Mini-Reviews: One Revamped Buffet Stands Out
The Latest Buffets, Restaurants
Updated: 12:38 pm EST February 28, 2005
I'll admit I don't get the whole Parrothead subculture, but that really didn't affect my enjoyment of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at the Flamingo Las Vegas.Done in a riot of beach-comber decor -- complete with a plane, booths in boats and a margarita spewing volcano -- the main room is a sensory overload, so you may prefer the second-floor dining room or third-floor outdoor dining patio, both with terrific views of the Strip.The food selections were vast -- pastas, sandwiches, salads, fajitas and more, many with a slight Caribbean twist that manages to make things interesting without being overwhelming. The quesadilla appetizers with tender chunks of chicken and several cheeses were outstanding. A turkey-and-bacon wrap was slightly disappointing because the dressing could have had a little more tang, but the sizzling steak fajitas and the oriental chicken salad I sampled were terrific.Service was attentive, although I hit it on a relatively slow day and I've heard stories about long waits to get seated and served.Prices were on the high side if you're used to drive-through lunches, but not at all out of line for the quality and quantity of food you get, and certainly no more expensive than similar theme restaurants on the Strip.
Remember the days when you could gorge yourself for just a few bucks at a Las Vegas buffet? Those days are gone.But there's good news attached to that in the form of Cravings, the new buffet at the Mirage. It will cost you more than a few bucks but will also serve you food that makes it more than just a refueling station.The old Mirage buffet was one of my favorites, but this new one is even better, with a coolly elegant room, tons of high-quality food and enough variety to satisfy even the most picky eaters. There are 11 cooking stations ranging from all-American barbecue to wood-fired pizza to cooked-on-the-spot Chinese entrees to Mexican and beyond.The selections go from traditional (gotta have a carving station) to the unexpected (sushi at a buffet?) and everything is prepared with great care and served with style. A fantastic dessert station with hand-scooped Italian ice cream makes a perfect capper to the meal.Then we're back to the bad news: $12.50 for breakfast, $17.50 for lunch, $20.50 for Saturday and Sunday champagne brunch and $22.50 for dinner. Ouch. But look around. Unfortunately, those prices are not outrageous for a Strip buffet these days, and you'll have a hard time doing better than this one. If you're going to pay it, pay it here.
Here's an example of how a buffet overhaul can be so right ... and yet not quite. The good parts of the new Dishes buffet at Treasure Island mainly involve the dining room. Done as a more traditional sit-down restaurant with an intimate vibe, it's a welcome relief from the big, communal atmospheres of most buffets. Instead of a view of a sea of tables, the room is divided up into smaller dining sections, providing a more comfortable ambience.The not-quite part unfortunately falls squarely in the serving trays. The buffet does offer a wide variety of dishes served at individual cooking stations representing various ethnic and regional cuisines. There's a lot of food here, and everything I tasted was fine.But that was about it -- just fine. There was nothing that leapt off the plate as being memorable and nothing that I wanted to go back for seconds of. That's disappointing and problematic, especially considering the prices: $12 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, and $20 to $26 for dinner. There are other buffets that do it better for similar prices.One sweet spot was the dessert station, something that often gets overlooked or undercooked in a buffet. But here they had mini-donuts, creme brulee, chocolate-covered strawberries and a wide variety of freshly baked pastries. Almost made it worth the cost but -- you guessed it -- not quite.
Once the home of local celeb chef Gustav Mauler, Bullshrimp at Green Valley Ranch has been taken over by the very talented restaurant staff of Stations Casinos.This is important mostly because the same people who brought you Austins Steakhouse at Texas Station, the restaurant I consider to be one of the best in the entire city, are now in charge of Bullshrimp as well.Anyone who has been to Austins will get a sense of deja vu when looking at the overhauled Bullshrimp menu: Maui onion soup, steakhouse salad and pan-seared rib eyes. There are some variations, mostly involving the shrimp part of the Bullshrimp name, but it's pretty much the same.While they may not have quite lived up to Austins in terms of executing that menu, they have come mighty darn close, and that's saying a lot. I enjoyed Bullshrimp before, and I enjoy it more now.However, there is one crushing disappointment: When Mauler left, he took his heavenly cheesecake recipe -- and a sizeable chunk of my soul -- with him.
Steakhouses are a dime a dozen in Las Vegas, so my opinion is that if you want to stand out above the crowd you have to do something different or do the same thing better than anyone else. Gallagher's does neither, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad place to eat.The menu is steakhouse traditional, with a selection of beef, poultry, and seafood options accompanying the typical appetizers (mostly seafood based), salads, soups, and side dishes. The steaks I sampled were really good, done exactly as everyone in my party had ordered them and full of flavor.But these are just regular steaks, the kind you enjoy but forget about an hour after you ate them. It's the difference between telling the neighbors, "We had a good meal last night," and, "We had the most amazing meal last night."The biggest disappointment remains the dining room. Granted, you could call it lively, but I just called it loud, making conversation in the jam-packed restaurant nearly impossible. And by jam-packed I mean waiters bumping into the chairs because there isn't enough space for them to maneuver. I wish I had requested a table in the overflow room, which looked more spacious and less noisy.If you like steak and you're at New York-New York and you either can't or don't feel like going someplace else, you can eat at Gallagher's and have a really good meal. Just not a great one.
Remember the days when you could gorge yourself for just a few bucks at a Las Vegas buffet? Those days are gone.But there's good news attached to that in the form of Cravings, the new buffet at the Mirage. It will cost you more than a few bucks but will also serve you food that makes it more than just a refueling station.The old Mirage buffet was one of my favorites, but this new one is even better, with a coolly elegant room, tons of high-quality food and enough variety to satisfy even the most picky eaters. There are 11 cooking stations ranging from all-American barbecue to wood-fired pizza to cooked-on-the-spot Chinese entrees to Mexican and beyond.The selections go from traditional (gotta have a carving station) to the unexpected (sushi at a buffet?) and everything is prepared with great care and served with style. A fantastic dessert station with hand-scooped Italian ice cream makes a perfect capper to the meal.Then we're back to the bad news: $12.50 for breakfast, $17.50 for lunch, $20.50 for Saturday and Sunday champagne brunch and $22.50 for dinner. Ouch. But look around. Unfortunately, those prices are not outrageous for a Strip buffet these days, and you'll have a hard time doing better than this one. If you're going to pay it, pay it here.
Here's an example of how a buffet overhaul can be so right ... and yet not quite. The good parts of the new Dishes buffet at Treasure Island mainly involve the dining room. Done as a more traditional sit-down restaurant with an intimate vibe, it's a welcome relief from the big, communal atmospheres of most buffets. Instead of a view of a sea of tables, the room is divided up into smaller dining sections, providing a more comfortable ambience.The not-quite part unfortunately falls squarely in the serving trays. The buffet does offer a wide variety of dishes served at individual cooking stations representing various ethnic and regional cuisines. There's a lot of food here, and everything I tasted was fine.But that was about it -- just fine. There was nothing that leapt off the plate as being memorable and nothing that I wanted to go back for seconds of. That's disappointing and problematic, especially considering the prices: $12 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, and $20 to $26 for dinner. There are other buffets that do it better for similar prices.One sweet spot was the dessert station, something that often gets overlooked or undercooked in a buffet. But here they had mini-donuts, creme brulee, chocolate-covered strawberries and a wide variety of freshly baked pastries. Almost made it worth the cost but -- you guessed it -- not quite.
Once the home of local celeb chef Gustav Mauler, Bullshrimp at Green Valley Ranch has been taken over by the very talented restaurant staff of Stations Casinos.This is important mostly because the same people who brought you Austins Steakhouse at Texas Station, the restaurant I consider to be one of the best in the entire city, are now in charge of Bullshrimp as well.Anyone who has been to Austins will get a sense of deja vu when looking at the overhauled Bullshrimp menu: Maui onion soup, steakhouse salad and pan-seared rib eyes. There are some variations, mostly involving the shrimp part of the Bullshrimp name, but it's pretty much the same.While they may not have quite lived up to Austins in terms of executing that menu, they have come mighty darn close, and that's saying a lot. I enjoyed Bullshrimp before, and I enjoy it more now.However, there is one crushing disappointment: When Mauler left, he took his heavenly cheesecake recipe -- and a sizeable chunk of my soul -- with him.
Steakhouses are a dime a dozen in Las Vegas, so my opinion is that if you want to stand out above the crowd you have to do something different or do the same thing better than anyone else. Gallagher's does neither, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad place to eat.The menu is steakhouse traditional, with a selection of beef, poultry, and seafood options accompanying the typical appetizers (mostly seafood based), salads, soups, and side dishes. The steaks I sampled were really good, done exactly as everyone in my party had ordered them and full of flavor.But these are just regular steaks, the kind you enjoy but forget about an hour after you ate them. It's the difference between telling the neighbors, "We had a good meal last night," and, "We had the most amazing meal last night."The biggest disappointment remains the dining room. Granted, you could call it lively, but I just called it loud, making conversation in the jam-packed restaurant nearly impossible. And by jam-packed I mean waiters bumping into the chairs because there isn't enough space for them to maneuver. I wish I had requested a table in the overflow room, which looked more spacious and less noisy.If you like steak and you're at New York-New York and you either can't or don't feel like going someplace else, you can eat at Gallagher's and have a really good meal. Just not a great one.
The Full Story
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In Next Week's Column
Next week: The latest from Las Vegas.Plus, don't forget to send your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today!Click here to go to the main page of Vegas4Visitors.com and see all of the fantastic resources Vegas4Visitors has to offer you when planning your next trip to Las Vegas.Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors
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