there. Splurge one night and go there. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.
All these restaurants accept the major credit cards and dress is casual in every one I have been in.
For more Las Vegas reviews:
Red Rock Canyon
Eating Our Way Through Las Vegas Buffets
The Rio Hotel and Casino
The Fremont Experience (Downtown Las Vegas)
The Strip - 2 Low Budget Shows
Valley of Fire
Tropicana
The Luxor
The Rio Hotel and Casino
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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