Palm's A.Y.C.E. Buffet - Nope!

With all due respect to Anthony Curtis and his recent comparison of South Point Garden buffet versus Palm's AYCE buffet and the subsequent replacement in the Top Ten Deals, I whole-heartedly disagree.  While using the one-time only BIGIF coupon for AYCE buffet, our visit on a Monday afternoon was not worth the BIGIF offer.  With taxes, it was $40.00 and both the AYCE atmosphere and food quality was far below South Point's buffet as well as buffets at Rampart and MainStreet station.  Arrived at 4:10pm and waited 35 minutes in line?  Only 1 buffet cashier?  Brilliant.  While the old high top tables are gone, we were seated so close to neighboring tables to easily hear a Hispanic family of 6 slurping soup and conversing in Spanish loud enough to attract the attention of diners 5 yards away.  On our opposite side we were close enough to hear and watch an Asian woman chew then spit out gristly meat.  Between the 2 of us, we sampled 12-15 different dishes.  You know you are in trouble at a buffet when the tastiest dish is the pizza.  Drinks never were refilled during the 25 minutes we ate.  The noise coming from both our neighbors killed our desire to remain longer.  Ribs from the carving station were cold?  Smoked sausage must have been ghost pepper filled - unedible for us.  Asian orange chicken was more burnt breading, gristle and fat than actual chicken.  Pasta made to order was seriosuly undercooked.  We left a full plate on our table - wait staff never removed it from our table.  Desserts were tasteless - we tried 6 different items.  Even at 4:45pm when we finally got seated, we noticed 8 food selections were empty or missing all together.  Salad bar was better than most hot food items, but had several empty items.  Since we live of the west side of the valley, we will stick to buffets at Rampart and MainStreet station that both put AYCE to shame.  We have visited both 3 times each this year and never waited more than 5 minutes in line.  We came, we waited, we (tried) to eat, we grimaced at our inconsiderate neighbor diners, we left.  We will not return, nor will our friends, family and colleagues.  

To be fair, you can't really blame the Palms for the behavior of your nearby fellow diners--and I'll bet that they're utterly oblivious to the disturbance they create. We need to colonize another planet just to have someplace to send such people.

The quality of the food, though, is distressing. They're charging top dollar for this experience. The food should be far better than what you describe. Not to mention, the apparent lack of diligence in the staff not restocking and replenishing multiple items, and poor table service. When ANY establishment, dining or otherwise, tolerates its employees doing a poor job, they're signaling that they just don't care. And that's pretty much the attitude of all the Vegas casinos these days.

South Point seems to be an exception to all that. Possibly because it isn't owned by some soulless mega-corporation?

I've visited the Rampart and MSS buffets recently and noted that while there's been a decrease in quality, it isn't nearly as drastic as some other places, or what you describe at the Palms. And Rampart had some half-off deals last time I was there.

Good for you for voting with your feet.