From time to time, we get an inquiry about what happened to the star ratings for hotels and restaurants, particularly buffets, on the new website, compared to their prominence on the old one. The answer is, nothing happened to them. They're still there, in the upper right-hand corner of the relevant pages to the right of "Rating"; the stars themselves are a little faint if no one has rated that venue.
We encourage you to rate your most or least favorite amenities; once the stars are more visible, it will prompt more people to rate (you must be logged in).
In an effort to get the rating ball rolling, we're polling on your favorite 11 upscale buffets, which, believe it or not, we haven't done since 2004. Our criterion is the price of the regular dinner spread is more than $30 (for example, Harrah's Flavors Buffet dinner is $29.99 and the Orleans Saturday seafood buffet is $31.99; neither is included).
We'll translate the votes into stars and rate these buffets ourselves, based on the poll. This is a simple popularity contest, so you can vote for as many as you like. And your comments are always highly valued.
| Wynn's The Buffet |
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| Bellagio's The Buffet |
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| Caesars' Bacchanal Buffet |
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| Cosmopolitan's Wicked Spoon Buffet |
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| Rio's Carnival World Buffet |
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| Mirage's Cravings Buffet |
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| Paris' Le Village Buffet |
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| Aria's The Buffet |
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| Mandalay Bay's Bayside Buffet |
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| MGM Grand Buffet |
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| Treasure Island's The Buffet at TI |
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The results of this poll are interesting and instructive to us.
We're a little surprised that the Wynn Buffet beat out the Bacchanal at Caesars, which has the reputation, at least, as the best, and is $12 (22%) more expensive for the regular dinner. (We don't disagree; we like the Wynn better).
We're also surprised that Bellagio placed at #2, also higher than Caesars, even if only by 17 votes. The Bacchanal's regular dinner is $16 (30%) more expensive than Bellagio's. (Bellagio also has the great counter play to avoid the long lines.)
The Wicked Spoon Buffet at Cosmopolitan lost to the Bacchanal by only 13 votes in a statistical dead heat -- at $13 less expensive. (And LVA members can use the 2-for-1 coupon to get each buffet for $1 more than the cost of the Circus Circus buffet!
Yet another surprise was the Aria's buffet ranked so low: eighth out of 11. At $37.99, it's less expensive than the Bacchanal, Wynn, Bellagio, and Cosmopolitan (and we think it's much better than the Rio, Mirage, and Paris buffets that placed above it).
Finally, we like the Treasure Island Buffet way more than Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand's.
The one thing we're not surprised by is the number of comments voting for M Resort's Studio B. The reason it's not included in this poll is that it costs less -- by a full $5 -- than our price criterion of $30 and higher. (But we can tell you that in the current buffet that includes the Studio B, out of more than 1,300 votes so far, it's ahead of the pack by a full 50 votes.)
Anyway, the votes are in and the readers have spoken, and we greatly appreciate the participation and commentary.
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Fred Huber Jr
Sep-27-2017
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Richard Kukis
Sep-27-2017
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Dave
Sep-27-2017
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Laurence Martin
Sep-27-2017
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Frank Mabry
Sep-27-2017
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[email protected]
Sep-27-2017
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Deke Castleman
Sep-27-2017
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flagman1953
Sep-27-2017
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James McFadden
Sep-27-2017
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Jeff Darling
Sep-27-2017
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Kris
Sep-27-2017
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thebeachbum
Sep-27-2017
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Patrick
Sep-27-2017
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Deke Castleman
Sep-27-2017
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Robert Byrne
Sep-27-2017
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Linda Heffernan
Sep-27-2017
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Candace Corbani
Sep-27-2017
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Linda Heffernan
Sep-27-2017
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d
Sep-27-2017
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Boomer 55
Sep-27-2017
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That Don Guy
Sep-27-2017
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Glenn Leonberger
Sep-29-2017
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Walter Funsch
Sep-30-2017
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melissaru
Oct-01-2017
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Barry Steg
Oct-05-2017
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[email protected]
Oct-14-2017
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