Why do we tolerate lousy food in Las Vegas?

The IP buffet is terrible. I will complain at a menu joint and leave but I never ever send anything back. I worked in the food industry long enough to know that. My favorite movie is "Waiting".

Most places have comment cards and the internet is full of feedback/review/critic sites where people commonly put their 2 cents in. I dont think most restaurants are out of touch with the quality fo their establishment - which doesn't mean its not constructive to seek out a manager. Heck, if your gripe is legit you are likely to get a discount.

Some places purposefully have a tourist trap business model where they overcharge for a subpar product...Its not that they dont know it. That is their business model: each day get a new crop of first time visitors who dont know any better than to shovel out $15 for dog meat. Those people dont come back and the business doesn't care becasue there is a fresh set of victims each and every day.

The old Boarwalk Buffet was infamous for this. They advertised the hell out of it in every magazine and billboard in the city. The pictures made it look like a 5 star meal. Anyone who actually tried it would tell you a different story - presuming they lived to talk about it.

The abosolute worst meal I've ever had in LV, happened on my first night in town on a trip years ago. This excludes the "wonderful" buffet I had at Terribles that came along with the room. Anyway, a friend that always liked hearing about my LV trips had asked to come along on my next trip. He had heard long ago from me about the excitement of the town and the great food values. We got into town around noon, picked up the car and checked into Palace Station. After getting settled into the room (the fabulous garden rooms at PS), we sat down and had a drink to lay out a plan for the day. I would have been content to play some BJ, have a few drinks, some dinner and call it a night as I was tired. Being his first ever day in Vegas, he wanted to see the "strip" he had heard so much about. Ok, here we go.

Know cocktails would be involved, we took the PS shuttle to Fashion Show Mall and proceeded to walk south on the strip. We made it down to the MGM and then headed north. Understand that my buddy liked to tip a glass, so we're having a drink or two in at least every other casino. By one in the morning we're standing in front of the Sands. He's drunk, my teeth have rug burns. We're staring at an ad for the late night NY and lobster deal in the coffee shop. Having not eaten all day, we're in! Needless to say the steak was better suited to an oxford or a slipon and the lobster could have doubled for silly putty. We choked down what we could and beat it back to PS where we had breakfast!

I got him back in the fold the next night when we had dinner, on me, at the Broiler. He had a great steak and I had a pound of King crab. The tab with a couple of drinks was less than $50! I went from worst to first inside of 24 hours!

As was said in an earlier post, never combine lobster and coffee shop into the same sentence!

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

What a sterling restaurant review!

I'll have to print this baby out and ...

Hey, I leave for the airport in about 2 hours and will
make a special stop at the 'Tez and show it to the manager.

I'll let you know if I get out of there alive.

My worst meal that I mention whenever this subject comes up is easy to remember.

It was a buffet meal at the Mint downtown.

I got food poisoning and almost died or at least
felt like I was going to.

I too only dine at buffets these days a few times a year. I plan on trying Cosmo's this trip.

Buffets are good if you are in a hurry. The food is usually
cafeteria style. There are exceptions but not many.

I would put Circus-Circus, Terribles, Imperial Palace
as the top 3 buffets in LV. You always remember them.

The Moon Rock Buffet at Bob Stupak's Vegas World...Stay away from the 'yella'.

I think it is important to let management know about good and bad service. I have written quite a few letters about both quality and service and most
have been addressed. I think it is very true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In many cases if you don't let them know then they won't correct
the problem or reward the people that do it right.

I don't mind, in fact, I like breakfast buffets especially if I'm alone. I can eat at my own pace and enjoy reading a paper. If I stay for an extended period, I always make sure to increase the tip for taking up the time. Lunch and dinner are different. I don't mind some side dishes being held for longer periods, but I can't think of any entrees that will "improve with age!"

Jerry mentioned getting food poisening and how bad it is. He speaks the truth. Real food poisening is terrible. Most people that think they have had it usually have had something that didn't agree with them. The real stuff is no fun.Thirty years in the restaurant biz and I've only seen one confirmed case. Granted, I never worked at the CC or Boardwalk buffets!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

I gotta say, i've been to Vegas over 30 times and have never had a BAD meal. some are better than others but BAD never....wish I was this lucky on the tables.

And along with your question, I want to know why we tolerate outrageously long lines in Las Vegas for buffets? Every time I go to the "M" Buffet, there is only one cashier. It makes no sense to me - you'd think they'd want us to be spending our money gambling instead of waiting in line!