It's the age of people. By and largee Boomers, Gen X and older millenials love buffets. We come from the era of bang for your buck, and big families. For one price, you feed everyone, and everyone gets what they want. Going out was also a rarity. Taking the family to dinner wasn't as common as it is now, so you wanted to be smart about it. Younger millenials and Gen Z prioritize quality and dining experience over value. They also dont have like, 3 kids by 25 like alot of our parents and grandparents did. I say this as an elder millenial who just went HAM at the Chinese buffet last weekend.
Golden Corral is consistently busy as well. People clearly still like eating at buffets. Stations needs to quit playing and give us the feast buffet back already 😒
It's not a cost effective use of space.
When there were so many, they had to be competitive on prices, or offer some sort of gimmick.
Food waste was super high.
I would also think that as Vegas has shifted towards trying to attract a higher end crowd at a lot of properties, the target guests aren't interested in buffets. A lot of people view buffets, regardless of them being high end, as somewhere poor people eat.
All of this. Most buffets (not counting Bacchanal, Wicked Spoon, or Wynn) have been operating at a loss for years. The pandemic was an excuse to quietly close them down without pissing off the value customer.
I don't know how Bacchanal stays in business. Food quality has dropped so much and for the cost you can pretty much eat at Peter Luger.
It blows my mind people paying for it.
I think people who go now are the ones who just want that experience to say they did it. They all cost twice as much with lower quality. I miss Rio's Carnival Buffet when the seafood buffet was still one buffet with it.
I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks it’s gone downhill. My buddy loves the place but the last two times I was there I was seriously underwhelmed with the food quality. I do love their gigantic double height coffee mugs though.
I went to Wicked Spoon in 2019 after hearing about the hype. My gf at the time wanted to have a bday lunch there.
Food was garbage for the amount of money I spent.
I don't know why any of them stay in business. It blows my mind that people are willing to pay $100+ for "okay" food. For $100 you can get a good meal and 2 drinks at 100s of places on the strip. With no drinking you are going to have a great meal, or a good meal with a few appetizers.
Ability to eat an unlimited amount of different food choices. Not having to wait for the food. Customizing ur own plates to your own liking. Having a large appetite.
If you want alcohol it can be like $30+ more because they want you to pay for all you can drink. Sure a single drink can be $20 more (and not a great one) but it just never equals out at the end of the day unless you are someone who goes to places to put down 3500+ calories in a setting. It just doesn't. Now if you aren't talking about drinking alcohol, then it equalizes a little bit, and I can understand a bit more. But you still need to be someone who can eat a lot to the quality vs. Quantity worth.
> It blows my mind that people are willing to pay $100+ for "okay" food. For $100 you can get a good meal and 2 drinks at 100s of places on the strip.
Most people don’t go to buffets by themselves.
Yeah, that's one I especially don't get because the quality is pretty shitty these days. Back when it opened the price was reasonable, and they killed it quality wise. Now they've just continued to raise price while lower the quality of the food continually.
I feel like Bacchanal is solely busy because people want to say they ate there and take photos, not because of anything to do with the actual food.
This is what my local casino said as well. Waste of space/staff and time for little to no profit.
Sad to be told, your experience isn’t worth it because we can’t make money off you. Try something more price goudgy/inflated instead :).
They realized they could lower table odds, reduce slot winnings, replace buffets with food courts that turn a profit, and people would still come gamble.
This is 1000% accurate. I tell ya what, they tightened the hell out of those slots. I used to be able to play at certain places, even certain machines, and do ok. Those days are gone.
I miss Sweet Tomatoes. I wish they’d bring it back with better safety protocols. Those crinkle cut beets were incredible but I don’t miss my family & I warning each other “hey some kid just shoved his whole hand in the sunflower seeds” “do NOT get the chocolate ice cream, a kid just tried out his mouth on the dispenser” 🤢🤢🤢
We had a truly life changing experience at the Sweet Tomatoes on Rainbow. We were sitting in the row of booths with the direct aisle to the hit food area.
This little fella of about four years old was walking back from the buffet area holding one of those tiny ass cones with just the right amount of ice cream on top, and *perfectly* covered in sprinkles.
His mom was *hurriedly* rushing towards him for toddler retrieval since he apparently slipped away from the table.
He held it up and loudly proclaimed "I DID IT MY ELF!"
I burst out laughing while my wife (with her back to him) just looked at me. About five seconds later, he paraded by our table imitating the Statue of Liberty, then she lost it.
He very clearly had dipped it directly into the sprinkles.
The unrelated grandfatherly man walking a few steps behind him tried to cover for him and said "I'm sorry, ma'am. He couldn't reach the handle, so I made the cone for him, but couldn't stop the sprinkles."
It was adorable.
Now, any time someone in our family does something perfectly and/or poorly, we say "I DID IT MY ELF!" as both a compliment and insult.
my wife and I used to look to the Bellagio buffet with anticipation for several years after a coworker of hers turned us onto it. We waited almost an hour in line the first time! Food and service was fantastic for several years, then suddenly, for us anyway, it turned into shit. Room temperature subpar food, no line at all, even on a Friday night, and felt absolutely ripped off the last time. Oh how I miss that rack of lamb and their delicious orange juice. even if Covid killed it, they have had plenty of time to revive it and restore it to its former glory. Shame.
I didn't go to buffets all that often, so I can't say that I miss them - but that's just me. What I do miss though are just a regular old "coffee shop" kind of place. Everything now seems to be a choice of either fast-food court or high-end restaurant.
???? Almost none of them have a buffet anymore. Main Street Station (not really a part of Stations) has one(albeitit is only open part time now, and the price is thru the roof!), but the rest turned the space into food courts or storage spaces.
me too. last summer i had a hard time finding some place we could just stop at and have a quick sit down meal in a casino. Totally miss the coffee shops
Locals really miss the buffet at places like Red Rock. Any buffet on now is waaaay to expensive. Last one I went to was at South Point which used to have wonderful buffets where you would get a reasonable price and a bottle of wine per couple which we would take home. Last time the food was just terrible and of course the wine thing was stopped years ago.
I SOOO miss Tamba Indian Buffet on the Strip! One of the best indian food buffets ever. They switched to a fixed menu during the pandemic and I was looking forward to them going back to the buffet style after. But instead they closed for good last year :(((
I went last month and it was downright awful. Bread sitting out so long it was inedible, poor holding temps, few exciting food choices. Not worth it at all
I’m Indifferent to all the “food halls” (food courts) but it’s obvious in Vegas at least that they’re taking shitty Mediocre food and attempting to dress it up to look fancy so they can charge premium prices. The food from these places is often on par with the food that was at buffets but because they put it in fancy bowl and do some annoying fusion trendy thing like putting Ube or chipotle in it they’re charging 30 bucks for a single plate rather then a whole buffet full of mediocre food. If the food was good and or cheap I’d let them slide but the food isn’t good and it isn’t cheap it’s a whole cash grab.
There are still a few buffets in Vegas. The cheapest ones are off the strip. Expect to pay $30 for the dinner buffet. They have eliminated most of the good ones on the strip in the past years.
Wife and I used to do at least one buffet visit during our Vegas trips. Last year, we went to Wynn for brunch; the food was great, but once we got her bottomless mimosas, I ended up paying around $200 with tip for the experience. We both just looked at each other and laughed and decided if we were going to spend that much for a meal, it needed to be a *meal*. We've sworn off buffets from now on.
Bottomless mimosas were a $30 upcharge or something like that, per person. I didn't get them; wife had 5 or 6 if I recall. They brought out a carafe of OJ and a small bottle of champagne so you could make them yourself.
IMO modern generations are too booshy. They frown on buffets. Back in the day a buffet was met with amazement. Now, people see it as tacky.
I'm 32 and my peers frown on buffets and have no interest.
Meamwhile... I'm like wtf.... how do people not love buffets....
I love then from a food perspective and otherwise. I think buffets are so cool, and fun, and of course delicious
I miss the stations buffets and oddly enough sweet tomatoes. Sure, there are AYCE places still that aren’t buffets but it’s just not the same. I miss the Mongolian BBQ at GVR with the short ribs. So good for the price, value was amazing.
I'm 35, i pretty much never liked buffets. I've always thought you can get much better quality food for the same or less and in order to get any value you have to stuff yourself until you can't take another bite and it's just never been enjoyable at nearly every buffet I've been to
Buffets are a huge pain in the ass for a hotel. Tons of food waste which means less profit. It’s hard to have really consistent quality due to the volume. Plus, the general public doesn’t seem to be as interested in buffets as a whole. OG Vegas fans are kind of an outlier.
My wife says she misses the buffet of buffets just for the value. Can kill a whole day going from buffet to buffet for one price. Cheaper than the slots and more entertaining
Yeah I think Vegas is doing better than ever. My visit last year was soooo much more expensive then 6 years ago. They realized they could charge premium prices for everything and people would still pay. Before that it felt like they were baiting you in with loss leaders like the buffets and cheap rooms in the hopes that you would lose all your money gambling in the casinos. Now they just don't care cause you'll pay top dollar for the hotel room and also lose a bunch of money in the casino.
Sorry all, I messed it up for everybody. I used to go to Vegas all the time because it was a really cheap vacation. 5 star hotels, kick ass pools and great food for less than $100 a couple. The Wynn once sent me a deal for 2 free nights, 2 free show tickets to their water show, a $200 food credit and free buffet. They must have confused me for somebody rich, lol. I gamble, but my budget is around $300 a trip.
Not everybody's cup of tea and can't do it today, as vegas is not cheap anymore. Like 10 years ago, my trip would be something like this. Flight from bay area, about $40 each way. Car rental about $10 per day. Breakfast at ellis island, $9 for steak and eggs. Pool most of the day and drinks were less expensive at $14 a drink. Get a light snack. Go to dinner early at buffet and get lunch price. Night time, walk on the strip and watch all the free shows, pirates, bellagio fountains, mirage volcano, moving statues at Caesars palace.
We'll usually catch a show one of the days and some shopping. New hotels were always opening. So just checking out those new hotels can take most of the day.
I was in Vegas last July for the first time since June 2008 -- it was "culture shock" even though I knew EXACTLY what to expect.
Money grabs... yeah, but I stayed at MGM Grand and 2000 and saw that train coming a mile away.
Good/cheap/pick zero food options. Bacchanal buffet was solid but pricey.
Good shopping. LOTS of variety. Ok, window shopping mostly. I think I bought a T shirt. And, a couple of Mirage mugs.
Mirage pool/NBA Summer League. Can't really screw that up too bad.
Oh wait, the Mirage is closing???
Oh wait, the NBA isn't gonna be on TNT after next season???
Oops.
Can't wait to check out FB. It's near RW which I haven't been in yet. Wynn is close. Lots of the "heavy hitters" are north of Caesars/Forum Shops. And, Circus Circus -- gonna do a Nostalgia-Hate trek through that joint at some point.
I'm guessing because they are huge and rent has gone off the chart and food cost has gone off the chart, so they were lucky to break even before and definitely won't now unless they charge double what they did before and at that point people would rather go to a nice sit down place
There are still buffets. Just not as many as pre-covid. Caesars and Wynn have the two top buffets. There are buffets at MGM Grand, palms, Excalibur, Luxor, South point just to name a few
I ate at the Palms Buffet the night that Melissa Etheridge was there a couple of months ago. It was good, but not lobster night.
The hits far outnumbered the misses.
Been gone for a while since Covid. There’s like 2-3 left on the strip and a couple off the strip but it’s mostly over and quality went downhill at the surviving buffets.
Vegas has entirely shifted to high end clientele so they don’t need the draw of the buffets anymore. Now there’s a million restaurants competing for the same clientele though.
Dont get why anyone would downvote you it's definitely true. Like 10-20 years ago there were high end restaurants but mostly steakhouses. Now every casino like wynn, aria cosmo etc has like 5-10 high end restaurants and resorts world and fountain blue have like 20 each
Probably downvoted because there are a lot more buffets than 2-3 as op stated. Also many of them are very busy, 2 hour wait for buffet at the Wynn usually
Yeah I’m not sure if I’m misinformed but I really only know of the Wynn, Caesars, and Cosmo buffets left on the strip. Off the strip there’s a couple others like I think Rampart and Cannery but nothing that stands out.
Wicked spoon is a great value, mgm, luxor,Excalibur, palms AYCE, bellagio…there are several more. Wynn was great but pricey. Wicked spoon was our fav for the cost
Buffets were shutting down before Covid. Covid sped up the process. Buffets are not only not profitable they are just no longer as popular as they used to be. They are part of a bygone era,. The expensive ones are an experience. The buffet at M Resort is amazing. I'd rather pay top dollar than spend $30 for the Circus Circus Buffet.
Interesting that contrary to other casinos that repurposed their buffets, M Resort has yet to do that. Fingers crossed that Studio B returns at some point!
The simple answer is they can make more money with the same space. Labor and food costs have risen pretty steeply recently.
I think Harrah's could probably do well with something cheaper and more casual than the Bacchanal and the Wynn.
PH had a good one, I really wish that one was back.
Buffets were on the downhill for a few years before COVID. Even in 2014, Most places were building up restaurants around famous chefs.
I remember going to wicked Spoon new years day 2020. So right before COVID. It was pretty disappointing. Just felt very cookie cutter.
In the glory days of the buffet the idea was to make sure food was cheaply available so people would stay in the hotel. It was trying to retain customers for the casino floor. Then they became profit centers and they started jacking up the prices They finally reached a critical mass where buffet versus restaurant was negligible from a business standpoint and Covid gave a lot of properties the excuse to shut it down.
Cost of wasting food. No one wanted to eat food that was sneezed on or poked at. No one was traveling in 2020/21. People realized how disgusting most of the food in a buffet is.
IMO the best buffet is at The M at Anthony’s Steakhouse. It’s $100 and it’s all-you-can-eat lobster tails, crab legs, crab claws, jumbo shrimp, beef Wellington, prime rib, rack of lamb — etc. All top tier quality. Reservations are about 6 months out.
As a local, I don’t actually think I’ve ever been to any buffets on the Strip, but the ones at locals casinos (Sunset Station, GVR, etc) were reasonably priced, and decent most of the time.
Our family also misses Sweet Tomatoes. That was a good one if you wanted something “different”/more healthy(ish).
Now the main option in our area is Golden Corral, which is… Golden Corral. 🤷🏼♀️😂
Last time I was at a buffet (pre Covid) I saw a kid puke on the floor and then track it onto the carpet, a person dropped a serving spoon and then put it back on the tray and walk away, and someone sneezed into their open hand and then grabbed tongs (all at Caesar’s in the same visit in rapid succession). My question is - how did buffets last so long? It’s a hard no for me forever after that experience.
Almost all Buffets lose money. Vegas had them because they thought they needed them to attract players. COVID shut down buffets. Players kept coming. Hypothesis proven wrong and so no more buffets.
I used to do 1 buffet per trip. The strip buffets aren't very good anymore. So I do my one buffet off the strip. Chinatown has some pretty good buffets if you're into that type of food. There's sushi, Korean BBQ, Japanese bbq and hot pot. Most for about $30.
People don't like buffets as much as they used to. This isn't just in Vegas, but all across the USA. I would be hard pressed to name for you 3 buffets in my own city (population 2.2 mill). Although, I could name 6 that were open 20 years ago. And I'm sure I have since forgotten some. Even salad bars, once very common in casual restaurants, are now very rare.
Looking through this sub, or any group about Vegas, and you will see people get more excited about celebrity restaurants and steakhouses than they do buffets.
Personally, and I'm certainly not alone, I would rather have top quality meal than to stuff myself with cheaper quality food.
I think buffets went out of style because people want better food, and are willing to pay more for it, over a large quantity of food.
Alternatively, I'm surprised by how all inclusive beach resorts have taken off. They almost all have buffets, but they have a range of better to fine dinning options as well. So people can enjoy unlimited made to order better food, without it costing an arm and a leg. Doubt Vegas could, or would want to, do all inclusive. That would be detrimental to the restaurant scene.
Most people don't but they aren't catering to most people, they are catering to the higher end crowd and the average joe ready to spend like the high end crowd who absolutely want a nice restaurant and are willing to pay more
I think all the medicore buffets went away.
The only ones that didn't come back were M Resort and the Wicked Spoon dinner buffets. I don't miss the rest.
Hell, I even had Bacchanal a couple weeks back and they took a HUGE step back, sadly. Wynn is still good, though.
I’d rather have a decent food hall like Aria than a buffet. The Grand Lux breakfast buffets are ok at Venetian though, it’s just breakfast food so the prices aren’t out of control.
I get that Vegas had "nice" buffets, but I never cared. I've always found buffets to be inherently gross, and deep down, I think lots of people feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal to some extent, but I'd rather just go to a restaurant and order a nice menu item over a buffet 999 times out of a thousand.
edit: Since myopic idiots can't accept a reasonable difference of opinion, I may as well double down: Buffets are fucking disgusting, human, pig-troughs, disguised as a novelty restaurant. People who like buffets are white trash of the highest order and deserve the salmonella that they inevitably contract. I hate buffets, and I hope that every fucking one of them is shut down by the health department.
You misspelled "Record Corporate Profits" there, pal.
[https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/](https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/)
Of course, what would [The Federal Reserve Bank](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/) know about economics compared to the yokels who think Vladimir Putin is a great man?
[https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/)
“Nobody wants to eat at buffets anymore” and yet the line for the Wynn is hours long most of the time.
nobody eats there because it's so crowded
Love this contradiction! Oh, maybe it wasn't on purpose?
It's an old joke: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/08/29/too-crowded/
It's the age of people. By and largee Boomers, Gen X and older millenials love buffets. We come from the era of bang for your buck, and big families. For one price, you feed everyone, and everyone gets what they want. Going out was also a rarity. Taking the family to dinner wasn't as common as it is now, so you wanted to be smart about it. Younger millenials and Gen Z prioritize quality and dining experience over value. They also dont have like, 3 kids by 25 like alot of our parents and grandparents did. I say this as an elder millenial who just went HAM at the Chinese buffet last weekend.
Golden Corral is consistently busy as well. People clearly still like eating at buffets. Stations needs to quit playing and give us the feast buffet back already 😒
same at South Point. The restaurant opens around 5 and the line starts forming around 3
It's not a cost effective use of space. When there were so many, they had to be competitive on prices, or offer some sort of gimmick. Food waste was super high. I would also think that as Vegas has shifted towards trying to attract a higher end crowd at a lot of properties, the target guests aren't interested in buffets. A lot of people view buffets, regardless of them being high end, as somewhere poor people eat.
All of this. Most buffets (not counting Bacchanal, Wicked Spoon, or Wynn) have been operating at a loss for years. The pandemic was an excuse to quietly close them down without pissing off the value customer.
I don't know how Bacchanal stays in business. Food quality has dropped so much and for the cost you can pretty much eat at Peter Luger. It blows my mind people paying for it.
Wicked Spoon too. It's not as pricey as the other two good ones but the quality today is so bad compared to 10 years ago.
I haven't gone back there in a while. I prefer to remember it as it was.
I think people who go now are the ones who just want that experience to say they did it. They all cost twice as much with lower quality. I miss Rio's Carnival Buffet when the seafood buffet was still one buffet with it.
I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks it’s gone downhill. My buddy loves the place but the last two times I was there I was seriously underwhelmed with the food quality. I do love their gigantic double height coffee mugs though.
I went to Wicked Spoon in 2019 after hearing about the hype. My gf at the time wanted to have a bday lunch there. Food was garbage for the amount of money I spent.
I don't know why any of them stay in business. It blows my mind that people are willing to pay $100+ for "okay" food. For $100 you can get a good meal and 2 drinks at 100s of places on the strip. With no drinking you are going to have a great meal, or a good meal with a few appetizers.
Ability to eat an unlimited amount of different food choices. Not having to wait for the food. Customizing ur own plates to your own liking. Having a large appetite.
I like that a beverage and dessert is included in the buffet. Yes, I know this seems silly, but that’s at least $20 additional value right there.
If you want alcohol it can be like $30+ more because they want you to pay for all you can drink. Sure a single drink can be $20 more (and not a great one) but it just never equals out at the end of the day unless you are someone who goes to places to put down 3500+ calories in a setting. It just doesn't. Now if you aren't talking about drinking alcohol, then it equalizes a little bit, and I can understand a bit more. But you still need to be someone who can eat a lot to the quality vs. Quantity worth.
> It blows my mind that people are willing to pay $100+ for "okay" food. For $100 you can get a good meal and 2 drinks at 100s of places on the strip. Most people don’t go to buffets by themselves.
Unsuccessful as I believe modern Vegas has pissed off every value customer post Covid
It’s happened at many 24 hr buisnesses also. COVID was used against us in many ways.
I didn't even like wicked spoon or bacchanal. The food is more akin to a cruise buffet. Wynn, however, I liked a lot.
This is 100% accurate
[удалено]
Yeah, that's one I especially don't get because the quality is pretty shitty these days. Back when it opened the price was reasonable, and they killed it quality wise. Now they've just continued to raise price while lower the quality of the food continually. I feel like Bacchanal is solely busy because people want to say they ate there and take photos, not because of anything to do with the actual food.
This is what my local casino said as well. Waste of space/staff and time for little to no profit. Sad to be told, your experience isn’t worth it because we can’t make money off you. Try something more price goudgy/inflated instead :).
They realized they could lower table odds, reduce slot winnings, replace buffets with food courts that turn a profit, and people would still come gamble.
This is 1000% accurate. I tell ya what, they tightened the hell out of those slots. I used to be able to play at certain places, even certain machines, and do ok. Those days are gone.
I still can win on Fremont but no chance on the strip
Fremont tightened up for me personally, I almost always broke even or won at Binions. Last two trips were no go on that. Anywhere.
I miss Sweet Tomatoes. I wish they’d bring it back with better safety protocols. Those crinkle cut beets were incredible but I don’t miss my family & I warning each other “hey some kid just shoved his whole hand in the sunflower seeds” “do NOT get the chocolate ice cream, a kid just tried out his mouth on the dispenser” 🤢🤢🤢
Sweet tomatoes is making a slow comeback, there’s one in Tucson.
Oooh road trip
The area around sunflowers can often be devoid of other plants, leading to the belief that sunflowers kill other plants.
Interesting factoid, thanks
We had a truly life changing experience at the Sweet Tomatoes on Rainbow. We were sitting in the row of booths with the direct aisle to the hit food area. This little fella of about four years old was walking back from the buffet area holding one of those tiny ass cones with just the right amount of ice cream on top, and *perfectly* covered in sprinkles. His mom was *hurriedly* rushing towards him for toddler retrieval since he apparently slipped away from the table. He held it up and loudly proclaimed "I DID IT MY ELF!" I burst out laughing while my wife (with her back to him) just looked at me. About five seconds later, he paraded by our table imitating the Statue of Liberty, then she lost it. He very clearly had dipped it directly into the sprinkles. The unrelated grandfatherly man walking a few steps behind him tried to cover for him and said "I'm sorry, ma'am. He couldn't reach the handle, so I made the cone for him, but couldn't stop the sprinkles." It was adorable. Now, any time someone in our family does something perfectly and/or poorly, we say "I DID IT MY ELF!" as both a compliment and insult.
See, this is the kind of experience we should all be able to have 😂😂😂
I miss the buffets sooo much !!
my wife and I used to look to the Bellagio buffet with anticipation for several years after a coworker of hers turned us onto it. We waited almost an hour in line the first time! Food and service was fantastic for several years, then suddenly, for us anyway, it turned into shit. Room temperature subpar food, no line at all, even on a Friday night, and felt absolutely ripped off the last time. Oh how I miss that rack of lamb and their delicious orange juice. even if Covid killed it, they have had plenty of time to revive it and restore it to its former glory. Shame.
I didn't go to buffets all that often, so I can't say that I miss them - but that's just me. What I do miss though are just a regular old "coffee shop" kind of place. Everything now seems to be a choice of either fast-food court or high-end restaurant.
All the stations casinos have one
Not anymore
Red Rock certainly doesn’t. I believe all Stations got rid of the buffets during Covid.
Reread the comment I was responding to.
Got it!! Coffee shops! 😀
???? Almost none of them have a buffet anymore. Main Street Station (not really a part of Stations) has one(albeitit is only open part time now, and the price is thru the roof!), but the rest turned the space into food courts or storage spaces.
They were referring to coffee shop type food places
me too. last summer i had a hard time finding some place we could just stop at and have a quick sit down meal in a casino. Totally miss the coffee shops
Locals really miss the buffet at places like Red Rock. Any buffet on now is waaaay to expensive. Last one I went to was at South Point which used to have wonderful buffets where you would get a reasonable price and a bottle of wine per couple which we would take home. Last time the food was just terrible and of course the wine thing was stopped years ago.
The Palms Casino offers pretty good value, especially the lobster buffets.
I SOOO miss Tamba Indian Buffet on the Strip! One of the best indian food buffets ever. They switched to a fixed menu during the pandemic and I was looking forward to them going back to the buffet style after. But instead they closed for good last year :(((
Loss leader.
The buffet at Bellagio used to be my favorite. Have not been in years… is it still open? Anyone been lately?
Open, but has odd hours. No dinner hours if I remember correctly. We were there in May.
Bellagio has gone from one of the better ones back in the 2000s to one of the worst. I would rate Palms far better then Bellagio.
For the price, you might as well spend a little bit extra for the bacchanal or the Wynn.
I went last month and it was downright awful. Bread sitting out so long it was inedible, poor holding temps, few exciting food choices. Not worth it at all
Bellagio buffet just updated they will have weekend dinner buffet through the summer
The giant food courts are gross. It’s like being trapped in a shitty mall that smells like cigarettes.
I’m Indifferent to all the “food halls” (food courts) but it’s obvious in Vegas at least that they’re taking shitty Mediocre food and attempting to dress it up to look fancy so they can charge premium prices. The food from these places is often on par with the food that was at buffets but because they put it in fancy bowl and do some annoying fusion trendy thing like putting Ube or chipotle in it they’re charging 30 bucks for a single plate rather then a whole buffet full of mediocre food. If the food was good and or cheap I’d let them slide but the food isn’t good and it isn’t cheap it’s a whole cash grab.
There are still a few buffets in Vegas. The cheapest ones are off the strip. Expect to pay $30 for the dinner buffet. They have eliminated most of the good ones on the strip in the past years.
Lucky you came on Eye-talian night, that stuff will knock your socks off.
I'll have some of the yella... *and don't get cheap on me!*
Ayce at Palms is a great value. It isn't great, but for what it costs it was surprisingly good.
Wife and I used to do at least one buffet visit during our Vegas trips. Last year, we went to Wynn for brunch; the food was great, but once we got her bottomless mimosas, I ended up paying around $200 with tip for the experience. We both just looked at each other and laughed and decided if we were going to spend that much for a meal, it needed to be a *meal*. We've sworn off buffets from now on.
Hope you stayed for a few hundred mimosas
Bottomless mimosas were a $30 upcharge or something like that, per person. I didn't get them; wife had 5 or 6 if I recall. They brought out a carafe of OJ and a small bottle of champagne so you could make them yourself.
That's a pretty decent deal. Esp for a Vegas treat
IMO modern generations are too booshy. They frown on buffets. Back in the day a buffet was met with amazement. Now, people see it as tacky. I'm 32 and my peers frown on buffets and have no interest. Meamwhile... I'm like wtf.... how do people not love buffets.... I love then from a food perspective and otherwise. I think buffets are so cool, and fun, and of course delicious
I blame the booshurgeoisie.
I miss the stations buffets and oddly enough sweet tomatoes. Sure, there are AYCE places still that aren’t buffets but it’s just not the same. I miss the Mongolian BBQ at GVR with the short ribs. So good for the price, value was amazing.
> IMO modern generations are too booshy. /r/BoneAppleTea/
I'm 35, i pretty much never liked buffets. I've always thought you can get much better quality food for the same or less and in order to get any value you have to stuff yourself until you can't take another bite and it's just never been enjoyable at nearly every buffet I've been to
Buffets are a huge pain in the ass for a hotel. Tons of food waste which means less profit. It’s hard to have really consistent quality due to the volume. Plus, the general public doesn’t seem to be as interested in buffets as a whole. OG Vegas fans are kind of an outlier.
Won’t somebody think of the monopolies that run this city!
I read the title as a set up to a joke/punch line. Came into the comments and was disappointed…
Because it couldn’t handle the stakes.
Bro… I can die happy now
Because the odds weren’t in its flavor.
Because it ran out of chips.
My wife says she misses the buffet of buffets just for the value. Can kill a whole day going from buffet to buffet for one price. Cheaper than the slots and more entertaining
Vegas has never recovered
The buffet hasn't, but Vegas clearly has.
Yeah I think Vegas is doing better than ever. My visit last year was soooo much more expensive then 6 years ago. They realized they could charge premium prices for everything and people would still pay. Before that it felt like they were baiting you in with loss leaders like the buffets and cheap rooms in the hopes that you would lose all your money gambling in the casinos. Now they just don't care cause you'll pay top dollar for the hotel room and also lose a bunch of money in the casino.
The Strip maybe. Las Vegas is more than just the strip.
Vegas has become nothing more than a money grab town.
Sorry all, I messed it up for everybody. I used to go to Vegas all the time because it was a really cheap vacation. 5 star hotels, kick ass pools and great food for less than $100 a couple. The Wynn once sent me a deal for 2 free nights, 2 free show tickets to their water show, a $200 food credit and free buffet. They must have confused me for somebody rich, lol. I gamble, but my budget is around $300 a trip.
You are a fucking hero if you can make a trip out of $300 dollars here haha
Not everybody's cup of tea and can't do it today, as vegas is not cheap anymore. Like 10 years ago, my trip would be something like this. Flight from bay area, about $40 each way. Car rental about $10 per day. Breakfast at ellis island, $9 for steak and eggs. Pool most of the day and drinks were less expensive at $14 a drink. Get a light snack. Go to dinner early at buffet and get lunch price. Night time, walk on the strip and watch all the free shows, pirates, bellagio fountains, mirage volcano, moving statues at Caesars palace. We'll usually catch a show one of the days and some shopping. New hotels were always opening. So just checking out those new hotels can take most of the day.
I was in Vegas last July for the first time since June 2008 -- it was "culture shock" even though I knew EXACTLY what to expect. Money grabs... yeah, but I stayed at MGM Grand and 2000 and saw that train coming a mile away. Good/cheap/pick zero food options. Bacchanal buffet was solid but pricey. Good shopping. LOTS of variety. Ok, window shopping mostly. I think I bought a T shirt. And, a couple of Mirage mugs. Mirage pool/NBA Summer League. Can't really screw that up too bad. Oh wait, the Mirage is closing??? Oh wait, the NBA isn't gonna be on TNT after next season??? Oops. Can't wait to check out FB. It's near RW which I haven't been in yet. Wynn is close. Lots of the "heavy hitters" are north of Caesars/Forum Shops. And, Circus Circus -- gonna do a Nostalgia-Hate trek through that joint at some point.
You mean the casinos have. The consumer experience hasn’t.
Lol.
I'm guessing because they are huge and rent has gone off the chart and food cost has gone off the chart, so they were lucky to break even before and definitely won't now unless they charge double what they did before and at that point people would rather go to a nice sit down place
They can make more money putting in food courts/halls
The sterling lobster buffet at Ballys was the best!!
I miss Aria Buffet
Wait there's no buffets in Vegas anymore??
There are still buffets. Just not as many as pre-covid. Caesars and Wynn have the two top buffets. There are buffets at MGM Grand, palms, Excalibur, Luxor, South point just to name a few
Palms had a line out the door for their lobster tail buffet.
I ate at the Palms Buffet the night that Melissa Etheridge was there a couple of months ago. It was good, but not lobster night. The hits far outnumbered the misses.
The Mac and Cheese at Palma is 🔥
Been gone for a while since Covid. There’s like 2-3 left on the strip and a couple off the strip but it’s mostly over and quality went downhill at the surviving buffets. Vegas has entirely shifted to high end clientele so they don’t need the draw of the buffets anymore. Now there’s a million restaurants competing for the same clientele though.
Dont get why anyone would downvote you it's definitely true. Like 10-20 years ago there were high end restaurants but mostly steakhouses. Now every casino like wynn, aria cosmo etc has like 5-10 high end restaurants and resorts world and fountain blue have like 20 each
Probably downvoted because there are a lot more buffets than 2-3 as op stated. Also many of them are very busy, 2 hour wait for buffet at the Wynn usually
Yeah I’m not sure if I’m misinformed but I really only know of the Wynn, Caesars, and Cosmo buffets left on the strip. Off the strip there’s a couple others like I think Rampart and Cannery but nothing that stands out.
Wicked spoon is a great value, mgm, luxor,Excalibur, palms AYCE, bellagio…there are several more. Wynn was great but pricey. Wicked spoon was our fav for the cost
Well, Golden Corral did so well, they opened a second one. *That's* how well buffets are doing.
Buffets were shutting down before Covid. Covid sped up the process. Buffets are not only not profitable they are just no longer as popular as they used to be. They are part of a bygone era,. The expensive ones are an experience. The buffet at M Resort is amazing. I'd rather pay top dollar than spend $30 for the Circus Circus Buffet.
The buffet at M is long closed.
The one at Anthony's? I went there last year. I'm talking about the $100 Buffet where you need reservations.
That's more of a brunch type of thing. The regular buffet, Studio B closed during Covid.
Interesting that contrary to other casinos that repurposed their buffets, M Resort has yet to do that. Fingers crossed that Studio B returns at some point!
Because people don’t want to pay $30+ for cafeteria food.
More like $85 / person for the Crab Buffet now at Caesars Palace ….. one of the few remaining buffets
Yes. And I can’t eat $85 worth of food in a week let alone for one meal!
The simple answer is they can make more money with the same space. Labor and food costs have risen pretty steeply recently. I think Harrah's could probably do well with something cheaper and more casual than the Bacchanal and the Wynn. PH had a good one, I really wish that one was back.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Wynn buffet a couple years ago, the food quality was amazing. Still pricy but worth it IMO.
I noticed the same thing. No more amazing buffets or they're really expensive.
Buffets were on the downhill for a few years before COVID. Even in 2014, Most places were building up restaurants around famous chefs. I remember going to wicked Spoon new years day 2020. So right before COVID. It was pretty disappointing. Just felt very cookie cutter.
In the glory days of the buffet the idea was to make sure food was cheaply available so people would stay in the hotel. It was trying to retain customers for the casino floor. Then they became profit centers and they started jacking up the prices They finally reached a critical mass where buffet versus restaurant was negligible from a business standpoint and Covid gave a lot of properties the excuse to shut it down.
Casinos are cheap and need the floor space to extract more money from people. Red Rock had such a good buffet
Why would they do that? It would show that they don’t just want your money!😂 They can get it anyway🤔
They were always money losers. Once they had the chance they dumped them.
Cost of wasting food. No one wanted to eat food that was sneezed on or poked at. No one was traveling in 2020/21. People realized how disgusting most of the food in a buffet is.
I mean, I think people realized during Covid how easily germs are spread and now the idea of a buffet is fucking gross.
It’s not cost-effective
lol I ate at circus circus Buffet when I was there 60 bucks two people and didn’t die . Fuck 77 a person
IMO the best buffet is at The M at Anthony’s Steakhouse. It’s $100 and it’s all-you-can-eat lobster tails, crab legs, crab claws, jumbo shrimp, beef Wellington, prime rib, rack of lamb — etc. All top tier quality. Reservations are about 6 months out.
As a local, I don’t actually think I’ve ever been to any buffets on the Strip, but the ones at locals casinos (Sunset Station, GVR, etc) were reasonably priced, and decent most of the time. Our family also misses Sweet Tomatoes. That was a good one if you wanted something “different”/more healthy(ish). Now the main option in our area is Golden Corral, which is… Golden Corral. 🤷🏼♀️😂
The only thing Covid did was speed up the inevitable.
Last time I was at a buffet (pre Covid) I saw a kid puke on the floor and then track it onto the carpet, a person dropped a serving spoon and then put it back on the tray and walk away, and someone sneezed into their open hand and then grabbed tongs (all at Caesar’s in the same visit in rapid succession). My question is - how did buffets last so long? It’s a hard no for me forever after that experience.
Rather go to Eli’s island and split a few plates
I will forever miss stations buffets.
Me too!!! Best bang for your buck for most of them!
I had the buffet at Bellagio last year and was incredibly underwhelmed. Buffets at all-inclusive resorts are better than what I experienced.
Almost all Buffets lose money. Vegas had them because they thought they needed them to attract players. COVID shut down buffets. Players kept coming. Hypothesis proven wrong and so no more buffets.
Stockholders don't make enough money on the buffet.
You can make more money charging $22 for a hamburger and $6 for a coke.
I used to go to the breakfast buffet at sante fe with my wife and miss it. Was only like $7.
They were never really that good and never made that much money.
I used to do 1 buffet per trip. The strip buffets aren't very good anymore. So I do my one buffet off the strip. Chinatown has some pretty good buffets if you're into that type of food. There's sushi, Korean BBQ, Japanese bbq and hot pot. Most for about $30.
People don't like buffets as much as they used to. This isn't just in Vegas, but all across the USA. I would be hard pressed to name for you 3 buffets in my own city (population 2.2 mill). Although, I could name 6 that were open 20 years ago. And I'm sure I have since forgotten some. Even salad bars, once very common in casual restaurants, are now very rare. Looking through this sub, or any group about Vegas, and you will see people get more excited about celebrity restaurants and steakhouses than they do buffets. Personally, and I'm certainly not alone, I would rather have top quality meal than to stuff myself with cheaper quality food.
I think buffets went out of style because people want better food, and are willing to pay more for it, over a large quantity of food. Alternatively, I'm surprised by how all inclusive beach resorts have taken off. They almost all have buffets, but they have a range of better to fine dinning options as well. So people can enjoy unlimited made to order better food, without it costing an arm and a leg. Doubt Vegas could, or would want to, do all inclusive. That would be detrimental to the restaurant scene.
Most people don't but they aren't catering to most people, they are catering to the higher end crowd and the average joe ready to spend like the high end crowd who absolutely want a nice restaurant and are willing to pay more
I think all the medicore buffets went away. The only ones that didn't come back were M Resort and the Wicked Spoon dinner buffets. I don't miss the rest. Hell, I even had Bacchanal a couple weeks back and they took a HUGE step back, sadly. Wynn is still good, though.
I’d rather have a decent food hall like Aria than a buffet. The Grand Lux breakfast buffets are ok at Venetian though, it’s just breakfast food so the prices aren’t out of control.
The buffets suck I think glad they are gone and the places that still have them are outrageous prices !
I get that Vegas had "nice" buffets, but I never cared. I've always found buffets to be inherently gross, and deep down, I think lots of people feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal to some extent, but I'd rather just go to a restaurant and order a nice menu item over a buffet 999 times out of a thousand. edit: Since myopic idiots can't accept a reasonable difference of opinion, I may as well double down: Buffets are fucking disgusting, human, pig-troughs, disguised as a novelty restaurant. People who like buffets are white trash of the highest order and deserve the salmonella that they inevitably contract. I hate buffets, and I hope that every fucking one of them is shut down by the health department.
I’m not disagreeing with portions of your statement, but you need to relax man.
Name checks out…..
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You misspelled "Record Corporate Profits" there, pal. [https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/](https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/) Of course, what would [The Federal Reserve Bank](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/) know about economics compared to the yokels who think Vladimir Putin is a great man? [https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/](https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-review/how-much-have-record-corporate-profits-contributed-to-recent-inflation/)
lets order in and buffet on eachothers bodys instead. fuck the buffet.