How bad is the IP Buffet.

How bad is the IP buffet really? I hear all these stories, and the talk on other threads about it, and I really cant believe it can be that bad.

How does it compare to some of the other lower budget options such as the Riviera, Circus Circus, and the Sahara?

I will probably give the IP buffet a go myself, if only for the experience, but was just curious as to the thoughts and comparisons of others.

Quote: Croupier

How bad is the IP buffet really? I hear all these stories, and the talk on other threads about it, and I really cant believe it can be that bad.

You're right. It's not that bad. It's that bad.

Now that we're done with the formatting codes and abusing the preview function, let's get serious.

Not is' not that bad. Nothing is that bad. Well, nothing actually edible anyway. What can I tell you? I had breakfast a few times when I stayed at IP in 09. Bacon came in two varieties 1) greasy and limp and 2) burned beyond a crisp and hard as a rock. Some of it had been warming under heat lamps for hours, along with too-salty breakfast sausages. I managed on omelets and oat meal, which were pretty good. But it's hard to screw up a fresh made-to-order omelet, and impossible to screw up oatmeal. Service was adequate.

Quote:

How does it compare to some of the other lower budget options such as the Riviera, Circus Circus, and the Sahara?

I think the Sahara closed its buffet. I did try it in 08 when I stayed there. Breakfast was ok, but the bacon tended to be greasy. I went once for dinner because it was very cheap with a Sahara Club card. Bland comes to mind. Also "don't eat dinner here again." I've never tried the Riviera or CC.

Quote:

I will probably give the IP buffet a go myself, if only for the experience, but was just curious as to the thoughts and comparisons of others.

If you do, I strongly advise you to buy the Harrah's/Caesars all-day buffet pass (and get a Total Rewards card first, as the price is lower with one and you don't need to wear a plastic bracelet all day). That way you won't feel as though you paid for a bad meal, and you can use the pass for a better buffet for lunch or dinner at Harrah's nearby or the Rio off-Strip.

I'll tell you what, if you want I'll go with you. We can then each write a review. Be sure to bring low expectations.

Quote: Nareed

If you do, I strongly advise you to buy the Harrah's/Caesars all-day buffet pass (and get a Total Rewards card first, as the price is lower with one and you don't need to wear a plastic bracelet all day). That way you won't feel as though you paid for a bad meal, and you can use the pass for a better buffet for lunch or dinner at Harrah's nearby or the Rio off-Strip.

I'll tell you what, if you want I'll go with you. We can then each write a review. Be sure to bring low expectations.

Thats one of the things I was planning to do. Mainly so if it was that bad I could walk out and go next door. Also so If I was peckish then could just nip in for a snack.

Sounds like a plan. If we go together we can compare notes. We can sort out a date via PM closer to the time.

I stayed at the IP in September, and wrote what became the Wiz' official review: https://wizardofvegas.com/hotels/imperial-palace/


How bad is the buffet? Bad! I wonder what keeps it open for business.

I went in at dinnertime just to check it out, as I mentioned in that review:

Quote: Review Excerpt

I ask a couple in their 20's that had just stepped up to the desert table what they think. I ask, "I didn't pay yet. I'm just checking it out. Should I go elsewhere?" The gal says "Uuhhhmmmm..... Yyyyeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh........"

I went for brunch a different day. I would have been happier with a granola bar.

Quote: Croupier

Sounds like a plan. If we go together we can compare notes. We can sort out a date via PM closer to the time.

Deal!

I saw your review when you did it. First of all I want to say again I thought it was great.

Quote: DJTeddyBear's IP Review

Everyone I knew who has ever stayed at IP told me to avoid the buffet. But curiosity is killing me

Thats exactly how I'm feeling. If Its ass bad as everyone says, I dont understand either how it stays open. Lazy cheapskates?

I think its one of those things like when someone says "Try this, its terrible" and you do, just to see how bad it is.

Two friends of mine, who are fairly picky eaters, had the Sunday brunch last month and told me it was very good. I haven't ever eaten there, myself--but Harrah's properties generally offer good food. They probably made the restaurants better, and the gaming worse, when they ate the IP.

Perhaps it's the Ed Wood of food. It's so bad it's good ;)

I saw a Disney buffet labeled as an All-You-Can-Stand buffet in a guidebook once. Perhaps the IP one can qualify as that!

Quote: Croupier

If Its ass bad as everyone says...

I don't know if it's ASS bad, but it's bad!

Great typo!

Quote: Croupier

I think its one of those things like when someone says "Try this, its terrible" and you do, just to see how bad it is.

Yeah, that's about how it works.

My wife often asks me to confirm that the milk went bad: "Does this smell bad to you?" My reply is always, "You have about 6¢ worth of milk in there. I trust your nose. Toss it!"

Quote: Nareed

But it's... impossible to screw up oatmeal.

McDonald's hasn't rolled out the oatmeal down there yet, huh?

Quote: Nareed

If you do, I strongly advise you to buy the Harrah's/Caesars all-day buffet pass (and get a Total Rewards card first, as the price is lower with one and you don't need to wear a plastic bracelet all day). That way you won't feel as though you paid for a bad meal, and you can use the pass for a better buffet for lunch or dinner at Harrah's nearby Planet Hollywood down the way or the Rio off-Strip.

FTFY. Flavors seems to have gone downhill as of late (although we haven't been there in almost a year (holy crap)). The rest is good advice. The trick is to go for a late dinner shortly before the buffet closes (usually 10:00 PM) and get the pass then. That way you get the most bang for your buck. Wife and I hit Spice Market three times and Lago once (only because we were staying at Caesars) doing that last month. That's about $150 worth of meals for $80. Ten bucks a head is pretty good, especially for Vegas, even if you get dog food for one of your meals.

Quote: wildqat

M The trick is to go for a late dinner shortly before the buffet closes (usually 10:00 PM) and get the pass then. That way you get the most bang for your buck. .

My wife and I had planned to do exactly that!

Quote: wildqat

McDonald's hasn't rolled out the oatmeal down there yet, huh?

No fast food restaurant has ever had nay decent sort of breakfast. If anyone can screw up oatmeal, it would be one of them.

Quote:

FTFY. Flavors seems to have gone downhill as of late (although we haven't been there in almost a year (holy crap)). The rest is good advice. The trick is to go for a late dinner shortly before the buffet closes (usually 10:00 PM) and get the pass then.

Flavors was fine for dinner last May. Not as good as Rio or Paris, but pretty good overall. Breakfast at the Flamingo was good, too.

I bought passes on that schedule, too, and squeezed four meals out of each. It's the smart move, after all :)

Quote: Croupier

Sounds like a plan. If we go together we can compare notes. We can sort out a date via PM closer to the time.

I'm thinking about making a wager. According to Nareed's Laws of Las Vegas, I forget which number, the best way to enjoy a Vegas buffet is to go in with lowered expectations. But there's the IP Exception, which states: No amount of lowered expectations will work at the IP buffet. It needs to improve in order to be deemd bad.

So I'm claiming it's just one short step above inedible, right? Of course there's some comedic exaggeration (if that's even a word). We should wager on that. Say if either one of us debunks the IP Exception honestly, I'll buy you and your spouse dinner that night or lunch the next day (I'm thinking at Tony Roma's or the Peppermill, nothing fancy). Or you owe me dinner or lunch if the IP Exception withstands the test.

The only problem I see is how to judge.

Any thoughts?

Quote: Nareed

The only problem I see is how to judge.

Any thoughts?

Mmm, an interesting Wager which indeed proposes a conundrum. Independent judgement would be difficult. After discussing it with my wife, all we can think of is that at least 2 of the 3 of us have to try everything offered (meaning an early start) and then using a binary scoring system of 0 (for bad, wouldnt want more, or eat it again) or 1 for (acceptable or better, would go for seconds, would eat it again) the buffet has to score a 1 on over 50% of its offering.

eg, there are 20 options, You score 11, I score 9, and my wife scores 11 would pass as 2 out of 3 of us scored overall acceptable or better, so the IP exception would fall down.

same 20 options, You score 9, I score 10, my wife scores 10, the buffet would live up to the IP exception, as less than 50% is acceptable.

all scoring would be done independently and collated later by all of us.

It still has flaws (such as my wife not being a true control subject, but short of kidnapping and blindfolding a hobo, it would be hard to find a true control)but is the best I can come up with.

Quote: Croupier

It still has flaws (such as my wife not being a true control subject, but short of kidnapping and blindfolding a hobo, it would be hard to find a true control)but is the best I can come up with.

Take the Wiz?

Quote: Croupier

Mmm, an interesting Wager which indeed proposes a conundrum. Independent judgement would be difficult. After discussing it with my wife, all we can think of is that at least 2 of the 3 of us have to try everything offered (meaning an early start) and then using a binary scoring system of 0 (for bad, wouldnt want more, or eat it again) or 1 for (acceptable or better, would go for seconds, would eat it again) the buffet has to score a 1 on over 50% of its offering.

Pretty good. of course now it's work ;) Seriously, it's beter than what I thought.

Quote:

It still has flaws (such as my wife not being a true control subject, but short of kidnapping and blindfolding a hobo, it would be hard to find a true control)but is the best I can come up with.

Not knwoing your wife I'll abstain from comment. But there is one, well, not a flaw, but a question: what about things we don't like no matter where or how they are prepared? Take seafood and fish, for example. I can't stand either in any way, shape or form. So maybe the IP has the best quality crab, prepared by the finest chef, and yet if I tried it I'd give it a 0. And I'm picky in other ways, too.

How about this? We each try one of everything we'd usually eat, excluding things we don't like to eat or are allergic to (imagine: fine texture and flavor, required a visit to the ER; the paramedics were very nice <g>). In order not to overeat, I tend to remind myself on every buffet that it's about variety and not quantity. So this way we test how varied the buffet is as well.

The things I go trhough for a free dinner :P

Quote: Nareed

Not knwoing your wife I'll abstain from comment. But there is one, well, not a flaw, but a question: what about things we don't like no matter where or how they are prepared? Take seafood and fish, for example. I can't stand either in any way, shape or form. So maybe the IP has the best quality crab, prepared by the finest chef, and yet if I tried it I'd give it a 0. And I'm picky in other ways, too.

so is my wife.

Quote: Nareed

How about this? We each try one of everything we'd usually eat, excluding things we don't like to eat or are allergic to ( So this way we test how varied the buffet is as well.

That was part of my plan already, which is how I came up with the 2/3 number, as I thought 2 out of 3 of us should eat pretty much everything. At least we should cover all the items between us.

The wife & I made the mistake of trying the IP buffet last time in Vegas as she was absolutely starving before we were to meet her friends at the IP. It was lunch time, if that makes a difference.

Nothing was obviously rotten or made wrong, but nearly everything we had was marginal at best. It was like they used the worst possible ingredients and preparation they could possibly get away with. The only things that were decent were the fountain soft drinks and some of the desserts. Everything else was dry, tough, and tasteless, or just wrong.

Quote: Croupier

That was part of my plan already, which is how I came up with the 2/3 number, as I thought 2 out of 3 of us should eat pretty much everything. At least we should cover all the items between us.

It sounds more like two out of two out of three :)

We should cover everything. I'd settle for covering 90% of everything, though. But short of roping up another innocent victim, I don't see what else we can do.

Quote: Nareed

It sounds more like two out of two out of three :)

Well, you know what Meat Loaf ( who people tell me I bear an uncanny reseblance too) Said: "Dont be sad, 'cos two out of three aint bad."

Quote: Nareed

We should cover everything. I'd settle for covering 90% of everything, though. But short of roping up another innocent victim, I don't see what else we can do.

Agreed.

Quote: Croupier

Well, you know what Meat Loaf ( who people tell me I bear an uncanny reseblance too) Said: "Dont be sad, 'cos two out of three aint bad."

So you're handsome as well as witty? I never much cared for that song, but I like many of his other works. I love "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."

Quote:

Agreed.

It's settled then. Now we sit and wait for June.... Time enough to build a good appetite.

Quote: Nareed

So you're handsome as well as witty?

Handsome? Not really. More overweight with long hair.

Quote: Croupier

Handsome? Not really. More overweight with long hair.

That doesn't rule out handsome, but then read what I said bout men in the GLBT section.

In any case, any time you want I can get you strated on my diet. According to my coworkers I've lost an impressive amount of weight. the basics are in my blog right here.

We ate at the IP buffet last summer. It is very plain, with limited selections. I thought
the cost was a bit too high for what you got EVEN after using 2 for 1 Coupons !

The IP buffet is hands down the worst buffet I've had in Vegas. I just hope that this thread reaches someone in time before they take the plunge. Weird thing is, I am not picky at all in my food selection. A trip to the local CiCi's Pizza suits me just fine. This buffet left me at a loss for words. I remember eating nothing but stroganoff and a few desserts (I'm not a dessert person, dessert just seemed like making the best of a bad situation). I left the buffet a little sad and a little depressed. The meal was comped and I still felt ripped off. To quote Jim Mora, "It sucked. It stunk."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tie0tz7jGDI

Others had told me to stay away, but none of those same people had actually eaten at the buffet. I thought that they were just equating the casino with the buffet.