The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is widely recognized as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and Attachment Parenting Blog. Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs.

Heading to Vegas? A list of the best buffets...

Yeah, this is a wee bit off my usual topics here on the Business Blog @ Intuitive.com, but since I find myself in Las Vegas 2-3 times each year and since I'm heading there in just a few weeks to co-host an executive workshop (shhh! details to come), followed immediately by speaking at Blogworld and New Media Expo [aff], I paid attention when hotel review site Oyster's PR team sent out a list of its top buffet options in Vegas.

Without further ado (muchly because I haven't been to most of them!) here's their list:

Best Vegas Buffets, 2009-2010

1. 
   The fabulous Bellagio Buffet
   Bellagio -- Centrally located on the Las Vegas Strip, Bellagio's buffet is widely considered to be the very best. Its carving station goes beyond the usual prime rib to include St. Louis barbecue ribs and chicken Wellington. The large variety of cuisines includes Italian, Japanese, Chinese seafood, and American. It's not the cheapest -- $14.95 breakfasts, $19.95 lunches, $23.95 weekend brunches, $27.95 weeknight dinners, and $35.95 dinner Saturdays and Sundays, when the buffet includes Kobe beef -- but it's worth it.
2. M Resort Spa & Casino -- Studio B, the buffet at the newly opened M Resort, serves upwards of 200 dishes a day. At lunch and dinner, the buffet even includes free beer and wine -- perhaps as incentive to lure diners to the hotel's location, 10 miles from the Strip. In terms of quality, the food is on par with other top Vegas buffets, including the highly touted one at the Bellagio, but the prices are lower (breakfast is $11, compared with $14.95 at Bellagio, for example).
3. Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino -- The remarkable all-you-can-eat Village Seafood buffet at the Rio is well worth the short trip from the Strip. Serving snow crab legs, Cuban shrimp stew, Baja fish tacos, mussels, and fresh-shucked oysters (all flown in daily), the buffet bests the 300-plus mediocre dishes at the hotel's Carnival World buffet. A new sound and light system in the dining room accompanies videos about ocean species, fishing, and the culinary arts. At $38, it's pricey, so swing by the lobster station to get your money's worth. (This one I've been to, actually, and I'd agree that it's a lot of variety, but the quality of each individual dish is nothing to write home about. A good place to get stuffed on a wide variety of food, tho.)
4. Wynn Las Vegas -- The buffet at the Wynn, the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal's staff pick for best buffet in Las Vegas in 2009, is on the high end of Vegas buffets ($34.95 weeknight dinners). But for that price, diners get 16 staffed cooking stations, including ones serving seafood, Italian, Mexican, and American cuisine, and an impressive dessert spread. Plus, in contrast to most Vegas buffets, the grand dining room is large and airy.
5. Paris Las Vegas -- The whimsical, Disney-esque Le Village Buffet at the Paris -- voted best buffet by the Las Vegas Review-Journal three years in a row -- has five cook-to-order stations, each serving a different regional French cuisine. Lines can be long, and the gooey pie filling on top of the Belgian waffles is no substitute for real fruit, but Francophile diners with American appetites won't find such a vast spread of French food at a better price ($15 breakfasts, $25 dinners). (Actually, I've been here too and it was good. Less choice, but better food, and the decor in Paris is nicely done too.)
6. Flamingo Las Vegas -- Unlike most Vegas buffets, which tend to be dark and windowless, the scenic Flamingo Paradise Garden Buffet overlooks the streams, gardens, and live flamingos of the hotel's wildlife preserve. For food, your best bet is the $20 champagne brunch: some 60 different breakfast foods, including made-to-order omelets and waffles, corned beef hash, and smoked Norwegian salmon. The $22 dinners, however, are no better than average (except for the crustacean corner).
7. Treasure Island -- The Treasure Island buffet is not the biggest on the Strip, but with a chef who makes salads to order, a custom pasta station, sushi chefs on the floor, and barbecue, it's definitely a notch above the typical Vegas all-you-can-eat spread, and all for a reasonable price ($14-$22 breakfasts, $22-$26 dinners). Plus, the food is fresh and the servers are attentive.

Next time I'm in Vegas, I think I'll try the Bellagio. Who's in?

To pay the piper, here's a blurb on Oyster Hotel Reviews too:

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