Bob & Brenda Geocaching

Our Observations

In the past, when we wanted a good seafood buffet, we used to head to the Flamingo for their Friday night seafood buffet. The price wasn’t bad and the seafood, although not great, was better than you could find at the other buffets in town. Unfortunately, the price went up and the quality of the food went down. We checked out other places, but few had a decent selection of seafood.

We heard some good reports of the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars and decided to check it out. Once we navigated our way through the casino to find the buffet we were greeted by a long line waiting to get in. Although there were probably at least 100 people in front of us, the line moved rather quickly and we didn’t wait that long. The price was about $45, but you can spend another $15 to move to the head of the line.

Once in and seated you see the size of the serving areas—at least twice as large as any of the others we’ve been to. They claim to have over 500 items on the menu. We didn’t stop to count them all, but that number probably includes all the sauces and different flavors of gelato.

We tried sampling as many of the different dishes that we could. Here's a quick overview of the different stations:

• Seafood - this is what we came for. Lots of choices including the standard shrimp and crab legs.
• American Comfort - really good sweet potato tots. The onion rings were ok, but nothing great.
• Italian - some good pasta and pizza choices here. Didn't eat a lot since I tend to overstuff myself when eating pasta.
• Deli - lots of choices although some are the standard Tillamook cheeses I can pick up at Smith's.
• Salad - large selection of greens and toppings. Also a good selection of fruits and prepared salads. Although we like salads, we tend to avoid them at buffets since they fill you up and don't leave room for the other items.
• Carving - lots of choices, but the good stuff goes quick and you have to go back multiple times to see what's available. Unfortunately, this was the worst station in the buffet. Most of the meats were served cold and the ones that weren't were dried out
• Mexican - didn't try since neither of us is a fan of TexMex.
• Sushi - tried a couple of the items (the tuna and salmon sashimi). Ok, but not really our style.
• Oriental - my favorite station. Everything I tried here was fantastic. Hit this station multiple times.
• Dessert - this is probably where most of their 500 items are. Lots of cakes, pies, gelatos and other desserts to choose from if you have room left after eating everything else. I had the red velvet cake (dry) and the bread pudding (better at Golden Corral).

Here are some of the high/lowlights of some of the individual items that we sampled:

• King crab legs - the ones on display are cold and you'll probably find a few that are still frozen. Not much fun biting into a crabcicle. They will cook them for you and we'd recommend that if you like your crab warm.
• Shrimp - wow, they're already peeled. They are on the large/jumbo size so they can have a mealy texture at times.
• Clam buckets - not bad, but most of my clam shells were missing their clams. Had to get multiple buckets to get all the clams I wanted.
• Steamed Mussels - Ok, but after they're cooked they put them on ice. They're just not as good that way as freshly steamed dipped in butter.
• Oyster shooters - best to avoid. Something just doesn't smell right with them and some folks have complained about being sick after trying one.
• Oysters - they're Pacific oysters, so there not as good as we could get in DC. They weren't bad, but we wouldn't recommend them unless you really have a craving for oysters.
• Crab cakes/croquettes - very good
• Wagyu sliders - delicious, although try to grab them when they're first put out; otherwise the rolls tend to dry out.
• Prime Rib - sorry, I prefer my cooked meat warm, not cold. Probably the worst prime rib I've had at any buffet.
• Lamb chops - delicious. I probably ate more of these than anything else.
• Chinese ribs - ok, but not that tender. The meat should almost fall off the bone if they're done right.
• Har Gow - a Chinese shrimp dumpling served in dim sum. Never had one of these before and they were fantastic. I'm not sure how many times I went back for more, but I grabbed some every time I visited the station.

Summary: Overall, it wasn't bad, but it really wasn't great either. There's a large selection of items to choose from so no one should go hungry. Is it worth $50 per person? I didn't think it was that night. Maybe they just had an off night on the carving station. The meats looked good, but just weren't cooked right - this was what knocked the rating down to 3 stars. We'll probably try it again, because even if you avoid the carving station, there are still plenty of other things to choose from.