Lunch versus Dinner Buffet

There are endless buffet questions. And, many wonder why eat at a buffet when you can have a reasonably priced and probably better meal at a regular restaurant. However, most any city you can eat at a normal restaurant and Vegas seems unique with the elaborate buffets. So, I am wondering if one can enjoy the best of both worlds and have lunches at the buffets and dinner at the restaurants. But, are the food selections put out at the high-end buffets such as the Bellagio or Alladin the same at lunch and dinner? Or, if you want to enjoy a high-end buffet then it is necessary to go at dinner? Any actual experience and feedback?

Also, I would like to see future ratings of buffets not be dependent on whether you had to wait or didn%26#39;t like your waiter/waitress. Although those are important aspects, it has nothing to do with whether the food quality at a buffet is good or not.

Lunch versus Dinner Buffet

If the wait time and service kept you from enjoying your meal, you should gosh darn well write about it. Consdering the buffets can cost up to $60, these things are important, too.

Lunch versus Dinner Buffet

I%26#39;m pretty sure the Aladdin%26#39;s buffet has a set of items for lunch, these are all available for dinner, plus about 50% more items. So I%26#39;m thinking dinner will have better variety....but I guess it depends WHAT you want to eat!

look at Aladdin%26#39;s website, it lists the items on the buffet.

';Also, I would like to see future ratings of buffets not be dependent on whether you had to wait or didn%26#39;t like your waiter/waitress. Although those are important aspects, it has nothing to do with whether the food quality at a buffet is good or not.';

Gee, do you have any more personal requirements/constraints for OTHER folk%26#39;s reviews and opinions? BTW, I would be very interested in ';wait times'; and when to arrive at a particular buffet.

Imagine making the effort to travel to a particular hotel/casino, parking, walking some distance thru the casino to the buffet only to be greeted with a mile long line. Quality of the food would not be a concern of mine at that time, as I%26#39;m not interested in an hour+ wait for buffet food.

Stanch and Leo, I agree that wait time and service is important. And, if you go to a top restaurant and have bad service then that is important to know and share.

But, too often I see someone%26#39;s individual service experience result in a bad rating for a restaurant or buffet in terms of the place itself. A rude waiter or long line doesn%26#39;t mean that the ';quality'; of the place is poor in terms of the food. Would you rate the Circus-Circus buffet as ';great'; if you went and there was no line and smiling attentive service? Someone%26#39;s individual bad luck with the time they went and having an extensive wait, or a screwed up reservation, or not liking lamb because they don%26#39;t like lamb anyway versus it being bad quality lamb is my point.

I was thinking when I made mention of this subject about the Alladin Buffet. This buffet seems to be the most debated place in terms of high-end and whether it is any good or not. But, in digging through some of the negative reviews it is clear that the people writing didn%26#39;t like mediterean dishes and had somewhat of a wait. Thus, they said the buffet was no good.

I am more interested in knowing is the buffet no good because the food items themselves are no good versus anything else. As I had posted elsewhere, in my opinion, although a great variety of items and small wait time was positive regarding the Main Street Buffet, the actual food quality itself was mediocre. I believe a lot of people rate this a good buffet because it is extensive in terms of items. Again, I am more interested in the quality of the actual items provided.

truly...I agree with you. The quality of food is usually a fixed (as opposed to a variable) part of a restaurant. There are occasional times where a new cook may be in that time messing the food up. But overall, the food at a place is good or its bad. Service, wait time, a rude host, etc.. are all variables that depend largely on the person who is serving you and what time you are going to the restaurant. I agree that there are too many reviews that will be a 1-star bad review because they happened to have a bad server or rude host or waited too long to sit. All those are capable of happening at any and every restaurant. I am willing to put up with those in order to have a quality meal.

I almost always go to buffets for lunch rather than dinner when I%26#39;m in Vegas. There are usually some dishes that are only served for dinner, but the really good buffets have pretty wonderful options available at lunch anyway. If you want to do buffets and then nice dinners you%26#39;ll may want to watch how much you eat. I rarely have big dinner meals in Vegas because I%26#39;m so full from the lunch buffets. I hit the casinos or shows and maybe have an appetizer or light meal someplace in the evening.

As for your comments about how people%26#39;s ratings address things you aren%26#39;t interested in, truly, I think people are entitled to have %26amp; share opinions on what is important to them in a dining experience. I would feel I was neglecting the facts if I just said that most of the food at Aladdin was cold %26amp; mediocre and left out the part that the tables weren%26#39;t bussed nearly enough. Both of those things impacted my experience. I have no more reason to believe that that the food would be any different than I do to expect the bussing service to be different, if I were to ever go again. Though, honestly, I won%26#39;t bother to give them another try. There are too many other good options and I don%26#39;t have enough days in Vegas to risk it.

My current favorites: Paris, Wynn %26amp; Bellagio. It%26#39;s been a few months since I%26#39;ve had a Bellagio buffet, but Paris %26amp; Wynn were both terrific for lunch in July.

Big Vegas Fan, I do want to hear about the ';service'; issues as well. I think that was misunderstood. What I was saying on the RATING of a buffet or restaurant, the RATING where someone says, ';I don%26#39;t know why others rate the Bellagio Buffet high as it wasn%26#39;t,'; and then you read on that the person had a server that didn%26#39;t replace their drinks frequently enough, is where I have concerns. The RATING I am interested in is based upon the quality of the food. So, the comments about the Alladin are valuable if it was found that food was cold (when it wasn%26#39;t supposed to be) or there was a questionable selection, etc. then this is all of great value. For example, I have read a number of negative reviews about the Wynn Buffet. However, I am wondering if it is again based on other issues than the actual food.

If you are being treated like crap, the food is never going to taste good enough to you. Thats why you see reviews that never mention the food. Let people say what they need to say. If you don%26#39;t find it helpful, oh well.

Bear in mind there are two sites that have sections where folks only review buffets: ratelv.com and lasvegasadvisor.com. Broaden your own net and leave us be.

Truly, like someone else said, I found that I was too full from the lunch buffet to want anything else to eat that night. You might want to try a buffet one day and the restaurants the next day.

As for going to lunch buffet verses dinner buffet, you can have the best of both worlds if you go about an hour before lunch is over and dinner begins.

My favorite buffet was the Paris buffet. I loved the crepes, the selections of tender meats, the pastries, the breads, and the deserts. I could have gone there every single day except I wanted to try other places.

I also eat at the Belligio which was excellent, but I liked the Paris one better. Desserts at both were also excellent.

If you can eat a buffet lunch and back up for a restaurant dinner, you%26#39;re a better man than I, Gunga Din!

Compromise, and save money into the bargain, at Le Village Buffet at the Paris. It%26#39;s the best buffet in town - very good food and the only one with any sort of ambience. Get there about 5 - 5.15pm, pay for lunch and get dinner.

Round the evening off nicely with pre and/or post dinner drinks at Napoleon%26#39;s Bar (adjacent to the buffet ) - it%26#39;s the nicest bar in Vegas.

Go to ratelv.com for good info re buffets %26amp; restaurants.