Vegas - The Food (Buffets)

My Vegas food can be summed up into one word: BUFFETS!

When we visited Vegas on one of our many trips we were staying at The Quad, which is a part of the Total Rewards casino group.  There was a buffet offer that for just $49 you had 24 hour access to five different buffets and an additional two for a small extra fee.  If you time it just right, as we did our first time doing this, we were able to eat four different times and also a fifth time for just dessert.  The buffets alone are way too expensive.  However, as part of the buffet package it is a really great deal.

What I love best about buffets is that you can have anything you want and aren’t just limited to one entrée.  You also don’t have to pay extra for a side salad.  Buffets can be tough to navigate but I’m really confident in how I handle buffets so they don’t scare me.  It always comes down to getting rid of the “get your money’s worth” mind set.  That alone will be enough to bust any healthy lifestyle.

So, here is my Vegas eats.

Despite eating on my flight by the time Kenyon collected me at the airport and we got checked into our hotel, I was getting really hungry.  We decided to buy in on our buffet package that evening to start our 24 hours.  We were at the Carnival World Buffet in our hotel, The Rio.  I had not anticipated the huge line and only one cashier.  The wait was about 45 minutes and all I wanted was food and I wanted it NOW!

I knew I had to be sensible as I was super hungry and that isn’t a good thing when faced with so much food.  I usually survey the whole buffet first and then decide on what I’m going to eat.  Instead I went for the first amount of protein and veggies I could get to so I could get something into my stomach.

From there I had time to survey the rest of the buffet.  It was HUGE.  The Carnival World Buffet is known as one of the best in Vegas.  The food quality was impressive and they had so many choices.

I love how I can get just a little bit of everything.  Kenyon stole one of my beloved hush puppies so I had to snag another.  I was also not feeling like a salad so I was happy to see this fresh steamed broccoli.  My goal for these next few days was to really limit my desserts.  So no dessert tonight.

The next buffet on the list was Flavors (or Lavors as the sign reads) at Harrah’s.  We found out the buffet in our hotel no longer served breakfast so that put a slight kink in our 24 hour buffet plan.

I am a sucker for pastries.  I just love a good sweet treat in the morning, but I need something else to really hold me over.  I didn’t eat all these but instead just took a bite of each.  The cinnamon roll in the bottom of the plate came out of a baked pan and was the best.  So I ditched the rest and had another small bit of that again after I had some “real food”.

So here is my “real food” plate.  I usually go with scrambled eggs at a breakfast buffet for some easy protein.  I had some corned beef hash and sausages.  I had a bite of the potato cake.

I went in search of fruit and found some fresh strawberries.  I also found an egg frittata.  Again, I was super hungry when we got to this buffet and so I didn’t do my usual survey ahead of time.  I had a few bites of this as well as more cinnamon roll.  The jello salad wasn’t good so I left it.

We had a Starbucks in our hotel so I had an afternoon iced coffee.

Kenyon took a nap so he didn’t get the most of his 24 hour buffet package but I went in search of a salad.  I went to the Carnival World Buffet in our hotel for a salad for lunch.  It was lacking protein though so I went back to the turkey carving station for some protein.  I also had two more hush puppies.  Lunch was pretty much the same food as what was served at dinner.

Dessert was fruit and a small bit of biscotti that I dipped in my coffee.  I didn’t like the chocolate one but ate the whole almond one.

Despite feeling like there was not enough time in the day to eat more, we met Kenyon’s aunt and uncle who live about two hours from Vegas.  We went to Samstown for dinner at….you guessed it, the buffet!  Samstown buffet was good but I noticed an immediate difference in the quality of the food prepared.   The price was a lot lower so you do get what you pay for.  With that being said, I do think the buffets on The Strip are overpriced.  Since I had a salad for lunch I had my eye on pizza for dinner.  I wanted fresh pizza though so Kenyon snagged some pieces for us to share.

I also had a plate of some sautéed veggies and Chinese noodles that I didn’t snap a photo of.  My other plate was a small salad, green beans, and a few French fries. 

I was on the fence of having any dessert.  I had done really well so far avoiding the buffet desserts and I knew cheesecake was still in my future.  I went to see what my options were and decided on a sugar free butter pecan ice cream cone.  It was really tasty.

Before we saw Penn & Teller I cashed in a 2 for 1 coupon at iBar in The Rio.  As soon as I landed in Vegas I wanted to drink alcohol.  I was joking with Kenyon if that makes me an alcoholic.  Just like I was trying to manage my sugar and desserts I also wanted to manage my alcohol.  I’m not a nun though and eventually I caved and had some alcohol. 

These two drinks, while surprisingly larger than expected, cost $11.25.  Accckkkk.  Good thing it was 2 for 1!

 

Food options in our hotel were quite limited.  We decided to try Hash House A Go Go for breakfast.  There was an advertisement in our hotel for a really delicious looking pancake and it looked too good to pass up.  It was also just right downstairs and after I got overly hungry the last few days we wanted an easy breakfast.  It was a HUGE dud.  The food and service were terrible.  The price was also super high.  Talk about sticker shock!

We shared a basic plate of eggs, potatoes, bacon, biscuit, and what they consider fruit (two measly pieces).  I wanted the pancake but knew I needed something other than just carbs to start my day.  I had one of the eggs and Kenyon ate the rest of the meal.  My egg looks so lonely on this huge plate.  The eggs were not cooked all the way and there was still uncooked whites.  Kenyon sent them back and again they were not cooked.  It was at that point we were pretty unhappy with our breakfast choice.

The star of the show, or what should have been the star, was a 14 inch pancake on a huge plate.  This thing was massive.  And it was $12.99!!!!  Ridiculous.  What was even rougher was that it didn’t even taste good.  We shared the pancake but still only ate half total between us.  Breakfast was a total letdown.

Lunch 110% made up for the lack of breakfast and my taste buds were again satisfied.  The coffee pot in our room didn’t actually have coffee.  You had to pay $8 for three K cups if you wanted coffee.  Instead I got more bang for my buck by making my own iced coffee at lunch.  We went to The Cheesecake Factory to cash in a $50 gift card I had from some bank rewards.  I asked for coffee and a glass of ice and made my own.  The waiter was really patient with my requests.  The coffee is also super strong so this helped dilute it a bit.

I had two slices of bread and then a taste of Kenyon’s Chile relleno appetizer.  These were good.

For my lunch I picked the lettuce chicken tacos off the Skinnylicous menu.  I had them Asian style with peanut sauce, bean sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers.  They were really good.  I saved one taco for later since we had a fridge in the room.  It was a nice early afternoon snack since lunch was super early.

Kenyon got the turkey sandwich and also saved half for later.  Yeah for listening to our hunger signals!

We always visit the same Cheesecake Factory in Vegas.  It is just “our thing” that we do together.  I already knew I would be having the key lime pie cheesecake and we took one slice to go.  It was also part of my afternoon snack.

 

We headed to The Palms and played some 25 cent video Blackjack at the bar to try and score at least one free drink.  The bartender gave me some crap about spending $20 at the slots before your drinks were comped.  It was a $3 beer and I would rather pay the $3 than gamble away $20.  I won back the $10 I put in and cashed out only to find out the bartender actually did comp our drinks (my beer and Kenyon’s Diet Coke).  Had I known that I might have had a second beer so I guess I’ll consider this a win-win.

We found a Sonic right by The Palms and since it was Tax Day they had half priced drinks.  I balanced my beer with a diet cherry limeade and relaxed and read my book back at the room.

I took a nap and woke up hungry.  It was pretty much bed time but I knew I needed to eat something.  Food choices were limited and I found a sports bar that had pizza by the slice.  We ordered a slice each and then two different kinds of salads.  Obviously this wasn’t the best food choice but it got the job done.

One final buffet trip was in store before we hit the road towards home.  We found the casino next door had a buffet that was a fraction of the cost of other buffets we had visited.  I wish I had known this the day before when we blew three times the amount at the stupid Hash House A Go Go.  Anyway….

I pretty much had a similar breakfast to my other buffet with the same game strategy.  The apple turnover on the upper right corner of the plate what the highlight of the meal.  I didn’t eat more than a bite of the other pastries as they didn’t measure up.  I had to talk myself down from getting another turnover.

It was time to hit the road and bit farewell to Vegas, for this trip at least.  I was very proud of my road trip eats.  I’ll blog more on this whole trip later.  As you can see, this blog post is getting quite long winded!

I saw a few signs for Costa Vida along our route but I wasn’t hungry yet.  When I saw the next sign I took that as a sign that Costa Vida would be my lunch.  It is a very pointy lunch but worth every bit.
 

 

I also had some gas station coffee mixed with a little bit of flavored cappuccino.  This held my sugar craving at bay.  My sweet tooth and boredom don’t mix well. 

Finally I compromised with a cup of fruit from Love’s Truck Stop.

It was getting late and I kept passing up food stops to wait until I was really hungry.  I knew there was an Arby’s in Mountain Home and I really like their Market Fresh sandwiches.  The bread is amazing.  It was after 9pm when we stopped for dinner.  I got a roast turkey and swiss sandwich where I ditched half the bread and added the extra meat and cheese to just one half of my sandwich.  I had some Lay’s that I got at the Pilot truck stop.  Dinner is served.

I’ll add more thoughts in another post.