Just an update on this little deal. For some reason, I had bigger expectation of what Luxor might have in store over Excal. By a twist of fate, I planned to enjoy 4 meals today and wanted to breakfast at Luxor for some reason.
I had played My-Veg-ass (where you sit and spin on your butt for hours on end at home to win fabulous prizes (now overpriced), and finally raised to a level of where I could get something of value. Because I went early on Sunday to the MLife booth, there was no line. (I can't believe the number of people who complain about lines and do not think contrarian about when to visit booths, restaurants etc, afterall we from here are somewhat professionals). :-)
Ms Elderly Boother updated my play-ya card and fidgeted a bit. . .ruh ro! . . . . then told me I had to go to the MLife desk at ExCal to redeem the reward. My email didn't REALLY say it, but the first thing mentioned was the ExCal. Really? They take this 'sponsorship' thing a little too much.
Since it was 8 in the morning, I had a flex schedule so it didn't really matter. So off I trudged to the sky bridge and made my way to the ExCal desk. Again, no line! Ms Elderly Boother II assisted me and pulled a special comp pad which had the my-Veg-ass logo on it. (apparently the promo was so successful, MGM RI poured millions of cash into the program (hence the tightening of the rewards of late).
She asked if this is what I really wanted, cause once it redeems, its ov-a. Smiling, I assured. Now I would have to get in line each time I wanted to eat. I set my contrarian clock and reversed my location schedule. Hell if I wasn't going to return back to LUxOR after all that!
For some reason, I didn't think I would be too impressed and would deploy my 'healthy eating strategy' and try to extract the best of the best, Sir! Surprisingly, the staff was attentive and nice, seating? no problem. They can handle thousands a day if need be.
There were big bowls of lovely salad greens (bright green romaine, spinach, and field greens), all washed and ready. I had so expected ONLY iceberg! I hadn't thought of it until then, but probably could do no wrong with a nice healthy salad. But what caught my eye was two chilled bins of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Serious? Yea TEAM!
Made a tower size salad and laid it on my table. Then went back for a big bowl of mixed berries. Everything in the salad side was nicely iced down and was pleasantly displayed. Tossing some cream on the berries, they were devoured in minutes. Grabbed a halfway decent coffee and decided what to have before the salad. BTW, if you lemon for your tea or water its on the buff line.
I broke down one of my buffet extractor rules and decided to have the chocoCroissant. I know, I know! I shouldn't have, but it was one of the breads that looked delish.
The salad I made was pretty! It was missing something tho. The bleuCheese dressing was good enough, but needed a kick. Hmmmm what to do.....?
B A C O N!
I remembered there were some nice crisped bacon strips on the hot bar. Lunging for 2, okay 3, I headed back to my table at Salad Tower Wonderland. I also got a few lemon wedgies and some more dressing. Chopping up the bacon and mixing it with the dressing and lemon, made THE best salad dressing. YE-UMM!
All that effort paid off. It was devoured and no waste! Master Chef! Here I come.
I remember in 2002 when the Lux did a total revamp of its buffet. For some reason, I wanted this to be the greatest buffet ev-a, and be disappointed in the ExCal, but was not the case. In fact, this time, I'm having difficulty remembering the details and this was only yesterday! It was a let down for sure, and did the remainder of the meals at the ExCal. One thing they did have was plenty of ICEBERG Lettuce. NSFO Not so fond of.
Luncheon @ LuXor:
At first glance, I was disappointed with the LuxBuff. I'm not sure why, but it lacked personality. Maybe it was the mix, or the lack of quality items. It just didn't do it for me. Ended up plate-ing a salad and like said before, couldn't remember much else. Didn't last too long there.
Drove the strip, downtown and around the west side to see anything new as it had been 3 years since I was there last.
For Late lunch @ 330, returned to the ExCal and was happy I did. Everything seemed to be better presented. Most everything was being refreshed quickly and just after 330, the roll out to change over for dins began. I scanned the items, made another salad and slowly ate it, while reading my ipad news sheet. I also like reading trip reports.
Noticed the carving station... since it was Sunday (or could have been everyday), there was a big prime rib on the cutting board, one of my faves.
TBC
I had played My-Veg-ass (where you sit and spin on your butt for hours on end at home to win fabulous prizes (now overpriced), and finally raised to a level of where I could get something of value. Because I went early on Sunday to the MLife booth, there was no line. (I can't believe the number of people who complain about lines and do not think contrarian about when to visit booths, restaurants etc, afterall we from here are somewhat professionals). :-)
Ms Elderly Boother updated my play-ya card and fidgeted a bit. . .ruh ro! . . . . then told me I had to go to the MLife desk at ExCal to redeem the reward. My email didn't REALLY say it, but the first thing mentioned was the ExCal. Really? They take this 'sponsorship' thing a little too much.
Since it was 8 in the morning, I had a flex schedule so it didn't really matter. So off I trudged to the sky bridge and made my way to the ExCal desk. Again, no line! Ms Elderly Boother II assisted me and pulled a special comp pad which had the my-Veg-ass logo on it. (apparently the promo was so successful, MGM RI poured millions of cash into the program (hence the tightening of the rewards of late).
She asked if this is what I really wanted, cause once it redeems, its ov-a. Smiling, I assured. Now I would have to get in line each time I wanted to eat. I set my contrarian clock and reversed my location schedule. Hell if I wasn't going to return back to LUxOR after all that!
For some reason, I didn't think I would be too impressed and would deploy my 'healthy eating strategy' and try to extract the best of the best, Sir! Surprisingly, the staff was attentive and nice, seating? no problem. They can handle thousands a day if need be.
There were big bowls of lovely salad greens (bright green romaine, spinach, and field greens), all washed and ready. I had so expected ONLY iceberg! I hadn't thought of it until then, but probably could do no wrong with a nice healthy salad. But what caught my eye was two chilled bins of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Serious? Yea TEAM!
Made a tower size salad and laid it on my table. Then went back for a big bowl of mixed berries. Everything in the salad side was nicely iced down and was pleasantly displayed. Tossing some cream on the berries, they were devoured in minutes. Grabbed a halfway decent coffee and decided what to have before the salad. BTW, if you lemon for your tea or water its on the buff line.
I broke down one of my buffet extractor rules and decided to have the chocoCroissant. I know, I know! I shouldn't have, but it was one of the breads that looked delish.
The salad I made was pretty! It was missing something tho. The bleuCheese dressing was good enough, but needed a kick. Hmmmm what to do.....?
B A C O N!
I remembered there were some nice crisped bacon strips on the hot bar. Lunging for 2, okay 3, I headed back to my table at Salad Tower Wonderland. I also got a few lemon wedgies and some more dressing. Chopping up the bacon and mixing it with the dressing and lemon, made THE best salad dressing. YE-UMM!
All that effort paid off. It was devoured and no waste! Master Chef! Here I come.
I remember in 2002 when the Lux did a total revamp of its buffet. For some reason, I wanted this to be the greatest buffet ev-a, and be disappointed in the ExCal, but was not the case. In fact, this time, I'm having difficulty remembering the details and this was only yesterday! It was a let down for sure, and did the remainder of the meals at the ExCal. One thing they did have was plenty of ICEBERG Lettuce. NSFO Not so fond of.
Luncheon @ LuXor:
At first glance, I was disappointed with the LuxBuff. I'm not sure why, but it lacked personality. Maybe it was the mix, or the lack of quality items. It just didn't do it for me. Ended up plate-ing a salad and like said before, couldn't remember much else. Didn't last too long there.
Drove the strip, downtown and around the west side to see anything new as it had been 3 years since I was there last.
For Late lunch @ 330, returned to the ExCal and was happy I did. Everything seemed to be better presented. Most everything was being refreshed quickly and just after 330, the roll out to change over for dins began. I scanned the items, made another salad and slowly ate it, while reading my ipad news sheet. I also like reading trip reports.
Noticed the carving station... since it was Sunday (or could have been everyday), there was a big prime rib on the cutting board, one of my faves.
TBC