$17 million buffet!!!

Will you be dining here?!?

Someone posted about it a few weeks ago, and it piqued my interest. I might check it out at some point during my upcoming Vegas trip. Is it open yet? I think it's supposed to open very soon if it hasn't already.

Well there were a ton of articles trending today - that is how I came upon it - I suppose they let food critics in or hotel review sites...(if this is a repost of a few weeks ago please remove this thread)

Hopefully it's better than Lago. I ate lunch there with the g/f last year while using a "Buffet of Buffets" pass, ended up walking out and going to Harrah's. If we would have paid normally, I think we would have tried to get a refund.

I believe it opens today.

Quote: DRich

I believe it opens today.

In addition to the Buffet of Buffet pass ($45) they are charging an additional $10 for Ceasars Bacchanal, but still less than the $15 additional for Rio Seafood Buffet.

It could be well worth the money, especially if you get the Buffet of Buffet pass for a discounted price along with the room. Ideally you would eat two buffets at the beginning and end of the 24 hour period.

Quote: tringlomane

Hopefully it's better than Lago. I ate lunch there with the g/f last year while using a "Buffet of Buffets" pass, ended up walking out and going to Harrah's. If we would have paid normally, I think we would have tried to get a refund.

I really liked Lago. It was small, but the quality of food was excellent. That was always my number 1 choice for buffets in the Caesars family. I'm sure the new one will be even better.

Caesars has actually eliminated any kind of moderately priced sit down restaurant over the past two years. Before Lago was turned into a buffet it was a nice "coffee shop" that was great in the late night hours -- it was open 24 hours.

Augustus Cafe started out OK but it got run into the ground with a bad menu.

Central, which replaced the Augustus Cafe has price tags like a top steak house. Waaay too much for a casual restaurant.

That leaves "casual dining" to the food court and to some other "sandwhich stand" they have.

Too bad that you can't sit down, get a nice low cost snack during all night sessions.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Caesars has actually eliminated any kind of moderately priced sit down restaurant over the past two years. Before Lago was turned into a buffet it was a nice "coffee shop" that was great in the late night hours -- it was open 24 hours.

Augustus Cafe started out OK but it got run into the ground with a bad menu.

Central, which replaced the Augustus Cafe has price tags like a top steak house. Waaay too much for a casual restaurant.

That leaves "casual dining" to the food court and to some other "sandwhich stand" they have.

Too bad that you can't sit down, get a nice low cost snack during all night sessions.

What about MunchBar?

Decades ago Circus Circus had the headline making Buffet: very long line of steam tables, lots of food,,, low price. Many people thought that with all that food and all those coupons, it had to be a loss-leader but they actually ran it at a profit. It was a Slop It and Beat It type of place. Long industrial size steel trays.

Later buffets started to go more upscale. Better food items, smaller preparation sizes for quality control and freshness. Individual service stuff such as made to order stations for eggs or pasta sauces or such things.

Instead of the old Circus Circus kitchens churning out 100 pounds of Mac 'n Cheese, it became kitchens churning Mac 'n Cheese out in ten pound units with competition based on various cheeses, freshness and appearance.

Variety and freshness are most easily achieved in smaller quantities with greater quality control.

I expect the buffets are still probably profit making though. Waiters are always the most expensive item in a restaurant and its cheaper to run a cafeteria staffed with line cooks than a restaurant with some prima dona chef and kitchen staff or wait staff.

Going upscale is nothing new... gamblers age and spend more money. Variety, freshness and visual appeal become important once everyone is past the stage of taking care of the rug rats and going to Slop It places.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Caesars has actually eliminated any kind of moderately priced sit down restaurant over the past two years. Before Lago was turned into a buffet it was a nice "coffee shop" that was great in the late night hours -- it was open 24 hours.

But Ceasars is only part of the Ceasars Inc. block of casinos. You can cross the street in search of cheap food.

Quote: pacomartin

You can cross the street in search of cheap food.

You mean,,, you mean (gasp) leave the air-conditioning?

I ate here today. $22 lunch. Unusual items like stick your spoon Into a
honeycomb for honey, oyster on halfshell, lots of sushi, assorted cheeses and great desserts. Not many labels on stuff though.

I tried out the Bacchanal Buffet on Wednesday Sept 19th for the Dinner Buffet. If you have a Total Rewards Diamond or Seven Star card, DING DING DING, you get to avoid the tourist line which I estimate was easily an hour to an hour and a half wait at 6 PM. I only had 7 people in front of me in the Diamond/Seven Star line. I paid for my meal off of TR points, which was 31.99. On my receipt they didn't show a discount or cash price, so I don't know if regular paying customers had to pay even more on top of that. Once I was shown a table by a host, they took me along with a couple of other parties and showed the various stations that the buffet had to offer before arriving at my table. The waiter took my drink order, and I proceeded to work my way through the buffet. The seafood had decent offerings-split crab legs and claws, big shrimp, raw oysters and mussels. They would steam items there for you if you wanted them to. I did that as an appetizer instead of a more traditional soup/salad thing. They had separate Mexican, Italian, Oriental, and American (for lack of a better term) stations for main courses, side dishes and vegetables. I stuck to the American where they had some fried finger foods (onion rings, sweet potato fries, etc), the meats contained a sliced smoked brisket, marinated flank steak, prime rib, turkey breast , rotisserie chicken, and ham among other items. I did wander over to the Oriental station to sample some Peking Duck. A complaint that I would have about a buffet with this many offerings and huge space, is that by the time you get your items and get back to your table, your food is not exactly piping hot if that's your preference. The next time back to this buffet, I would target something hot I wanted, go there, get it and then return to your table as opposed to wandering around. Finally onto the dessert station. It is essentially a square with employees working inside to hand dip ice cream onto waffle cones, and I think do some flaming desserts and espresso coffeee drinks, etc. I was sort of surprised by the lack of variety in sugar-free desserts given the size of the rest of the buffet and choices available. As a seasoned tourist to LAS, this buffet is comparable to its intended competitors, Wynn, Bellagio and Mirage, but by no means is it a unique Vegas experience. I was somewhat troubled by the suits openly walking around different areas of the buffet, probably already trying to see how much more they can chisel their customers over a premium priced buffet.

Quote: steveks225

I tried out the Bacchanal Buffet on Wednesday Sept 19th for the Dinner Buffet. If you have a Total Rewards Diamond or Seven Star card, DING DING DING, you get to avoid the tourist line which I estimate was easily an hour to an hour and a half wait at 6 PM. I only had 7 people in front of me in the Diamond/Seven Star line. I paid for my meal off of TR points, which was 31.99. On my receipt they didn't show a discount or cash price, so I don't know if regular paying customers had to pay even more on top of that. Once I was shown a table by a host, they took me along with a couple of other parties and showed the various stations that the buffet had to offer before arriving at my table. The waiter took my drink order, and I proceeded to work my way through the buffet. The seafood had decent offerings-split crab legs and claws, big shrimp, raw oysters and mussels. They would steam items there for you if you wanted them to. I did that as an appetizer instead of a more traditional soup/salad thing. They had separate Mexican, Italian, Oriental, and American (for lack of a better term) stations for main courses, side dishes and vegetables. I stuck to the American where they had some fried finger foods (onion rings, sweet potato fries, etc), the meats contained a sliced smoked brisket, marinated flank steak, prime rib, turkey breast , rotisserie chicken, and ham among other items. I did wander over to the Oriental station to sample some Peking Duck. A complaint that I would have about a buffet with this many offerings and huge space, is that by the time you get your items and get back to your table, your food is not exactly piping hot if that's your preference. The next time back to this buffet, I would target something hot I wanted, go there, get it and then return to your table as opposed to wandering around. Finally onto the dessert station. It is essentially a square with employees working inside to hand dip ice cream onto waffle cones, and I think do some flaming desserts and espresso coffeee drinks, etc. I was sort of surprised by the lack of variety in sugar-free desserts given the size of the rest of the buffet and choices available. As a seasoned tourist to LAS, this buffet is comparable to its intended competitors, Wynn, Bellagio and Mirage, but by no means is it a unique Vegas experience. I was somewhat troubled by the suits openly walking around different areas of the buffet, probably already trying to see how much more they can chisel their customers over a premium priced buffet.

Borgata in AC has pretty much all of the above mentioned offerings on their buffet, but the best part is they only charge the Black Label card holders $10 from their comps to eat there. The bad thing is the card is only good at Borgata so it does you no good in Vegas.

Quote: bw

Borgata in AC has pretty much all of the above mentioned offerings on their buffet, but the best part is they only charge the Black Label card holders $10 from their comps to eat there. The bad thing is the card is only good at Borgata so it does you no good in Vegas.

It wouldn't help you at any other Boyd gaming properties in Vegas?

Stevesk:
I always take a glance at all offerings at a buffet before I start getting food, so I know what they have and where to get it. This might help you be able to eat with the food still warm.

Ok so I'm back in Vegas for a short vacation and a friend, my wife and I went to the Bacchanal buffet last night.
First off we were lucky enough to have free passes to the buffet through my wife's work so even if the buffet was awful, I still won't look a gift horse in the mouth!!!

We walked right up at 6:30PM without any queue. The regular price was $49-95 per person but as i mentioned it cost us the value of the tip.

The decor was not what I expected but it was neat, clean and well looked after. There were quite a few stations including seafood as you come in, American, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian, Mexican and the dessert station. The first thing that struck me was the freshness of the food. Everything looked like it has just come off the grill, stove or out the oven. The presentation was top class.

I started with Asian, which included pot stickers, sushi, spicy whole green beans and bbq pork. It was very good. i then had some of the Mediterranean. I had some cous cous mixed with some veggies, some hummus and some pita bread. It was delicious.
Next was Italian. Only a piece of pizza and a beef meatball. It was OK.

Next up was some American. I had some Carbinossi sausage, a lamb chop, a slice of beef and some sides including sweet potato balls.

I had chocolate lava cake for dessert and when I was done I had to give my wife my belt to put in her purse!

This has to be one of the best buffets in Vegas. Is it value for money, probably not but the food is fresh, well made and there are nice little additions like the way they serve certain dishes.

If you can get a little discount I would absolutely try this buffet, it is very good!

Quote: Tomspur

Ok so I'm back in Vegas for a short vacation and a friend, my wife and I went to the Bacchanal buffet last night.
First off we were lucky enough to have free passes to the buffet through my wife's work so even if the buffet was awful, I still won't look a gift horse in the mouth!!!

We walked right up at 6:30PM without any queue. The regular price was $49-95 per person but as i mentioned it cost us the value of the tip.

The decor was not what I expected but it was neat, clean and well looked after. There were quite a few stations including seafood as you come in, American, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian, Mexican and the dessert station. The first thing that struck me was the freshness of the food. Everything looked like it has just come off the grill, stove or out the oven. The presentation was top class.

I started with Asian, which included pot stickers, sushi, spicy whole green beans and bbq pork. It was very good. i then had some of the Mediterranean. I had some cous cous mixed with some veggies, some hummus and some pita bread. It was delicious.
Next was Italian. Only a piece of pizza and a beef meatball. It was OK.

Next up was some American. I had some Carbinossi sausage, a lamb chop, a slice of beef and some sides including sweet potato balls.

I had chocolate lava cake for dessert and when I was done I had to give my wife my belt to put in her purse!

This has to be one of the best buffets in Vegas. Is it value for money, probably not but the food is fresh, well made and there are nice little additions like the way they serve certain dishes.

If you can get a little discount I would absolutely try this buffet, it is very good!

This is very strange - I just posted in the other Bacchanal buffet thread about 2 minutes ago asking if anyone knew of any coupons available and then you posted this review here in the thread I had started —weird!