For our review of the Palms lobster buffet, we arrived a little after 1 p.m. ahead of the 2 o’clock opening, walked right up to the cash register, and paid to get in. Once we had our receipt, we didn’t need to hang around; we could’ve been last on line and we still would’ve gotten in for the first seating.
That schedule seems to have changed since then.
Our correspondent Michael B. went in early September and filed the following trip report. As you’ll see, the moral of the story is: If you want to be guaranteed a seat at the 2 p.m. opening, get there well before noon. Otherwise, expect to wait for at least another couple of hours.
Since I had a lot of time to spare and I needed to get a player’s card, I arrived around noon. I got my card and headed to the buffet at 12:10 and the line was HUGE.
I tried to estimate what 200 people would look like and I thought I might have a chance, so I stuck it out.
Around 1:20, someone came out and told the people 10 feet in front of me to follow her. They separated us from the rest of the line and took us to the other side of the wall, so we were now standing in front of the Pearl box office and they snaked the line all the way into the auditorium. I missed being in the first 200 by 10 people, but again, I stuck around to see what happened.
Rather than starting to take our names and numbers, so we could leave the line, they waited until 2 p.m. to start doing that, which was frustrating. At 2:05, I was told it was going to be 60-90 minutes before I received a text.
However, it took only 20 minutes to get the text, allowing me to get back in the line to pay. It took about 15 minutes to get through the cashier and in the door.
I stayed at the buffet for around 90 minutes. On the way out, a little before 4:30, I asked how long the wait was for someone just checking in. The answer: 2.5 hours.
As for the buffet, the crab legs were awesome. The whole lobsters were good, but I wasn’t a fan of the lobster tails. I guess I’m used to them being broiled and I think they just boiled them or something, so they were on the mushy side. I was so full I didn’t try anything else except dessert, but the rest of the non-seafood items looked tasty.
