We’ve discovered that the older we get, the less we are able to pack away even when we want to. Just not cost effective to hit a buffet any more. Even the 2fer offers at Wicked Spoon are over priced for what we can eat in a single sitting.
For that kind of money I’ll go to a better restaurant where I get waited on hand and foot.
Yeah, the attraction of mass quantities of food are just not what they were when that phrase was current. At least not to me.
You do see people stuffing multiple platefuls into their face though. Most of them weight double or double-plus what I do though.
In general I do not like buffets. Vegas may have better ones than many places, which is not saying much, but food prepared hot to order is always better and there are many places which do this very well. However, buffets were far cheaper than that the last time I went there.
Covid did in most of the Strip buffets. When I went in 2014, Caesars sold a $50 pass which got you unlimited access to all of their buffets for 24 hours. Last year, the Bacchanal was the only one of theirs that was still open and you needed reservations to get in, and the MGM casinos that had buffets were only open for breakfast.
Not disputing you, but Wow how the mighty have fallen.
Way back in Ye Olden Dayes the Bacchanal was a prix fixe ~6 course formal dinner on a place setting with ~4 plates, 6 each forks, knives and spoons, all served by bowing and scraping costumed servants, plus slave girls serving unlimited wines of various sorts specifically linked to each course.
I do not remember much in detail about my dinner there with my then newish wife, except that it was a) a spectacular food & ambiance experience, and b) although pricy in an absolute sense, it was a bargain for what you got.
And now it’s a buffet? Sheesh. Doubtless a snazzy one, but still.
Agree with some of the last few posts - the buffets used to be a deal “back when” but by the mid-20teens were not quite so any more, and then you add for many of us the no longer being able to pack it in… or to make the 12 miles to burn it off.
Of course, the Vegas 12-mile is mostly done indoors… or at least I should hope so during the summer months. You basically go outside only between the closest point to the next hotel then back in. “Dry heat” my…
Y’know between that, the people lying under the pedestrian overpasses, the earlier mentioned slot-machine commuters and the crew staggering out of the strip joint at sunrise, we could get ourselves one fine Puritan tract about Ye Wages of Vyce.
We’re leaving for Vegas in a couple of days, and staying for two weeks. I have no idea what we will do there other than play poker and see a few shows. We’ll probably play a fair bit of poker, and if we get bored we might rent a car and drive off somewhere else for a few days.
Vegas is very enticing for Western Canadians. We were going to do a cruise out of St Maartin until I tried to get us flights. It takes more than 2 days to get there from Edmonton including three stops, a 12 hour layover in Toronto and another 6 hour layover in Miami (best connections I could find). The tickets were $2100 each round trip. Spending four and a half days in airports getting to and from a 7-day cruise did not sound very relaxing, and thr last time we did this they had an issue that caused us to miss our connection and they put us in the worst hotel in Toronto for three days until they could get us another flight.
Vegas, on the other hand, is a direct 3-hour flight. And we got a 14-day package including airfare, 14 nights in a 5-star hotel, and a $35/day drink credit for $2170 each, almost the same price as just the airfare to St. Maartin.
But man, it looks pretty expensive. We’re telling ourselves that with all the money we are saving not going on the cruise, we won’t sweat the prices, But I hear Starbucks in the complex charges $9 for a coffee, and the buffet is $36. Most of the restaurants have entre’ prices that range from $50 to $150. I’m guessing our drink credit will be good for maybe one or two drinks.
The fees absolutely kill you on shows. We got two tickets to a show for $75 each. My Amex was billed $318. Canadian exchange was about $80 of it, and all the rest was fees and taxes.
But really, we are there for the poker, and for my wife to just be able to relax and not worry about house, dogs, kid, work, etc. Vegas is pretty good for that.
Just for fun, sign up to go to one of the timeshare presentations, but pick one that gets you show tickets. That will kill a day, save money on a show or two, let you see hard-sell pitches, and give you something to add to the various threads here on timeshares. Be sure to watch the recent John Oliver episode about timeshares first, and DON’T BUY ONE! Again, this suggestion is just for fun.
Thanks for the tip. Another Albertan here, and hoping to take a trip to Las Vegas this spring, and if prices are like that for two weeks all-in, I’ll definitely make some calls and do some Google searches. I don’t plan on spending two weeks, but maybe I can get a reasonable price for a week.
Sad to hear about the buffets. I liked the one at the Mirage, which was about $36, but which included all the house wine or Bud Light that you could drink. Last time I was there, which was the fall of 2019, the price was still $36, but you had to pay $8.95 extra for the “all you can drink” option.
You can save a huge amount of money by just staying at a cheaper hotel. I almost always do, and then enjoy fun times at better casinos.
@RickJay , any recommendations? My sister just got back from a few days at New York New York. She said that the price was right, and she wasn’t expecting the Bellagio or the Venetian, but it left a lot to be desired.
The Imperial Palace never actually went away - it got expanded and renovated into what is now the Linq.
The parking garage still floods when it rains, though.
While the bones might still be there, what was the IP is gone. The compact casino with a short walk to the rooms… Now a massive empty space of casino and the rooms seem much much further back. I only see the Linq as a route along the strip to walk through, I don’t think you could do that before, with just the front on the strip, along with the rock nightclub (which despite being rock fans, we never went in, I think it opened too late for our boozy vegas visits). I really liked the burger bar, never got to try the steakhouse, it seemed only open a couple of days a week.
Saying the Imperial Palace is still there is like saying Buffalo Bills is still there… And that also isn’t. It’s now a soulless pointless place called Cromwells I largely skip.
I suppose its the way most low-roller places on the strip go. I’m surprised that Casino Royale is still there.
I spent a week at the Riviera the year before they tore it down. It was ancient and run-down, but it had its charm, and there was a surprisingly good cheesesteak place in the food court. The next time I visited, they hadn’t yet cleared out the mountain of debris from the implosion and it was just sitting there in a massive pile across the street from Peppermill.
I’m pretty sure before the rise of five guys and the likes of in-and-out burger, the IPs burgers place was by far the best burger place around that part of the strip. It seemed populated by locals (which I guess all the low-roller places are), and I bet few visitors were aware of how good it was. These often found their niches and parts of them were really popular. I don’t know, and I’m not sure I ever knew, what that burgers place’s name was.
The chinese ran diner in the back of Buffalo Bills was another. That was where I first drunkenly ordered Prime Rib and got back the wonderful creation mostly unique to the US. I, like many brits, was expecting some sort of ribs. I’d immediately forgotten its name before I’d got it in front of me, and it took me another two visits and some pictures of menus (probably back in the BB diner place) to finally work out what I had ordered. I eat it most of the time I am in the US now, but its often hard to find, and also very expensive, outside Vegas.
Do you mind sharing the name of the hotel / resort you’re staying at. Just for comparison.
Separately …
Air travel is a funny thing. I can work for two weeks straight and not be involved in any missed connections. I get folks where they’re going on time every time. Then we can’t find our ass with both hands for two days and nearly nobody gets where they’re going without disruption.
The last trip wife & I took as vacationers was US coast to coast with a plane change in the middle each way. 4 flights, 4 late departures, two missed connections in the middle. 0 for 4. Different reasons each time, and nothing systemic like mongo bad weather. Just miscue after miscue, bad luck piled on bad luck.
I’m not too far from decreeing that if I can’t get there non-stop, I’m simply not going. I might make exceptions for a once in a lifetime trip to someplace way far away. But banging around the Americas or even here to Europe & back? Non-stop or don’t go. Of course it helps to live in a city that’s a hub for somebody, and preferably for more than one somebody.
Ahh, yes. The “all you can hold down” buffet. When I was growing up we lived in Reno for a few years and my mom would take my brother and I to The Primadonna in downtown Reno for their breakfast buffet. It was something ridiculous like $3 per person, so she could let her two early teenage boys load-up for cheap on a random weekend morning. These were “loss leaders” I think was the term, intended to lure you into the casino. I recall cheap prime rib dinners were designed the same way.
But now instead of luring you in with cheap food, the restaurants are focusing on quality over quantity, it seems, and other tricks are used to get you into the casino.
Two weeks in Vegas is too much and you should definitely rent a car and leave the city. You would also save yourself a lot of wasted time and money, and greatly enhance your experience, by getting and reading the latest Unofficial Guide To Las Vegas published yearly. There are many insider ways to save on shows and enjoy only the best meals the city has to offer. Have fun!
I like the Flamingo. It’s usually cheap and has the benefit of being essentially in the middle of the Strip. I stayed at the Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) my last time there, which is also mid-Strip but the casino area smelled and it has few dining options. I stayed at the Luxor a few years ago, and it was cheap and the room huge, but it’s at the bottom of the Strip.
My main interest in where I stay is affordability and a big room; I don’t care about anything else. View? I’m not gonna be in the room except to sleep. Rest of the hotel? If it has reasonably priced food that’s nice. Beyond that if I want to see great things, play poker, see shows or what have you, I’ll walk to it. Just walking around Vegas is a big part of the fun, and it ensures I get my exercise in. When I stayed in the Luxor I walked all the way up to the Wynn/Encore every day to play poker there, sometimes twice a day.
If someone was older, or had a family with them or was mobility impaired, I’d see a lot more value in staying in a place you wanted to hang around in a lot. Some might also want a place with a pool they can hang out at, but that’s not my thing.
Becaue we were poorly paid journos, the Palace was our destination of choice back in the 80s. It had a Burger King inside the casino immediately adjacent to the sports book. Long, cheap days of betting basketball ensued.