J. Neil Schulman
@ Agorist.com
Restaurant Review: Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace
Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace
3570 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Cuisine
Buffet (Casual Dining)
Hours Of Operation
7am – 10pm daily
Dress Code Casual
The opening of the $17 million Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace this week has been greatly hyped as a breakthrough in buffet dining, because the food is supposedly prepared fresh rather than just dumped in steam trays.
I decided to give it a try, arriving at 6:00 PM Friday; it was a two-hour wait in line — and a $40 check per person (using my players club card for a $3.00 discount) to get in.
That two-hour wait and entry price about double the average Las Vegas buffet colors everything about this review.
It’s a good buffet with a lot of variety. Everything I had was well-prepared, and I sampled a bite of different offerings: prime rib, rib-eye steak, lamb chop, snow crab legs, a mixed seafood salad, sushi, a hamburger bite, fish & chips, fried chicken & sweet potato fries, asparagus, broccoli, and for dessert the custard bread pudding, creme brulet, and a chocolate parfait.
It was all just fine.
But it wasn’t worth a two-hour wait and a $40 per person check.
Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace
For one thing, when you walk in, the display case shows Maine lobster and Maryland soft-shell crab. Neither was offered and the crab was the same snow crab legs you can get at any Friday seafood buffet in Las Vegas. The Royal Seafood Buffet at the Rio used to have rock lobster available; if Caesar’s wanted to impress me that their buffet was special at least this would have been in the seafood section, if not the Maine lobster they display.
There was nothing really exotic among the meats. The last time I was at the Bellagio buffet they were carving venison and buffalo steak. The meat offerings at this buffet were nothing you couldn’t get at any other buffet in Vegas.
The sushi was freshly prepared but there was little variety. There’s a far superior sushi and Asian seafood buffet at Makino’s on Decatur for about $25.
There were no juices offered with the beverages, and the coffee was about Denny’s quality. The soft drink selection was no better than the cheapest buffet in Las Vegas: Pepsi or Diet Pepsi, and Iced Tea.
I will give the buffet this: I’ve never eaten better asparagus.
Everything else was fine but not markedly better than other Vegas buffets.
All in all, this buffet would be fine at half the price and without the wait. My rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Now in production: Alongside Night. Look for it in 2013!
September 15, 2012 - 4:56 pm
so what do you think in your opinion is the best buffet in Las Vegas?
September 16, 2012 - 2:20 am
For several years until her recent hospitalization I was a full-time caregiver for my mother, so it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to get to Las Vegas with any frequency.
The best overall buffet value in Vegas for my money, and it’s not because it’s a top-of-the-line “gourmet” buffet, is the French Market Buffet at the Orleans Hotel and Casino on Tropicana.
The best sushi/Asian seafood buffet was the one mentioned in my original article: Makino’s on Decatur.
The best Las Vegas casino buffet I’ve ever been to — and I haven’t been for several years, so I don’t know how it is now — was at the Bellagio.
And the buffet I get to most frequently — and amaze visiting friends with — is the buffet I filmed at in Lady Magdalene’s: the Gold Miner’s Buffet at the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Gambling Hall — a prime-rib buffet six days a week with daily variety and excellent quality — dinner for two (with a free-to-get player’s club card) currently $11.77 including tax.
September 16, 2012 - 1:14 pm
Wow .. the average Vegas buffet costs $20 now?
That’s insane.
I got married in Vegas in 1994. Our wedding dinner was a buffet — all the prime rib, shrimp and crab legs (with sides of various sort) you cared to eat — for $5.99.
I was scandalized when I visited Vegas in 2000 and the buffet at Binion’s was ten bucks.
If Vegas wants $40 from me for anything other than a bet at a table game, the meal had better include e.g. Wayne Newton singing, showgirls dancing, fake knights jousting, etc.
September 17, 2012 - 12:20 pm
Of course there will be long lines during grand opening week.
September 17, 2012 - 12:43 pm
Not if enough of them read my review!
January 31, 2013 - 9:13 am
We were excited to try bacchanal after reading the reviews. We got there around 9am Jan 23 2013. There was no one manning the omelete station so I grabbed some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. The eggs were dry and the potatoes were ice cold.
I got a mini quiche in the cast iron skillet. It was so overcooked it could barely be scraped out of the pan. The guacamole was greyish and tasted like pure lime juce.
The bagels were ice cold and there was nowhere to toast them.
I asked the waitress for a drink menu because I had just arrived in Vegas and my wife wanted a mimosa. The waitress (an older african american lady) stated “this menu only has alcohol and it’s 9am” We said we wanted to order it anyway, the waitress rolled her eyes and stated “you’ll have to pay me for the drinks because they are not included” We already knew that but were dismayed by her snotty attitude.
My wife got some pancakes off the buffet but after searching neither of us could find any butter. We asked our waitress for some and she said “it’s on the bar” and dismissively waved her hand in that direction. I went back up to the pancake section of the bar and there was none so I asked one of the cooks.
He grabbed a giant sysco tub of margarine, and scraped some into a cup with his fingers and handed it to me without a word.
My wife and I were disgusted at this point. We had cold food, the prep stations were unmanned, the other food was unseasoned and inedible and the waitress was rude, snotty and unhelpful.