A Las Vegas Buffet

Here are my rankings of local Las Vegas Buffets: 1. Green Valley Ranch 2. Red Rock Casino 3. Rio Hotel 4. The Palms 5. Rampart 6. South Point 7. Sun Coast 8. Silverton 9. Sunset Station 10. Texas Station 11. Fiesta Rancho 12. Orleans 13. Sams Town 14. Gold Coast 15. Fiesta Henderson 16. Boulder Station 17. Palace Station 18. Arizona Charlies Boulder 19. Arizona Charlies Decatur. The rankings were based primarily on food quality and did not factor in prices or service.

It’s been slightly over a year since my last review of the French Market Buffet at the Orleans, and I’m sorry to say that the buffet has gone down hill. After this evening’s dinner buffet I am struggling to find something very positive to say about what I had to eat. I ended up trying many different dishes since I left most of them unfinished, I had barbecued  beef ribs (old, kinda tasteless), short ribs (okay), sweet and sour pork (virtually meat free), and lasagna (bland, overcooked). I also tried their Boston Chowder, and I laid it aside after one spoonful. The fact that they were serving Boston Chowder and not Clam Chowder exemplifies the biggest problem with the French Market Buffet, it’s very obvious that everything possible is being done to squeeze every dime of profit out of the buffet. In addition to the lack of clam chowder, the eggs rolls were cheap vegetarian rolls, no meat egg rolls were offered; there was no carved beef to be found, just chicken and ham; there was no cooking to order that I could find; and they keep their desserts and frozen yogurt behind glass, you have to ask for a dessert. The buffet would be okay at $8.95, although nothing special, but at $12.95 and up, depending on which night you are eating there, it rates a D for value. I’ll give it a C- for quality, B for service. The Station Casino’s worst buffet has this beat, and many of them are less expensive as well.

My young son and I stayed at the Fiesta Henderson recently and ate at the Festival Buffet. The buffet has a number of stations, including Barbecue, Chinese, Mexicano, American, and Italian (the Mandarin station was closed the night we ate there. I had a hard time filling my plate, most of the food didn’t appeal to me, and I was hungry. I eventually settled for pork egg rolls (really good), penne pasta with marinara sauce (bland, I didn’t finish it), and Salisbury steak (below average). I skipped the dry looking roasts at the carving cart, and the only other live cooking I saw was at the Mexicano station, I probably should have tried whatever they were cooking. I got a desert, apple cobbler with ice cream, and it was average.

My son didn’t have the same problem filling his plate, and he loved his quesadilla and penne pasta with alfredo sauce so much that he only took a couple of spoonfuls of the ice cream that he got for desert. Worse, the salad bar was as uninviting as the rest of the food, and I didn’t bother getting him a plate of fresh fruit, as is the custom when visiting a buffet with my kids.

Now I can’t complain about the price, I used an American Casino Guide 2-for-1 coupon and got the tow meals for less than $10. The price, alone, would make me return, but only with a coupon. The service was pleasant enough, nothing stands out as being either really good or bad.

I would rate the food C-, value B, service B.

While staying at Boulder Station for 2 nights I had the opportunity to eat at their buffet twice, once for dinner, once for breakfast. The buffet at Boulder Station is reminiscent of the way buffets in Las Vegas used to be, with very little live cooking, limited selection, and rock bottom prices. Breakfast was just $4.99, and dinner was $9.99. Steak, shrimp, and crab legs are available for an extra charge. For dinner I had pork ribs, salad, fried chicken, and mashed potatoes. The ribs were good, the rest was fair. I would always suggest getting pork ribs at a buffet if there isn’t much live cooking, since pork ribs get better the longer they sit, unlike most entrees. I’d rate the dinner a C for quality, B for service, B for value. Breakfast was about the same, although there were eggs cooked to order. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to eat at the Boulder Station Buffet, it’s mediocre, although the price is right, but if you are staying there and in a hurry it’s passable.

I have read many positive comments about Red Rock Casino’s Feast Buffet, so I decided to take the long drive west (Red Rock is located on far West Charleston, just before Red Rock Canyon). It was worth the drive.

The live cooking stations are Italian, American, Sushi, Barbecue, Asian, and International, with the International serving principally Mexican food. The salad bar has a wide variety of fresh fruit and salad ingredients. The desert bar has perhaps the widest selection of deserts in town, with multiple flavor of homemade gelato complimenting the cakes, cookies, and ice cream.

Take the little extra time to get your food freshly prepared and you will really be happy about that you chose to eat at the Red Rock Feast Buffet.

The buffet is open from 8am-10pm Monday through Thursday, and 8am-11pm Friday and Saturday. They do not shut down between meals, which is something I appreciate since I often eat at weird times. Breakfast is served 8am-11am and costs $8.99, $7.99 with a player’s card, Lunch is 11am-4pm and costs $10.99, $9.99 with a player’s card, and dinner is served after 4pm, and costs $17.99/$15.99 Monday-Thursday, $18.99/$16.99 Friday and Saturday. Saturday and Sunday Champagne Brunch is served 8am to 4pm and costs $18.99/$16.99.

Buffets are half price when you pay with points at Terrible’s Casino at the corner of Flamingo and Paradise. Combined with their many slot promotions, including triple points on Sundays and Thursdays,  this could be an easy buffet to earn. The quailty of the buffet itself is average, but it’s a great deal when you can get it just after a little gambling.

Arizona Charlies is running a special promotion, if you join their slot club and earn 100 points on the same day you get a free buffet. This is good at both Ariznoa Charlies - the one on Boulder Highway and the one on Decatur.

This is a reprint of an article I wrote for general distribution over the internet:

Las Vegas has to be the undisputed buffet capital of the world, with over 50 located in the hotel-casinos. These buffets range from very cheap, around $10 for dinner, to fairly expensive, with $62 the highest price for a Sunday Brunch on the Strip, and from overcooked pasta and meatloaf to caviar and lobster. But the question we will be considering is - which Las Vegas buffet can honestly call itself the best?

When considering which Las Vegas Buffet is the best, you first have to ask is does price effect your decision? If price is important then we will be smart to look at the non-Strip casinos. The Orleans has some great barbeque, chinese and cajun food, Sunset Station serves up very good freshly cooked entrees, and Rampart Casino is a solid buffet with weekly seafood and steak nights. They all serve dinner buffets in the $10-$15 range. But when you consider price and quality, no local casino can beat the buffets at Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock Station. They both have plenty of live cooking, quality food, and are priced around $16.

Downtown has two solid buffets. The buffet at Main Street Station is very good, way above average, and has been chosen by various organizations as the best in town. While that rating is unwarranted, it is a good buffet. The other good downtown buffet is the one at the Golden Nugget. While it is not anywhere near as good as it was whe Steve Wynn owned the place, it serves okay food at a good price.

Now if price doesn’t matter, the best Las Vegas buffets are located in the Strip hotels. There really isn’t a bad buffet on the Strip, but the great ones are at The Mirage, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and Bellagio. All offer a wide selection of great food and lots of live cooking stations. But there can only be one best, and that best is The Sterling Brunch Buffet at the Steakhouse in Bally’s. This Sunday brunch is served from 9:30 - 2:30 Sunday and offers unlimited Champagne, Sturgeon caviar, lobster, sushi, omelets and beef tenderloin, just for starters. At $62 it’s far and away the most expensive buffet in Las Vegas, but it’s undeniably the best.

I have stayed at the Orleans Hotel more than any other Las Vegas hotel. I like the rooms, sportsbook, restaurants, movie theater, bowling center, kids tyme, and the buffet. The room rates are usually among the lowest in town, and typically the hotels that have lower rates aren’t as good as the Orleans.

As for the French Market Buffet at the Orleans, it features American, Barbecue, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Mongolian, and Seafood stations. I can highly recommend the barbecue station, the pork ribs and the sauce are as good as the ribs and sauce I have had in barbecue only restaurants. The chinese and madarin selections is above average for a buffet, the Coast casinos have always had really good chinese food. The seafood selection is good, but don’t expect to see lobsters and crab legs. The Italian is okay, a little overcooked for my tastes. Same for the Mexican food, all okay, without much standing out. The American station has New Orleans dishes along with some more typical American food, and the food ranges from ordinary to above average.

The salad bar is large and well maintained. The desert selection and quality rivals all but the top Strip buffets. I don’t usually eat many breakfast buffets, but I have eaten breakfast at the Orleans and I can highly recommend it if you get an omelet and skip the powdered eggs.

The service is efficient and polite, but usually not personable. I would assume that is bacuse of the huge size of the buffet.

Prices are competitive, much lower than the Strip, although there are lower priced buffets in town. Breakfast is $6.45, Lunch $7.45, Dinner and Sunday Brunch $12.95, Monday Seafood $16.95, and Wednesday Steak $13.95.

I give the Orleans solid B’s all around, for service, value, and food. If your favorite food is barbecue you’ll rate it even higher. Buy a copy of the American Casino Guide and you’ll get a 2-for-1 buffet coupon for the Orleans buffet and over a dozen other Las Vegas buffets.

The Rampart Buffet is another of my all-time favorites, and I also like the casino. While it lacks the multiple numbers of fresh cooking stations that I like, the carving station consistently serves up juicy Prime Rib, and the other buffet entrees, whether they are Italian pasta, Mexican food, or traditional American favorites like meatloaf, are usually tasty and not as overcooked as most buffets. The salad bar, while not spectacular, serves a decent selection of fruits and salad. My kids always grab a plate of salad and fruit to go with their meals, and usually clean their salad plate first. The deserts are also tasty and prepared well, with a good selection of cakes, pie, cookies, and ice cream.

I guess the right word to describe the Rampart Buffet is solid. It doesn’t blow you away and amaze you, unless you consider how consistently good it is. The service is also good and consistently friendly and fast. I would give the food a B, the service an A-, and give the buffet an A for value on the non-specialty nights, B when the prices go up.

The Rampart Buffet doesn’t serve breakfast, and is open 11 am-3 pm for Lunch and 4:30 pm - 9:30 pm for dinner. The hours for the Sunday Brunch are 9:30 am - 3 pm. Lunch is $8.99, Dinner is $11.99, Tuesday Filet Mignon and Shrimp Scampi is $14.99, Thursday Seafood Night is $17.99, Saturday T-Bone Steak Night is $13.99. Kids 3 and under eat for free, 4-7 are half price. Free buffets are within easy reach by using player’s card points.

The Rampart Casino is located in the Resort At Summerlin, 221 N Rampart Blvd.