Buffet to the max
March 25th, 2013There’s a lot to be said about buffet dining; good and bad. Some love it while others can think of nothing worse. But if you’re travelling through the USA and Las Vegas is on the menu, then you you really have to go and see it for yourself! And while the 99c buffets may have all but gone, there is still quality and value to be had in the city of high rollers.
The Stage: famous for the phrase “dinner and a show”, Vegas is renown for aging divas, dance troupe’s and a million Cirque du Soleil shows. But for many in the land where size really does matter, it’s the grandeur of the buffet on offer that determines how good the experience will be. And after asking around many of the locals and tourists, one name kept on popping up; The Bellagio. This hotel truly is an opulent, grandiose statement. Fountains, marble, glass tapestries and sheer size bring the chinz of the make-believe closer to reality. Even for the non-gambler, this place is impressive. But with that much cash rolling into their coffers, it’s no wonder the fit-out is so good.
The Food: take no reservations, just stand in line! Aptly named, “The Buffet” draws a crowd… a big crowd (it seats around 600!) and you can expect to line before you dine. But for $20.99 for lunch, it was well worth the wait. Live cooking stations, expansive French rotisseries laden with meats, petit fours a-plenty and enough seafood feed a blue whale. The focus here is on Italian, Japanese and Chinese fare with some American classics like Gumbo fried catfish thrown in. Mountains of king crab and snow crab legs were disappearing like a high-roller bleeding chips on a losing streak. And the bottomless champagne glass was a nice touch.
All in all, the lunch buffet at the Bellagio was pretty good, even for buffet-averse like myself. One tip: stick to one variety of food and don’t be tempted into eating more than you know you should. One young boy at my table (closely related to me) ate more than two grown men would, and paid the price for it later. Sometimes lessons in dining etiquette are best learned by experience.
