Rate Vegas

On July 11 2008, Neal Wright wrote:

I was shocked to find this buffet rated “just average” because I found this buffet to be wonderful the staff was fairly nice and the selection was to die for. My family and I had breakfast here in June 25, 2008 and it was really excellent. I remeber having three plates full because I simply could not choose from their stunning variety of entrees including everything from chef-prepared omeletes to delectable pastries of all shapes sizes and flavors.

On December 29 2006, mike_ch wrote:

We’re approaching New Years’ Eve as I write this, so the Strip is coming crowded with bodies and traffic is quickly becoming a regular painful affair. With so many visitors in town, the MGM Grand’s cavernous spaces seem almost like a good idea. Very few hotels in town can efficiently process so many people.

But somehow along the way they got the buffet completely wrong. Let me just get the comparison out of the way first: this buffet is better than Excalibur’s, but it’s not as good as Luxor’s.

Design: At a late lunch, this buffet was running at 70% capacity. Which is busy, but ought not to be enough to cause a meltdown. But it did. Let’s begin with the long aisle near the entrance. Similar to a setup at Excalibur, this encourages guests to walk into the buffet, take a plate, and begin piling items. But at Excalibur you get these items and are seated but here you begin by walking into the dining room and being given a table, so the design doesn’t work. Furthermore, the aisle is a trench between two long tables of items, so people shift back and forth across the aisle and depending on traffic and people darting around sometimes the whole area has a long line while other times it doesn’t.

Food: Mashed potatoes are nowhere near the carving station. They are in the aisle, near the vegetables. So once you get through the carving table line, you’ll have to get into the line for the aisle if you want a side of mashed. Turkey and chicken tasted stale, mashed potatoes were only okay. Pizza was available in the aisle but both pepperoni and deluxe were completely gone and the people manning the aisle didn’t care at all to replenish it. Desserts were average, I recommend the key lime pie if you find yourself here.

Serivce: The waitress, to her credit, knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to me for a long time so she left me with 2 soft drinks. But there’s empty tables all around me and she’s in “overworked mode.” And finally, although it was a late lunch and almost dinner, large signs for breakfast were still up. The Asian section had no sign that said Asian/Sushi, but one that said “Pancake & Waffle toppings.” An empty table was labeled “Toaster section.” So a new visitor didn’t know what was where until they did a lot of walking around and took stock for themselves.

Overall: This would not be acceptable at a Steve Wynn operation, nor Harrah’s, nor Boyd, and it likely would be frowned upon by Station Casino standards. Like at Excalibur, some manager somewhere is not doing their job. But, unlike Excalibur, you’re being served drinks, albeit at a much higher price.

With so many buffets around this hotel, why go to this one? Don’t.

On June 04 2006, RateVegas.com User wrote:

Pick your favorite meal of the day. You like breakfast? Go there. You like lunch? Go there. You like dinner? Go there. The most solid buffet we were able to find. And although the Bellagio buffet is the most classy and fancy, this is the most solid everyday eats you could have on vacation (especially if you have no clue what you are in the mood for, but you are hungry as hell).

The dinner steaks they cook for you are awesome as is the taco bar, the carving station is hard to beat and the salads are fantastic and many choices too! Beware of the cheese blintzes: they are the tastiest treat in all of Vegas, but oh does my belly feel full!

It isn’t the cheapest buffet in town, but certainly one you won’t walk away from disappointed.

On December 30 2005, RateVegas.com User wrote:

I has the breakfast buffet twice during my stay. Great service, and the quality of the food was better than expected. Definitely worth the $14 charge.

On February 17 2005, RateVegas.com User wrote:

Love this place. If you’re a meat and potatoes person than this is the buffet for you. Food is delicious, always hot. We had line passes, so luckily we didn’t have to wait. Would love to go back but there are so many other places to try, but wouldn’t hesitate to come to the MGM buffet again!

On November 29 2004, RateVegas.com User wrote:

We had Thanksgiving dinner at the MGMG Grand Buffet and were impressed to meet their new chef-Chef Matt. he has made some great improvements since our last trip there. The variety, quality and presentation of the food was incredible as was the service of the wait staff!

On March 06 2004, sweetie51759 wrote:

The food was good, but it’s a little pricy for supper.

On February 23 2004, swanboy333 wrote:

If you eat at this buffet, eat the breakfast. It is great. I love it. Food was eveything you would ever want for breakfast and the some. Service was great. Very nice people.

On February 13 2004, Wired wrote:

I was very surprised at the quality of the food (11.99) at this buffet. My experiences were both during breakfast, but the fruit was very sweet and colorful, better than I can get at home in the supermarkets, the ham was quite good. Bacon was a little too greasy. The chicken breast with country gravy was very tasty and everyone else (6 others) with us quite enjoyed their meals. Our first server was quite good, the second one we had put in a bare minimum effort so that was a little disappointing consdiering all she had to do was get us drinks and take empty plates. Regardless, I woudln’t hesistate to come back here again. It literally changed my opinion of the “Vegas buffet”.

On August 19 2003, sweetnest wrote:

The food is always good. Not exceptional, but very good. Nice variety, and the desserts are quite gormet for the price. You get a good “bang for your buck” at this buffet.

On June 08 2003, bnsf600 wrote:

The food selection was above average, but you had to
peel your own shrimp. Good choices for salad along with
good dessert selections. I liked the service very much
as the plates were taken away quickly and your glass
was always filled. There are better buffets out there,
but if you are staying at the hotel and don’t want to
leave, then this is a good place to eat where you can
eat in casual clothes.

On May 31 2003, roberti805 wrote:

For such a large hotel/casino you would think that they would have a better buffet. The food was okay but there are better at other MGM/Mirage properties.

On April 18 2003, dimsum wrote:

I was going to eat here but the line was incredibly long. I snuck by to look at the selection and was glad I didn’t wait. It all looked very average.
Pass this one up.

On March 30 2003, sunny729 wrote:

The food was rather good and the service is very friendly. The line can get a little long but it moves fast and the price was ok for the type of food that is served.

On March 20 2003, billkat wrote:

very poor buffet (dinner)dont bother …go to the bellagio well worth the extra

On February 28 2003, Hunter wrote:

Strictly average mid-level buffet. Nothing to rave over but there were no real dark spots either… Large variety of food and most of it looked edible.

On October 20 2002, RateVegas User wrote:

Avoid this buffet. There are much better choices. If you closed your eyes, everything would taste the same. I can’t think of anything that was worthy of mention.

On August 28 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

Yes, the lines were long.. but fast. We eventually got smart and moved into the VIP lines, no one questioned it. My kids were like 2 pigs in mud in that place. They ran around trying to eat one of each. The food was exceptionally good, the shrimp was great,(I had 2 big plates of it)! The staff was talkative and courteous. We ate there 6 times during our stay of a week.

On June 16 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

Food here was better than average and definitely better that most strip buffets. There was a selection of different types of food including seafood. Lines were always long a certian times of the day. This was on the regular, so the food must be pretty good.

On May 17 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

Obscenely priced!

On May 17 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

Paid way too much for this less than average buffet

On May 17 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

Very lacking in variety and quality.

On May 17 2001, RateVegas User wrote:

WAY over priced and very poor selection.

On December 14 2000, RateVegas User wrote:

Average buffet. About the same size as the one at the Mirage or Bellagio, but nowhere near the selection or quality of food. Not badly priced however.

On May 23 2000, RateVegas User wrote:

Lines were very long, but fast moving…Food was good, but we stayed there for 5 days and only ate there 2 times.