Forget the Wynn Buffet

I had the Wynn Buffet a few times this week, using up some comps, and man, is it not worth it anymore. Their cost is about $40 bucks a head, and you get about the usual buffet fare, or maybe a little less. They have no broccoli at the salad station or elsewhere, no spinach, and not much else to choose from at the salad station other than mixed field greens. Next, the susshi isn't even sushi, it's fried shrimp in rice or crab meat in rice, no sashimi either. There desserts are stale every time, and there are slim pickins to start - not even soft serve ice cream. I could go on, but the gist is that there is much less than one would expect for their meal price, and you're much better off at The M, Bellagio, Spice Market (at PH), Red Rock, or a number of others. The only high notes there are the fresh live action pasta station and the GIANT Alaskan King Crab legs, which are pre-cut in half (sliced down the middle), which I still don't think justifies the price of admittance. The first time I was ever there was New Years 2008/2009, and it was amazing that night, but the way it is now is pretty pathetic, and the 2/3 empty buffet room evidences this pretty well. The M still has a line on their buffet every night.

I'd have to agree. I took my parents there for dinner the first night we were in Las Vegas. I talked it up being it was my third visit to the buffet. We were disappointed that we waited 1.5 hours for a sub-optimal offering. Real sushi, please. I tried to eat my revenge of the price in crab legs and smoked salmon...I probably only made a $20 dent. At least I paid for costs of the buffet with my winnings from the craps table, which is conveniently the first table seen entering the casino (besides the wheel of fortune...BLAH).

Just got back from staying at the Wynn and I would have to agree the buffet has gone downhill over the last couple of years. We ate there for Saturday dinner, Sunday brunch, and Monday breakfast. The Sunday brunch is way overpriced! About 30% of the food on Sunday morning was leftovers from Saturday night's dinner.. I mean really, chicken soup and clam chowder for breakfast??? On Sunday, I recommend eating instead at the Terrace Cafe, which is about the same price as the standard Mon-Sat buffet breakfast price, when you include a beverage.

There were also lots of miscues. Their prime rib was overcooked and had no crust on it at all. Not just once, which could have been an accident, but every time we ate there. The turkey gravy was not at the turkey carving station, but down at the prime rib carving station. Huh?

We also ate dinner at the Bellagio buffet and it was head and shoulders above the Wynn. About 50% more seafood selections, if you was into that - including several types of sushi. More variety, more deserts and fresh fruit. And it was about $5 cheaper per person too. It was more crowded and we did have a slight wait before we were seated. The room was bigger too. But over all, it was much, much better than the Wynn's buffet.

We had the buffet at the Wynn in January 2009 and then again a couple of weekends ago. We found that the buffet did have a great selection and was very organized. Food was at the right temperature and was fresh. The selection was great enough that we could not sample everything on the menu without being totally stuffed. When we had the prime rib, there was a crust on it, and it was cooked to the medium side of medium rare. We didn't eat the turkey.

It was definitely overpriced (by about 30%), as is everything at the Wynn, with the possible exception of the Terrace Point Cafe. When you are paying so much for a buffet, you do want it to be perfect.

We did not eat there for breakfast at all.

I will be arriving in Vegas for the first time April 3. I have heard so much about the buffets that I am going to have to try it out for myself. I have narrowed my choices down to 3 which are the Bellagio, Wynn and Rio. After reading this thread I am stuck between the Bellagio and the Rio. The one thing that is a must is the king crab. Any advise? I have heard that at some places the king crab is served cool. I think I would perfer to have it hot.

Yahoo Answers says go for the Bellagio in general. I would probably second that.

Just a follow up here.. Stayed at Encore last weekend and I have to say the Buffet at Wynn has improved quite a bit since I was last there in March. It's still pricey, but all problems I encountered last time were all gone - the prime rib was good and had a nice crust, the turkey gravy was there at the turkey carving station, and in general, everything seemed better. They still were serving the previous dinner's leftover at breakfast the next day - again with the chicken soup and clam chowder at breakfast, But maybe that's what people want - I also noticed other dinner-type dishes at breakfast.

I did notice some new dishes. At breakfast, there was an item called "American pancake" which I found very yummy. It was a sweet dollar-sized pancake covered with a slice of cheddar cheese, a cut of slab bacon, and peach compote. On Saturday and Sunday morning, they did not have their chicken-apple sausages that they had on Friday morning, which was a disappointment.

All in all, I think the Wynn's buffet has regained some of the luster it lost last time. It's still a bit pricey, but at least it doesn't feel like a complete rip off now. I still prefer the Bellagio's buffet, but my wife prefers the Wynn's. Personally, I think they are pretty close now, with the edge going to Bellagio simply because they have more options and (as of last March anyway) slightly cheaper.

Also tried the buffet at Aria and it sucked. But more on that in the Aria forum...

I'm not sure that I'm a buffet fan any more if it's more than, oh, $30, or isn't comped. My thinking is, no matter how good the food is (or isn't) at any one of these, I can only eat so much. Buffets, to me, are meant for face-stuffing far more than quality. If I want a really fine meal, I can go spend $60 - $80 at some nice restaurant (like SeaBlue at MGM or the like), and if I want a super-duper fine meal, I can spend a few hundred at one of the 5-stars on the strip (Prime, etc.).

IMHO, the *perfect* buffet in Vegas - "perfect" = "price matches purpose and not necessarily the highest quality" is at Flamingo; Hilton, South Point, and GVR are also barking up the "price matches purpose" tree.

I know we all go to buffets for different reasons ... this is just one guy's take!

I agree. The prices are getting up into the realms of nice restaurants. In fact, on the way home, my wife suggested we go to a non-buffet restaurant next time. It would be about the same price.

I've found Wynn, Bellagio, and Aria buffets to be inconsistent, improved on some visits, worse on others, with no trends. Breakfast (but not weekend brunch) at Wynn and Bellagio are usually palatable and reasonable values for the money, lunch and dinner fluctuate from mediocre to poor and rarely justify their price. Aria is more often disappointing at any meal and plays annoying and grating music at obtrusive volume.