Worst buffet

We've talked about the best buffet, now the flip side. In my opinion the best candidates for worst buffet are the Sahara, Riviera, and Arizona Charlie's Decatur. It is hard to pick just one, but if forced, Arizona Charlie's.

I heard the one at the Excalibur is awful, they also have that dine all day for $25, seems like a great deal to only spend $25 on food, but Vegas has some of the best restaurants, why would anyone want to limit themselves to one location; not to mention the excalibur is a very boring place.

I mentioned this somewhere on the best buffet, but yeah Excalibur is horrible: I ended out eating soft serve the entire time with some watermelon.

The Excalibur buffet was good when it first opened. However, it has been decades, and that place has not exactly gone uphill.

Lest we forget ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtkpTrvwQ6c

"I'll have some of the yellow, and don't get cheap on me."

Quote: MrV

Lest we forget ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtkpTrvwQ6c

"I'll have some of the yellow, and don't get cheap on me."

I love Vegas Vacation it's my favorite Vegas/Casino type movie! I went to the Mirage last October looking for the coffee shop they went to in the movie and its gone (Along with the mouth entrance to the MGM, the Stardust sign that is visible from their hotel room, Sigfreid and Roy, and the Keno lounge at MGm w/ Sid Caesar)!

I think the Gold Coast had grilled cheeses as one of it's offerings.

Never been any of these places, but Fitzgerald's, Imperial Palace and Circus Circus are rumored to be hard to beat.

Harrah's isn't normally, but we were there 1/2/10, and holy hell was it bad. Hopefully it was due to extended hangovers and not them slipping in quality.

Harrah's Lake Tahoe was pretty lousy too, nothing exciting being offered. We like to tip the servers/plate runners when we go to buffets since they are doing the majority of the work, when we paid upfront to get in we didnt tip on the credit card charge and they stamped a big stamp on our receipt saying "gratuity is not included" lame.....

Well, if we're going outside Vegas, Harrah's Laughlin advertised "Steak Night" on Friday nights (this was November 2008). After getting all psyched up, the "steak" station was serving overdone roast beef under the guise of "prime rib."

Quote: Wizard

It is hard to pick just one, but if forced, Arizona Charlie's.

Terrible's buffet lives up to its name. I'd add an extra R, because it's terrrible.

There would be several considerations in evaluating a buffet as being bad much less in nominating it for the designation of being the worst in town.

Buffets can be judged on the food, the delays involved, the blandness of the overall casino experience, the price, etc. I think its often a question of the food and the expectations involved.

I've heard rumors of the Wynn buffet having markedly deteriorated of late, but I'm sure its quality is fairly good when not being judged in comparison to prices and expectations.

My vote would go to Terribles as being the worst. Yet, I think it might be borne in mind that its a lousy casino, with lousy dealers and lousy drink service. Therefore expectations concerning its buffet would be low yet even with those low expectations, it would still get votes for being the worst in town.

Now that buffets are often an "all day" enticement for a gambler to remain at a particular casino, perhaps quality will improve in some casinos. One thing is certain: I am never going to go back to Terribles for any reason at all, much less to do a taste test of the worst buffets.

I'm not a big buffet kind of guy (coffee shops are more versatile), so I can only remember being to four in town. They're close, but here's how I'd rank them:

1. Gold Coast (all meals)
2. Santa Fe Station (breakfast)
3. Eastside Cannery (lunch)
4. Fremont (breakfast)

The Fremont is at the bottom of this list, but I didn't actually think it was bad.

I've tried two buffets for breakfast: Sahara and IP. Both were edible, if not particularly good. At IP I settled on the omelette station and some hot grits. I've tried others for dinner, none of which were remarkable, but the Stratosphere and Golden Nugget were rather good.

When I stayed at the Sahara you got a discount for the dinner buffet if you had a players card. I tried it once. I didn't try it a second time.

My paretns and grandparents, who visited Vegas in the 70s, 80s and 90s, would talk a lot about buffets. Mostly they talked of the quantity of food available and how cheap it was. It's still cheap for the quantity you can consume (all you want, really). But then in the 70s and 80s Vegas dind't have dozens of high end restaurants.

If the overall quality of the legendary Vegas buffet has gone down, it may be due to those high end eateries. I'm sure the latter have a higher profit margin, and they certainly required a larger investment.

I work in food suppy and services. I know a little about how massive amounts of food are prepared. One common trick of the trade is to use lower quality supplies for things that are going to be blended, mashed or pureed. So for example lots of spotted, pitted and bruised tomatoes wind up being used in spaghetti sauce or in salsa while the pristine and pretty ones are used in salads. For meat that will be overcooked, used in a stew or will stay in a hot table some time after it's prepared, you use tougher, lower grade meat. And you don't want to know what can go into a burger.

Freshness and serving temperature also make a big diference. Even the finest cut of meat made by the best chef won't be as good thrity minutes after it's cooked. The serving temperature is important because a large part of taste is actually smell. When you eat something you inhale molecules that evaporate from it, and you "taste" those with your olfactory receptors (yes, you inhale through the mouth, some of it winds up in smell receptors in the nose). That's why cold soup doesn't taste as good as hot soup, and why iced tea tastes diferently from hot tea.

So it would be a waste of a fine cut to be left waiting 40 minutes or more on a hot table. Not to mention you won't get as much money for it as you would in a restaurant with a hard to pronounce name. And I'm not even considering the number of meals sold per hour of operation yet.

Best bet: stick to buffets with live cooking stations where you know the food will be freshly made; avoid items from the hot tables unless they can withstand that kind of treatment (like, for example, breakfast sausages); salad bars are ok, since raw veggies keep fresh a long time; liquid items like soup, chili or porridge can be left in a hot container for a long time without much degradation (except a well-made french onion soup; that's got to be fresh and with melted cheese on top). Desserts should also be ok.

Nareed -

Excellent insight on the food service industry.

I have my own rules about buffets: The wetter the item is, the easier it is to keep hot on a steam table, and therefore, the better it's going to taste.

If there is a tray of sliced steak for example, if it's sitting in gravy, it's going to keep longer and taste better than dry items. Fried chicken is fine for a few minutes. But avoid it if it been sitting there. Pancakes and waffles should only be taken the instant the staff puts them out - and even then, they're gonna be cold by the time you get to your table.

Moisture / liquid is the key. It maintains and transmits heat better than air.

The steam makes the tray hot, but only the portion of the food that touches the tray benefits. If the tray has liquid in it, then the liquid gets hot, and THAT keeps the food hot. That's why soup is never a problem.


On a side note, when you have a picnic and you have a barrel full of soda and beer filled with ice, add some cold water. The ice keeps the water cold and the water keeps the bottles cold. Otherwise, the ice only cools the bottles where they actually make contact....until the ice melts enough, etc.

Quote: Nareed

...And you don't want to know what can go into a burger.

My grandfather was a Health Inspector for New York City. He used to yell at me when I ate hot dogs: "You're eating lips!" I still eat hot dogs....

Quote: Wizard

We've talked about the best buffet, now the flip side. In my opinion the best candidates for worst buffet are the Sahara, Riviera, and Arizona Charlie's Decatur. It is hard to pick just one, but if forced, Arizona Charlie's.

It is gone now, but New Frontier's was awful. Before I came to Vegas to visit the first time I heard about the "cheap food all over the place." Well, when you ate cheap you got cheap. $13.99 at the time, price looked good but there was some bad looking prime-rib, a bunch of bad looking sides, and nearly no deserts. I passed.

It wasn't a "true" buffet as you ordered coffee-shop fare in the same dining room. Some other people ordered the buffet and within 15 mins they closed it for the night. They complained to the manager, who to his credit comped them instantly.

I think when it comes to buffets in Vegas or anywhere you can tell if it is awful at a glance. Though similar ones can be deceptive. When I stay at the Flamingo I go down to Harrah's for the breakfast buffet. It is just better by a little.

Big strip casino? Excalibur by far.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

On a side note, when you have a picnic and you have a barrel full of soda and beer filled with ice, add some cold water. The ice keeps the water cold and the water keeps the bottles cold. Otherwise, the ice only cools the bottles where they actually make contact....until the ice melts enough, etc.

I'm at work and short on time, so I'll comment some mroe later. Meantime, what you say is indeed so. But there's an even better way to keep kegs, bottles and cans cool: fill the cooler with ice and then add some salt on top of the ice. This way the ice melts quickly but retains its temperature. If needed add cold water.

The Mythbusters did that one on a show that tested various types of cooling. The fastest way was to hose the cans down with a CO2 fire extinguisher, it was also the most expensive. A good second is to place a bottle in the freezer for ten to 15 minutes. Mind you, a plastci bottle. Never a glass bottle or a can. Those will blow up when the fluid inside freezes.

I'm not picky and like most buffets, but Terrible's is one that I won't go back to. Ironically, I like the rest of the property. Their coffee shop is pretty good.
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Gold Coast/Orleans are cheap AND good. Silverton is the best of the "upper-middle class" buffets.
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Palms isn't particularly bad, but it's VERY weak for the type of property they purport to be.
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I was shocked at how good/extensive Rampart was for the price. Definitely worth checking out if you are out there; the property has a lot to recommend it.

Fitzgerald's buffet was really bad when I ate there three years ago. On the strip, my vote goes to Flamingo for being the worst.

Someone mentioned Harrah's Lake Tahoe. It's been ten years since I've been there, but it's probably the buffet with the best view in America. I don't remember what the food tasted like, but the scenery was breathtaking.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I have my own rules about buffets: The wetter the item is, the easier it is to keep hot on a steam table, and therefore, the better it's going to taste.

This is partly so. Hot gooey, moist or fluid items won't lose much in the way of volatiles, and better yet they won't dry out. But some things will dry out or crust over. A proper onion soup has wine in it, and if you keep it simmering too long all of it will vanish, for eample. Some kinds of gravy form crusts when enough fluid evaporates (they look quite unapetizing, too.)

Quote:

Fried chicken is fine for a few minutes. But avoid it if it been sitting there.

Absolutely. Notice that roasted chickens are served right off the roaster. Even KFC doesn't keep chicken out too long.

Quote:

My grandfather was a Health Inspector for New York City. He used to yell at me when I ate hot dogs: "You're eating lips!" I still eat hot dogs....

You know the old German saying "One should not examine too closely how laws and sausages are made." Low-quality hamburger isn't that bad. Mostly if you want cheap ground beef, you'll take pre-cuts and grind them. A pre-cut is a larger piece of beef not cut down to serving size. Often it's full of veins, nerves, gristle and other edible but not quite appetizing parts. A particularly low-grade burger will use some cow organs not commonly eaten by people, such as cow heart (it smells just like beef, but it's tougher and bitter).

Quote: Nareed

You know the old German saying "One should not examine too closely how laws and sausages are made."

I like old sayings like that. One of my favorite is Pecunia non olet.

I can almost understand that :)

I think vegas should adopt "Caveat emptor" as its slogan, at least as far as tourists are concerned.

Tourists, of course, at least the newbies aong them, come thinking "Vini, vidi, vici."

Quote: Nareed

...

I think vegas should adopt "Caveat emptor" as its slogan, at least as far as tourists are concerned.

Tourists, of course, at least the newbies aong them, come thinking "Vini, vidi, vici."

I think the slogan at the airport should read "Proxima sed non corona."



Apparently it means "Close, but no cigar"

courtesy of a Latin Joke Site so dont know how accurate the latin is.

Quote: Croupier

I think the slogan at the airport should read "Proxima sed non corona."



Apparently it means "Close, but no cigar"

courtesy of a Latin Joke Site so dont know how accurate the latin is.

That would be even better!

Of course, ask a Mexican national, or a californian, and they'll tell you it means "close but no beer." Naturally the meaning of "corona" has to be beer. In that sense, it would be better to use a different Mexican beer: Victoria :)

Actually in Spanish "corona" means "crown." There is a corona brand of cigars as well as beers. But the word that definitely says cigar and sounds halway Latin is "Havana." Ok, vulgar Latin.

Quote: Nareed

In that sense, it would be better to use a different Mexican beer: Victoria :)

Actually in Spanish "corona" means "crown." There is a corona brand of cigars as well as beers. But the word that definitely says cigar and sounds halfway Latin is "Havana." Ok, vulgar Latin.

Vulgar Latin was sometimes referred to as romanice loqui or "to speak in Roman" which eventually became Romance Languages. We refer to all the languages that descended from Latin (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, and the smaller ones like Catalan, Galician, Corsican, etc.) as Romance languages.

I think that Mexicans love Victoria because it isn't exported. You never see gringo's drinking Victoria.

Quote: nyuhoosier

Terrible's buffet lives up to its name. I'd add an extra R, because it's terrrible.

OK, well I'll cast a dissenting vote on Terrible's, AT LEAST for BREAKFAST. Because...

a) Excellent and relatively quick made to order ommelettes.
b) Some Fresh Fruit & good yogurt.
c) INEXPENSIVE. The point level redemptions for a Breakfast buffet are pretty low, especially if you
rack up some points on a bonus day.

I will acknowledge that at one time they had the rudest 80-ish year old lady at the cash register, but
I don't think she works there any longer.

I understand that the Sahara buffett is now closed. I've heard some pretty awful things about the IP buffett, but I've never sampled it myself.

Quote: ruascott

I understand that the Sahara buffett is now closed. I've heard some pretty awful things about the IP buffett, but I've never sampled it myself.

Sahara buffet remains closed. They resort has two coffee shops & Steakhouse only. Riviera is only open for breakfast and lunch. Stratosphere is $20/day, Circus Circus is $25/day. Hilton is $13, $14, $18 Breakfast Lunch Dinner (no all day package).

Am I the only one around here that would put Caesar's in the running?

I've had two very bad experiences with their buffet, including quality, quantity, service and price.

IMO, the worst of the major strip hotels.

Quote: JohnnyQ

OK, well I'll cast a dissenting vote on Terrible's, AT LEAST for BREAKFAST. Because...

a) Excellent and relatively quick made to order ommelettes.
b) Some Fresh Fruit & good yogurt.
c) INEXPENSIVE. The point level redemptions for a Breakfast buffet are pretty low, especially if you
rack up some points on a bonus day.

I will acknowledge that at one time they had the rudest 80-ish year old lady at the cash register, but
I don't think she works there any longer.

Based on this review, I might give Terrible's another go for breakfast -- it's hard to screw up breakfast. Somehow the buffet at Buffalo Bills in Primm (called Miss Kitty's or something like that) did screw up breakfast though. I wouldn't eat there again if it were free.

If you are going to Terrible's, they do a great breakfast in the cafe with two eggs, two pancakes and choice of meat for 2.99. The pancakes are HUGE. I couldn't finish them. If you going to play, though, you might as well earn enough points for a free buffet because, as the previous poster said, it's a pretty easy comp to get. Then you could get yourself a made-to-order omelet.

FIRST POST!

My vote is for Imperial Palace.

Quote: Wizard

The Excalibur buffet was good when it first opened. However, it has been decades, and that place has not exactly gone uphill.

Circus Circus


Excalibur


Luxor ($30 weekday, $35 weekends)


As we discussed earlier, Excalibur is one of the most profitable strip casino that Vegas owns. Last quarter
Excalibur had an operating income of $8.238 million vs.
Mandalay Bay $1.867 million and,
Mirage $9.819 million and,
Circus Circus operating loss -$3.646 million.

Logically you would think that there would be a decision coming soon on what to do with Circus Circus. It would make much more sense to sell Mirage than Excalibur

I am sure that there is a whole task force on how to restore profitability to the Mandalay Bay mostly by restoring revenue (not so much from cutting costs). But you could probably spend a little of that profit money at the Excalibur by getting some better food for the buffet. It wouldn't take much to buy the loyalty of the customers who like the location of the Excalibur and don't expect a lot else. However, my guess is that they have the same food at Excalibur as they do at Circus Circus. The difference of $5 in the price has more to do with what the market will bear than the expenses.

Quote: pacomartin

Logically you would think that there would be a decision coming soon on what to do with Circus Circus. It would make much more sense to sell Mirage than Excalibur

Yeah but MGM Excalibur doesn't quite have the same ring to it. ;)

MGM Mirage to Become MGM Resorts International .

They have registered to change the name already. The company insists that the name change is not a signal of their intention to sell the Mirage.

I am sure that the company does not want to sell the Mirage. Treasure Island was profitable, and they didn't get that much money for the property. Mirage has probably very little money borrowed against the property. But City Center is a money sink and with all the properties down, there is a lot less cash to fill the hole.

It would be hard to see how they could sell any other property, they are so physically linked to each other. MGM could sell the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur that they bought only 5 years ago, but you would have to sell it for a fraction of what they paid for it. At least with Mirage it is small enough and famous enough that there would be a reasonable number of interested bidders (including Harrah's which would consider it a nice addition to their line-up.

MIRAGE Cravings Buffet

The worst buffet I have personally eaten was the Orleans dinner buffet on a Thursday or Friday night about a year ago. It was awful. My wife and daughter ate some listless salad and dinner rolls. I ate, but not well.

There's a reason why this place gives away 2 for 1 coupons.

Quote: JohnnyQ

OK, well I'll cast a dissenting vote on Terrible's, AT LEAST for BREAKFAST. Because...

a) Excellent and relatively quick made to order ommelettes.
b) Some Fresh Fruit & good yogurt.
c) INEXPENSIVE. The point level redemptions for a Breakfast buffet are pretty low, especially if you
rack up some points on a bonus day.

I will acknowledge that at one time they had the rudest 80-ish year old lady at the cash register, but
I don't think she works there any longer.

UPDATE: Went to Terrible's in LV for the b-fast buffet and it is NOW totally AVERAGE. No reason to drive there from the Strip now. So I rescind my earlier comments. The made to order ommelette station is gone, and that was a nice reason to go there. I think there revision to the set-up is penny wise and pound foolish.

Thanks for the update. Was the rude cashier still there? I wonder if she moved to the coffee shop at Primm Valley.

The staff is friendly enough, but I'd like to see the Mktg dept use a font larger than "microscopic" in the fine print on their funbook !

I've only been to two - at the Luxor 10+ years ago and the IP a couple years ago. Luxor was great way back then.

We hit the IP for lunch our first day in after a long flight & settling in our room. It was probably about the same quality & selection of food as you'd get at a Homestyle/old Country Buffet restaurant. Not as good as Golden Corral though. And definitely more expensive than either of those. Not worth the price.

I would rank Circus Circus as the worst buffet that I've had on the strip.

Within the past year I've had Paris x1, Bellagio x4, and Monte Carlo x1. I would rank Monte Carlo as the worst of the 3 and Bellagio the best. I still think its crazy that they are all within a few dollars of each other when there is such a big difference in quality. I have yet to try the Harrahs all day buffet, but the next time I stay closer to Ballys on the strip I intend to try hitting up all 7 buffets in 24hrs if I can find someone to do it with me.

Back in the day, the Circus Circus buffet buffet was $2.99. It was quite possibly overpriced. We would often go there, though, after a long day of getting reamed at the tables, and we would console ourselves with the fact that we were getting a bargain. My girlfriend summed it up nicely one night: "Look at it this way--it's cheaper than food."

Anyone know how to make this into a poll that tallies results ?

Anyway, the WORST we have come across this trip was IMPERIAL PALACE, especially considering the price, which was only a few bucks less than the nicer places. ( Even using a 2 for 1 coupon, I think we got hosed ). Live and learn.

I'm a bit of a cheapskate myself, so I understand the logic of getting a hotel room at Imperial Palace for $100 or $200 less than what Bellagio would charge. But only $3 separates the worst buffet one the Strip ($13 weekday breakfast at Imperial Palace) from the best ($16 weekday breakfast at Bellagio). Personally, I'm willing to part with $3 if the meal is substantially better. But if you're that much of a cheapskate, you're better off having breakfast at M Resort for only $10.

So how does Imperial Palace get away with it? Ignorant tourists unfamiliar with the market.