Hello and welcome to my latest blog, “Buffet in Las Vegas”!(I am also the author of the blog “Mastering the Art of Singing” on my YouTube channel singermanusa5751.)
My name is Jack McCoy. My love for buffets began when I was a boy about 10 years old. Growing up in the rural areas of Washington State it was a rare treat to make the long journey into the big city. It was on one of those adventures when my parents stopped for a bite to eat at Earl Kelly’s in the St. John’s area of #Portland #Oregon. A large statue of Paul Bunyan stood nearby, a long forgotten symbol of the American Loggers who once thrived in the Northwest. Just trying to get my mind around the concept of “All You Can Eat”, was mind boggling to me! As I stared at a huge serving dish of Cottage Cheese I knew I could be happy just trying to put that whole thing away! And here was all this food; meats, cooked vegetables and salads, all for me!
So here I am now living in the buffet Capital of the World called #LasVegas! It used to be all there was to do in this town was eat, drink and gamble so casino’s quickly adapted the idea of free or low cost buffets because they offered a wide variety of food items to keep people from getting in their cars and driving to the next casino. But now Vegas has evolved into a pedestrian access town so bringing the biggest and best of everything is the norm and now the major casino buffets are among the best in the world!
I started writing restaurant reviews for a tabloid called The Senior Scene in Vancouver Washington, not B.C., back in the mid eighties. At that time the restaurants I reviewed advertised in the paper and they knew I was reviewing them so they always put their best foot forward. One time I brought several of my family members to a local Chinese establishment expecting that only I would get my meal comped, and as an added bonus, I’d get the added benefit of input from of all the variety of dishes the rest of my group selected. But to my surprise, without us even ordering, the owner started parading what seemed like everything on the menu to our table! Yes it was great and we really pigged out but I also felt a bit overwhelmed! How was I going to give any kind of critique in the face of such an out pouring of generosity? Anyhow no chance of that happening now! No one knows who I am and I’m paying for the meal. Me and my lady friend Lila have entirely different tastes in food so together we pretty much cover all the food groups. So stay tuned because you will see in upcoming videos of me and Lila enjoying some of our favorite buffets and restaurants here in Vegas.
Two things initially inspired me to rekindle my career as a reviewer of restaurants. Number one; the old Sahara Casino Buffet. Years ago, when the Sahara still had a buffet I attended a convention there. After the dinner break I overheard one of the attendees raving about the buffet they had enjoyed upstairs. I realized in an instant that he had never been in a buffet his entire life! I wouldn’t go far as to say it was a bad buffet. Let’s just say it had fallen way behind the standards set by the newer casinos on the strip. The best way I can think of to describe this is a funny scene from the National Lampoon movie called “Vacation in Vegas” where Randy Quaid visits a buffet for the very first time and says; “Gimme some of that there green and some that there yeller. And don’t be stingy!” I would rather see people have the best dining experience possible in Vegas because the food here is awesome! Secondly what inspired me to start this blog was my visit to the buffet at the #Mirage. Now sadly the Mirage is no longer, currently being replaced by The Hard Rock, but at the time the New England clam chowder at the Mirage was so good it inspired me to come out of retirement and write these reviews! I’m from the #NW originally and places like #Mo’s on the Oregon coast and #Ivar’s, Ray’s or Chinooks in #Seattle set the bar pretty high. But the chowder there may be the best New England clam chowder that I’d ever had! Lila raved about the Fish and Chips, served with nice big plank fries in those little single serving sized frying baskets. She normally favors steaks and Prime Rib but she found the Cod very tasty, crispy not overly battered, and, “It didn’t tasty fishy!”.
Sadly the pandemic really took its toll on the buffet scene in Las Vegas. A favorite buffet Lila and I used to enjoy was at the “M” casino just south of the strip on St. Rose Parkway. But now the in-house buffet is gone. What they have now is a restaurant called Anthony’s that has a Sunday brunch all you eat lobster tail special for about a hundred bucks per person. Reservations are required way in advance but probably the best seasoned Lobster tails in town. Bacchanal buffet at Caesars costs about the same but only has Lobster claws which are far inferior so don’t recommend going to Bacchanal if you are going there just for the Lobster. A good substitute is if you’re here on vacation and have Wednesday and Thursdays available it’s easier to get a reservation at the Palms Lobster buffet but still try to allow time to get your reservation in advance.
NEWSFLASH! Just in. The Wynn buffet has just been renovated and now has a Seafood Spectacular where they serve King Crab and Snow Crab plus Lobster claws! Woo hoo! This maybe the next Place Lila and I will be reviewing in person so stay tuned! (For a current list of buffets open on the strip visit my website SingerManUSA.com blog page Buffet Hopping in Las Vegas.)…
