We got up extra early that last morning in Vegas as we had a long day driving from Vegas to Yosemite. This is one breakfast we know we want to load up on as we have no plans to stop for lunch until we get to Yosemite.

Since Rio is known as an All-Suite hotel, I figure that they would be worth checking out. The Rio hotel is not located along the The Strip but a few blocks west of the South Las Vegas Blvd. Driving down the Strip, one would not miss noticing the red and blue tower.

The Carnival World Buffet is known to be the first buffet in Las Vegas to have multiple action stations and the buffet that introduces high-end buffets to Las Vegas.

Rio’s buffet is quite cheap compared to Bellagio’s. Here is what I gleaned from their website:

• Breakfast $13.99 plus tax, 7am-11am Mon-Fri, 7:30am – 10:30am Sat-Sun
• Lunch $16.99 plus tax, 11am-3:30pm Mon-Fri
• Dinner $23.99 plus tax, 3:30pm-10pm Nightly
• Saturday & Sunday Champagne Brunch $23.99 plus tax, 10:30am-3:30pm

They have several electronic payment machines, much like an ATM to make your payment. I was very impressed and thought why didn’t the other buffets do this.

We were there early at slightly past 7AM. There were hardly anyone around when we were there.

The buffet tables were the longest we have ever seen. What you see below is just perhaps a quarter of the buffet counters around. They are arranged by themes. The food are more authentic than any we have ever been to.

The fresh carved meats was our favorite station. The meat were just fresh out from the ovens. Don’t you just love it seeing steam rising as they carved the meats? I do.

I know this is breakfast but I just must have the prime roast. I figured this will be the last time we’re gonna have this until we get to Reno … so why not eat to our fill, right?

(more…)

Updated: 11th Jan 2015; This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com.

Our original plan was to try that go-just-before-they-change-menu stunt at the Flamingo’s Buffet. I had thought that they operate the the same way as the other buffets which they change their lunch spread to dinner spread at about 4’ish every day. It would have been absolutely awesome as we wanted to be able to watch live flamingos in a lush garden while enjoying our buffet. But … their brunch ends at 2:30PM and then re-opens at 4:30PM for dinner. Shoot! They are closed for two hours in between meal times.

We did not have a Plan B. So, the closest nice place we can think of is Bally’s across the street. From the looks outside and the name itself, it seemed like a nice place for a buffet. We had no idea what this looked like. It was pretty hot that day and we did not feel like hotel hopping to scout for a better buffet. Moreover, our intention is still to pull the 4PM menu-change stunt and we are running out of time. Bally’s it was.

We’ve been spoilt. I can’t help but comparing the Bally’s Big Kitchen Buffet to Paris’ and Bellagio’s. For one, they don’t have long queues. When we walked in just before 4PM, there were no one at the cashier’s and only a few tables were taken.

The buffet tables had a very simple layout. It’s located in a corner section of the dining room. Price wise, it was $64 for the four of us.

They were pretty generous with the Prime Roast and sliced a thick piece even without us asking for a extra thick one. Needless to say, Arkensen and I had several of this.

(more…)

We decided to go to Paris for another buffet in the morning. To me, Paris is one of the classiest hotels on The Strip. Its very well planned and especially for one who had been to Paris recently, I could related to many of the designs in this hotel, in particular the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Fountain and Louvre.

The interior is designed like you’re walking down a cobbled Paris street in an evening. I love that feeling especially in the front entrance and the casino area where it does not feel overwhelmingly casino-ey.

The Le Village Buffet came highly recommended from a lot of friends as being the best buffet. It is one of the expensive ones, like Bellagio.

MammaViv told us that once they went to Le Village at 10:30AM and ended up having both breakfast and lunch at the same time. This is because Le Village changes their breakfast spread to lunch at 11:00AM. So, we decided to give that tactic a try to land a larger choices of buffet items for a lower breakfast price.

I thought I had timed it well. Well, I thought if I had gotten to Le Village by 10:15AM, I would have been OK to be able to get in by 10:30AM. To my surprise, the buffet line was already long at that time when we got there! Comparing this line with Bellagio’s, I estimated that it will take 30 minutes or even longer to get in. Fortunately, the line went faster than I anticipated and left us time to sample their breakfast spread.

The bill was $64 for the 4 of us. It’s more expensive for lunch but don’t have the numbers. I think it’s really cheap after what we had spent for Bellagio’s dinner buffet.

Everyone would love how Le Village is setup. It is designed like a French village square. You get a choice of sitting “out” in the courtyard or in one of the “buildings” along the sides. We were shown the “outdoor” table — just what we wanted.

Even though we learned that the buffet tables were organized by provincial cooking style in France, I did not even pay attention to it at all.

I like that they came by with a flask of coffee just as we sat down even without us asking for it. Suanne and I need our coffee every morning.

Oh, I expected to be greeted in French … well, at least a Bon Jour. The only frenchy thing about the waitress was her uniform.

You know what disappointed me the most? They don’t serve baguette! I was so looking forward to trying good old French baguette here and was pretty sure they would have it — but no, none at all. I guess behind the facade, this is also very much an American breakfast.

(more…)

Updated: 11th Jan 2015; This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com.

Really, this is unplanned for! Although we had planned for buffets in Las Vegas we had just wanted to get a small(er) meal for dinner. Well, walking down Fremont Street we can’t help but notice a sign that said $7.77 All Day Every Day Buffet. After spending almost $30 per head the previous two days, this is a bargain we can’t resist. No harm right? At the very least, we could just go in and check it out.

This was at the Plaza Hotel Casino and the Buffet is called the Lucky 7’s Buffet.

Bad move … first we see a long queue into the buffet which means one thing … that this is popular. And then checking what they served, oh boy, this is exactly what we like. Lots of meat and some comfort food. The boys love these no frills buffet … i.e. they enjoy sushi, burgers, fries, beef over crabs, seafood, and such.

One cannot compare this buffet in any form with The Buffet at Bellagio — not in any stretch of imagination. It’s just a simple buffet … why, even the buffet we had at Ole Country Buffet is posh compared to this. 🙂 Still, they have more food choices than I would care to try everything.

Arkensen and I loves meat … particularly roast prime beef … and only medium rare. This is really juicy and had the perfect amount of fat.

(more…)

Las Vegas is not only about casinos … it is also known as the buffet capital of the world. There must be dozens of buffets all over the city in various types. There are buffets that costs under $10 and there are those that costs up to $40.

We decided to try The Buffet at Bellagio because they claim to be the best (and one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive) in Las Vegas. Whatever it is, two words describes Bellagio best — High Elegance.

The Buffet at Bellagio serves American, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Seafood cuisine. The attraction is their Alaska King Crabs and Kobe Beef. We had never tried Kobe Beef before but only found out that they only serve Kobe Beef on weekends.

We were at The Buffet at about 5:00pm which we thought is early before the queue starts. We were wrong. Even at 5pm there was a line which stretches out to the entrance. The wait was supposed to be about 45 minutes from where we were.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, someone gave us their Line Pass which allows us to get on the shorter line. We got in in just 3 minutes in the shorter line. We were pretty pleased with it. He he he … we felt pretty important too.

Here are the rates for The Buffet:

• Breakfast 7am-11am: $14.95
• Lunch 11am-4pm: $19.95
• Dinner 4pm-10pm: $27.95
• Sat & Sun Champagne Brunch 7am-4pm:

• without champagne: $23.95
• with champagne: $28.95
• Fri & Sat Gourmet Dinner 4pm-10pm: $35.95

There are no discount rates for children at The Buffet. All kids pay full price!! Obviously they deliberately do this to discourage families eating here.

The buffet islands and counters were bright and clean. We had a first visual sweep of the entire area and had a tough time deciding where to start. For sure, there are no way we could try everything that is available as much as we try to get only bite size servings as much as we can.

At the dining area, the seating, tables and lightings were comfortable, not plush. However, the table settings were good … no paper napkins, silverware and such. Oh well, we are here more for the food.

Service was prompt and they kept our glasses filled and took our plates away as soon as we’re done.

(more…)