BUFFETS
I am next to useless as a buffet reviewer because I use buffets to avoid and limit carbs, meats, dairy, sugar, and to eat vegetables and fish with meat only once in a while for a treat.
I pick the cheaper buffets because they are just as good at basic salads.
Also I tend to eat midday to save money and the better foods are often saved for later.
So I know that Main Street Station is a great buffet, but I never eat there anymore because it is not great for me.
The Golden Nugget has smoked salmon and all the fixin's for great lox, except sometimes the creamy horseradish is missing.
I rarely eat an evening buffet as the lunch is fine for me. Often a meal otherwise is a handful of nuts and a piece of fruit. I get good value from the free fruit at the El Cortez Cabana rooms. They even have pears!
When I was with my wife for the upscale portion of the trip, we used MyVegas deals to eat free or 2 for 1 at Bellagio and Aria. Both offered me plenty of choices. I loved Aria the first visit, but was less enthused the second. However, it may be that the meal at the Capital Grill overshadowed all tastes the day afterwards just as the bland taste of the hot crab is poor competition with our winter life of fresh stone crab three times a week or even the lobster bisque at Capital Grill or the oyster stew at Al's in the Orleans (not on the menu)
Here are my notes on Aria:
EASTSIDE CANNERY
I'm probably the only guy who likes this place. It is cheap and I can eat here. Also I have a zillion points from when I played Webpass on their site and this trip I managed to have a local friend print out my vouchers for food, drink and a fine hat. The redemption procedure is ridiculous, but I do like free. (see last review) I don't play any games there. MyVegas is much superior. But I check in for three minutes every day and get 700 so I keep current and can earn a free buffet for every trip. (Perhaps 2)
They first earn my respect because they have Cholula. Places with only Tabasco need to get with the times. Any Louisiana sauce would be fine. And at the Asian station there were two other hot sauces.
Drink refills do not need the server. You can just go up when you are thirsty and help yourself.
That being said, the servers are very, very attentive. Each time I ended up over tipping.
The music is old chestnuts.... well not Sinatra old, but I heard Buddy Holly.....and the music is not so loud that you can't talk or hear yourself think.
I used a 2 for 1 from the Webpass and took poker buddy Bill on the Thursday we did Boulder. I liked the mahi mahi that day.
I usually go off my diet for the black and white yin yang moon cookies or perhaps for one with M and M's.
GOLDEN NUGGET
My main food spot now downtown is the buffet at the Golden Nugget. I usually go for breakfast, but on Halloween I went for an off diet supper. Using the $10 poker voucher the meal is under $10 cash. The food sure tasted good. I ate chicken fajitas, salad, a small bit of exceptionally delicious mushroom soup flavored with a very small bit of grilled steak. The deep fried shrimp are delicious. I also mixed up some vegetable dishes and made my own versions. For dessert it was the nuts off the top of a slice of pecan pie.
Saturday is a good day to use the $10 coupon for breakfast. It cost me $6 for the Golden Nugget buffet and there was creamy horseraddish for my lox with tomato, onion, and capers. Lox is my usual pick.
Weekdays the breakfast is only a dollar more than the poker voucher.
Sundays it is a bit more expensive and I go other places.
Diane is my favorite waitress. She went out of her way to see I had creamy horseradish one morning for my lox.
Avoid the greens if you don't want sugar in the diet. They are heavily into sugar. Why a place will have healthy greens and then add so much sugar that we can taste it is beyond me.
However, there is plenty of interesting salads and a large selection of fruits including nice pink grapefruit and canned pears. The egg maker is very accommodating and does a fine job cooking healthy omelets of eggs over easy.
ORLEANS
I am next to useless as a buffet reviewer because I use buffets to avoid and limit carbs, meats, dairy, sugar, and to eat vegetables and fish with meat only once in a while for a treat.
I pick the cheaper buffets because they are just as good at basic salads.
Also I tend to eat midday to save money and the better foods are often saved for later.
So I know that Main Street Station is a great buffet, but I never eat there anymore because it is not great for me.
The Golden Nugget has smoked salmon and all the fixin's for great lox, except sometimes the creamy horseradish is missing.
I rarely eat an evening buffet as the lunch is fine for me. Often a meal otherwise is a handful of nuts and a piece of fruit. I get good value from the free fruit at the El Cortez Cabana rooms. They even have pears!
When I was with my wife for the upscale portion of the trip, we used MyVegas deals to eat free or 2 for 1 at Bellagio and Aria. Both offered me plenty of choices. I loved Aria the first visit, but was less enthused the second. However, it may be that the meal at the Capital Grill overshadowed all tastes the day afterwards just as the bland taste of the hot crab is poor competition with our winter life of fresh stone crab three times a week or even the lobster bisque at Capital Grill or the oyster stew at Al's in the Orleans (not on the menu)
Here are my notes on Aria:
We took a cab from the Orleans to Aria.
Fare was $9.50. The cabby went
the back street and it did not take long at all. This put us in good time for the midday
buffet and cut out some of the walking we would have had we taken the Tropicana
bus.
I liked the feel of Aria and I loved the buffet. It is my new favorite buffet. They had plenty of interesting gourmet tastes
all labeled clearly on chalk boards.
There were plenty of foods that fit perfectly into my diet.
I ate steamed clams.
There were also mussels.
And there was crab all split and somewhat warmed up on a steaming table. It was all good. The cod with sauce was fine but not hot enough and not my favorite.
In very tiny green salad cups were two anchovies unlike any I eat at home. These looked like fresh fish. They were salted but not overwhelmingly so.
I ate steamed clams.
There were also mussels.
And there was crab all split and somewhat warmed up on a steaming table. It was all good. The cod with sauce was fine but not hot enough and not my favorite.
In very tiny green salad cups were two anchovies unlike any I eat at home. These looked like fresh fish. They were salted but not overwhelmingly so.
They had some mild machego cheese.
It was good, but not really what I've eaten in Spain.
There was an extensive Mid Eastern section. I only tried the curried lentil soup. It was really good and not the plain, generic
stuff usually served in Indian places.
The coffee was good. Elizabeth thought it was just
okay. That is a high evaluation for her on any buffet
coffee. I thought it
was some of the best coffee I have had.
I liked the assortment of hot sauces and picked one to drop
in my tomato juice. There was also both
regular and creamy horseradish and that made a virgin bloody Mary.
The music was louder and faster than I would pick, but they
mixed the songs. There was some of the
whiny modern sounds and the songs with lyrics that no one could understand
interspersed with :Oh, Oh, Oh. Oh….
This sort of stuff seems to be a fad for filing in when the lyrics are
exhausted. However, there were Spanish
and Italian musical cuts as well as some older songs.
It was not the best, but better than many places.
At about 3:30 they brought out the supper foods and there
was plenty of interesting meats, so I had a taste of lamb leg. It was lean and tasty. They also had lamb ribs. I think this is only offered on the weekend nights.
I liked the windows to the trees outside and when I go
again, I’ll asked to sit by the window.
For dessert I had a small piece of very rich
chocolate. I liked it. Also I had a small slice of pecan pie that
was wonderful as well. Well worth going
off the dietEASTSIDE CANNERY
I'm probably the only guy who likes this place. It is cheap and I can eat here. Also I have a zillion points from when I played Webpass on their site and this trip I managed to have a local friend print out my vouchers for food, drink and a fine hat. The redemption procedure is ridiculous, but I do like free. (see last review) I don't play any games there. MyVegas is much superior. But I check in for three minutes every day and get 700 so I keep current and can earn a free buffet for every trip. (Perhaps 2)
They first earn my respect because they have Cholula. Places with only Tabasco need to get with the times. Any Louisiana sauce would be fine. And at the Asian station there were two other hot sauces.
Drink refills do not need the server. You can just go up when you are thirsty and help yourself.
That being said, the servers are very, very attentive. Each time I ended up over tipping.
The music is old chestnuts.... well not Sinatra old, but I heard Buddy Holly.....and the music is not so loud that you can't talk or hear yourself think.
I used a 2 for 1 from the Webpass and took poker buddy Bill on the Thursday we did Boulder. I liked the mahi mahi that day.
I usually go off my diet for the black and white yin yang moon cookies or perhaps for one with M and M's.
GOLDEN NUGGET
My main food spot now downtown is the buffet at the Golden Nugget. I usually go for breakfast, but on Halloween I went for an off diet supper. Using the $10 poker voucher the meal is under $10 cash. The food sure tasted good. I ate chicken fajitas, salad, a small bit of exceptionally delicious mushroom soup flavored with a very small bit of grilled steak. The deep fried shrimp are delicious. I also mixed up some vegetable dishes and made my own versions. For dessert it was the nuts off the top of a slice of pecan pie.
Saturday is a good day to use the $10 coupon for breakfast. It cost me $6 for the Golden Nugget buffet and there was creamy horseraddish for my lox with tomato, onion, and capers. Lox is my usual pick.
Weekdays the breakfast is only a dollar more than the poker voucher.
Sundays it is a bit more expensive and I go other places.
Diane is my favorite waitress. She went out of her way to see I had creamy horseradish one morning for my lox.
Avoid the greens if you don't want sugar in the diet. They are heavily into sugar. Why a place will have healthy greens and then add so much sugar that we can taste it is beyond me.
However, there is plenty of interesting salads and a large selection of fruits including nice pink grapefruit and canned pears. The egg maker is very accommodating and does a fine job cooking healthy omelets of eggs over easy.
ORLEANS
We
had the lunch buffet before the pool.
Good offerings here are made better with Cholula hot sauce . The mendula is just wonderful. I think it is really pozole. I take just the broth and so I think that I am closer to my diet.
I had some cabbage and a good salad using just vinegar and the hot sauce. Refried beans were good and I added a small bit of chili. Some pumpkin ginger soup seemed to have too much sugar. I drank lots of coffee and liked it.
Elizabeth hated the coffee.
She had a good sampling of meats and I guess she did okay. I had a small taste of tuna. For dessert I had caramel sugar free iced cream. That was great.
SPICE MARKET
As a treat I went to the Spice Market. The price has increases since it was the most affordable, but with a destination.com coupon and the last of my Harrah's points I got supper for $23. I wanted supper because I wanted to go off my diet and have lamb.
They did not have the grilled lamb I remember, but they did have tasty bits of leg of lamb and I was satisfied. The tempura shrimp made the meal. Other tastes were fine too. It was a night of indulgence for me, the only real time I left the diet alone and just had what I wanted.
I had some cabbage and a good salad using just vinegar and the hot sauce. Refried beans were good and I added a small bit of chili. Some pumpkin ginger soup seemed to have too much sugar. I drank lots of coffee and liked it.
Elizabeth hated the coffee.
She had a good sampling of meats and I guess she did okay. I had a small taste of tuna. For dessert I had caramel sugar free iced cream. That was great.
SPICE MARKET
As a treat I went to the Spice Market. The price has increases since it was the most affordable, but with a destination.com coupon and the last of my Harrah's points I got supper for $23. I wanted supper because I wanted to go off my diet and have lamb.
They did not have the grilled lamb I remember, but they did have tasty bits of leg of lamb and I was satisfied. The tempura shrimp made the meal. Other tastes were fine too. It was a night of indulgence for me, the only real time I left the diet alone and just had what I wanted.
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