Since I go to Vegas for 20 plus days each trip, savings add up, so I'll add the frugal notes.
Buffets are generally good value because they provide the drinks for free and the tipping is rarely the 20% I leave at a restaurant.
Getting the lunch price is great.
Going into some at lunch time and just waiting for supper offerings is another frugal trip.
Buffets are a more easy comp. The comp covers the entire bill and it is not compromised by having to leave an incredible tip. If I score an upscale restaurant comp from gambling worth a decent amount of money, the tip is easily double the price of an entire buffet.
My last trip I ate on an average of $11 a day, eating generally one buffet a day ( not at the Orleans on senior day when two are free) and just having a bit of healthy food in the room,
There are more often specials focused on the buffet. So on Veteran's Day I'll eat two buffets for free just with my DD-214 from long ago. Last year I had breakfast where I stayed and lunch at Paris. Call and ask if you are a Veteran. Oh, and not one of those places actually examined my DD-214. But don't lie about it, unless you want to run for public office. However, if you don't have the form, just say you are a Veteran and it probably will work.
Personally, I am overweight and diabetic. I control the diabetes only with diet. The easiest place to do that is at the buffet. Trying to figure what they will give me at a restaurant and bargaining the high carb sides for broccoli is an enormous pain. The simplest foods of the cheaper buffets keep my sugar right around 100 in Vegas. With the walking it is really a health spa for me.
Someone mentioned the sugar free desert. These don't come in restaurants much. In the buffet there is usually at least one thing I can eat that ai don't eat otherwise, even at home. Otherwise I don't eat pie or cookies or pudding.
If I am worried about my sugar that day, a buffet can be an all I can eat lettuce, raddish, spinach onion event.
Stop thinking you have to eat every you can to get full value. You have value if what you pick would cost more ordered separately in a restaurant. Two good salads and some soup make the buffet break even, and if you try the soup and hate it, you can take a different soup.
This week my wife ordered a $30 plus fillet mignon and it was so terrible she sent it back. The cook said it was fine. They did not comp her meal. She was not that hungry and she just took a bit from each of our plates. Four of us. Each ordered appetizers. I disliked my pasta fasule. None of this would happen at the buffet.
I also like the ability to combine foods as I want them. I can make soup with all sorts of ingredients and flavors. I can do what I do at home, mix up thinks, taste, add other things until I get the recipes just right. I don't have the spice options. Sometimes I bring my own hot sauce or cinnamon for coffee.
Certain buffets are better than others for certain diets. The diabetes put me off my much loved Main Street Station buffet and into the Golden Nugget. There I love making a breakfast of smoked salmon, capers, tomato. That might be all I eat.
I can make a hamburger with no bun on lettuce.
But even at Main Street station I can fill up on soul green collards topped with Hawaiian pulled pork and manage that in the diet.
I can more easily control portions in a buffet than in a restaurant, taking large portions of the right foods that are unlimited and getting perhaps just one small piece of potato that I never eat at home.
My favorite is Red Rock. There I had a wonderful meal because they had about four different kinds of roasted vegetables and I actually ate three deserts and did not affect my blood sugar. That is a record.
I also travel solo and the buffets offer other opportunities.
At the Orleans, at my free breakfast, my first full day in Vegas I was in line and three women from Calgary and Alberta who were just behind me. Their talk was so perky and funny, I listened in and made some comment. They were so open and friendly that by the time we made the buffet, they had invited me to eat with them.
They asked about music. I told them about the Nite Kings. So we spent a few hours there together as well with some great talk and some dancing.
I have dined with a whole table of French folks, a fellow who did tax advice for a famous Japanese baseball players, a few teachers, a cute little Pilipino woman and her husband.
Like the bus, the buffet line is a social event.
Sometimes I have a free passes, so I ask if there is anyone in line who wants a free meal.
When I do stay solo, I pull out my journal and take trip report notes. I am much more comfortable doing that in a buffet. than a restaurant.
Wine with the meal in a buffet can usually be brought in from where I last played. At Eastside Cannery I have coupons for free wine at the bar and carry in two glasses to eat a free buffet on my voucher.
Also, the poker and other gambling is the big draw for me to Vegas, and next the shows. At home we go our to eat for recreation. In Vegas I want to do something I don't do so much at home.
Finally, although some of the all day buffets are ridiculously prices, the Orleans all day buffet is just $27 for the whole day (not 24 hours but all day) You get a little bracelet and come and go without lines by using the VIP entrance. So, you can go four or five times if you want, go just for coffee and fruit or just for a bowl of soup. I would do this more often except I always book the Orleans for senior Wednesdays with an added $10 added to the comped rooms. I liked it when I played poker there. I could stay at the game and wander is for a bite and then go back.
Buffets are generally good value because they provide the drinks for free and the tipping is rarely the 20% I leave at a restaurant.
Getting the lunch price is great.
Going into some at lunch time and just waiting for supper offerings is another frugal trip.
Buffets are a more easy comp. The comp covers the entire bill and it is not compromised by having to leave an incredible tip. If I score an upscale restaurant comp from gambling worth a decent amount of money, the tip is easily double the price of an entire buffet.
My last trip I ate on an average of $11 a day, eating generally one buffet a day ( not at the Orleans on senior day when two are free) and just having a bit of healthy food in the room,
There are more often specials focused on the buffet. So on Veteran's Day I'll eat two buffets for free just with my DD-214 from long ago. Last year I had breakfast where I stayed and lunch at Paris. Call and ask if you are a Veteran. Oh, and not one of those places actually examined my DD-214. But don't lie about it, unless you want to run for public office. However, if you don't have the form, just say you are a Veteran and it probably will work.
Personally, I am overweight and diabetic. I control the diabetes only with diet. The easiest place to do that is at the buffet. Trying to figure what they will give me at a restaurant and bargaining the high carb sides for broccoli is an enormous pain. The simplest foods of the cheaper buffets keep my sugar right around 100 in Vegas. With the walking it is really a health spa for me.
Someone mentioned the sugar free desert. These don't come in restaurants much. In the buffet there is usually at least one thing I can eat that ai don't eat otherwise, even at home. Otherwise I don't eat pie or cookies or pudding.
If I am worried about my sugar that day, a buffet can be an all I can eat lettuce, raddish, spinach onion event.
Stop thinking you have to eat every you can to get full value. You have value if what you pick would cost more ordered separately in a restaurant. Two good salads and some soup make the buffet break even, and if you try the soup and hate it, you can take a different soup.
This week my wife ordered a $30 plus fillet mignon and it was so terrible she sent it back. The cook said it was fine. They did not comp her meal. She was not that hungry and she just took a bit from each of our plates. Four of us. Each ordered appetizers. I disliked my pasta fasule. None of this would happen at the buffet.
I also like the ability to combine foods as I want them. I can make soup with all sorts of ingredients and flavors. I can do what I do at home, mix up thinks, taste, add other things until I get the recipes just right. I don't have the spice options. Sometimes I bring my own hot sauce or cinnamon for coffee.
Certain buffets are better than others for certain diets. The diabetes put me off my much loved Main Street Station buffet and into the Golden Nugget. There I love making a breakfast of smoked salmon, capers, tomato. That might be all I eat.
I can make a hamburger with no bun on lettuce.
But even at Main Street station I can fill up on soul green collards topped with Hawaiian pulled pork and manage that in the diet.
I can more easily control portions in a buffet than in a restaurant, taking large portions of the right foods that are unlimited and getting perhaps just one small piece of potato that I never eat at home.
My favorite is Red Rock. There I had a wonderful meal because they had about four different kinds of roasted vegetables and I actually ate three deserts and did not affect my blood sugar. That is a record.
I also travel solo and the buffets offer other opportunities.
At the Orleans, at my free breakfast, my first full day in Vegas I was in line and three women from Calgary and Alberta who were just behind me. Their talk was so perky and funny, I listened in and made some comment. They were so open and friendly that by the time we made the buffet, they had invited me to eat with them.
They asked about music. I told them about the Nite Kings. So we spent a few hours there together as well with some great talk and some dancing.
I have dined with a whole table of French folks, a fellow who did tax advice for a famous Japanese baseball players, a few teachers, a cute little Pilipino woman and her husband.
Like the bus, the buffet line is a social event.
Sometimes I have a free passes, so I ask if there is anyone in line who wants a free meal.
When I do stay solo, I pull out my journal and take trip report notes. I am much more comfortable doing that in a buffet. than a restaurant.
Wine with the meal in a buffet can usually be brought in from where I last played. At Eastside Cannery I have coupons for free wine at the bar and carry in two glasses to eat a free buffet on my voucher.
Also, the poker and other gambling is the big draw for me to Vegas, and next the shows. At home we go our to eat for recreation. In Vegas I want to do something I don't do so much at home.
Finally, although some of the all day buffets are ridiculously prices, the Orleans all day buffet is just $27 for the whole day (not 24 hours but all day) You get a little bracelet and come and go without lines by using the VIP entrance. So, you can go four or five times if you want, go just for coffee and fruit or just for a bowl of soup. I would do this more often except I always book the Orleans for senior Wednesdays with an added $10 added to the comped rooms. I liked it when I played poker there. I could stay at the game and wander is for a bite and then go back.
3 comments:
I have enjoyed reading your posts Dewey. Buffets are great in my opinion also. After my gall bladder attacks, I changed my diet so I do not have to have it taken out and buffets offer me a great selection of healthy foods like want you have stated. My wife gets her crab legs and so is very happy and I get to pick and choose, eating fish, fruit, roasted veggies and soup usually. I feel completely satisfied afterwards. Since it is free with my vegas, we both are happy! I am going to look into the Orleans buffet deal you mentioned as that seems ideal. On another topic, We enjoy the lazy river as you do at Monte Carlo. Your ten bucks is well spent. Hang around a little more that an hour and relax. Out front of the Monte Carlo is a good place to sit now and watch people, get a cushioned chair with an umbrella. David (retired social worker)
Thanks, Dave. I may just do that. I did sit in front of Monte Carlo and listened to a Jimmy Buffet like band last year. I was on the steps, however, not quite as comfortable as the other areas. Thanks for the note.
I don't have diabetes but I am too heavy and my blood sugar is trending a little high. When I do a buffet, I don't have to watch it as much as you do, but what I've been doing is planning a meal after taking a look at the offerings. I keep it reasonable....fit in the most attractive to me items with a healthier diet and portions in mind. Do a little Salad. An entree and sides. A dessert and I'm out of there instead of gorging myself like I used too.
My hunger is gone. I had a nice variety to choose from, usually comped or close to it and I can always find something tasty to eat at any buffet. And I no longer feel lousy the rest of the day after the buffet olympics of overeating!
I enjoyed reading about your approach with restrictions. I kind of do the same thing but my restrictions aren't quite as strict but I'm trying to prevent tipping the A1C too far that direction too.
Always enjoy your blog--NMchop
Post a Comment