The Bellagio Buffet

When we decided to go to Vegas for the first time for a short getaway, everyone raved about the food--and the shows. The thing is, once you're in Vegas it's really hard to center in on the best restaurants to go to--the ones that have higher prices because they have great food vs. the tourist traps. It's also hard to bring yourself to a restaurant half a mile up the strip when you're hungry and the 99 degree heat is pounding down on the hot cement beneath your already tired feet.

We're glad we decided to stay in the Bellagio, arguably in the center of things so we didn't have to worry about long walks to everything. But some days a walk up the street wasn't on our list of things to do and so we settled for what some say is the best buffet on the strip--the Bellagio Buffet.

We headed down to the Buffet around 10am on Saturday morning. I thought that since it was "so early" and most people in Vegas were probably awake until the wee hours, that it wouldn't be that crowded. When we arrived, the line was about 10 people deep and we soon found that this was only because the pre-paying was going on and people were slow to pull out their wallets. We were actually seated fairly quickly and directed to the buffet as the attentive waitress took our drink orders.

While it was 10am, I was surprised to see a couple of dinner/lunch options on the buffet line and not all the classic breakfast items expected. The buffet is varied for sure, roasts, eggs, omelet bar, fruit, cereals, Chinese noodles, desserts, pastries, and fish. The fish part of buffets is always my very favorite part. I just adore smoked salmon bit it's so expensive to buy. Eating smoked salmon at a buffet, however, suddenly makes it totally worth it.

I decided to skip the omelet line and made a beeline towards the french toast, fruit, mashed and boiled potatoes and then the fish... Even though I tried some meats as well I think it's safe to say that the smoked trout, smoked salmon (2 varieties!) and muscles were the bulk of my meal. I topped breads with them, I made tiny sandwiches, I had trout with the boiled potatoes and the mashed potatoes with pesto. It was delicious.

The thing is the buffet wasn't as special as I had hoped for $25 a person. I wanted a crepe bar or hash browns or the best seasonal fruits--I got melons, some strawberries and mashed potatoes. There were pre-constructed apple cinnamon crepes that left a little to be desired. The breakfast wasn't bad, it was good but it wasn't amazing. The brunch we had in Kauai two years ago at the Marriot far surpassed this one. The brunch at the Bellagio lacks any view at all and feels like a regular hotel breakfast--except for the heaping plates of smoked fish.

(Every time we passed the buffet line after our initial eating there it was snaking in rows of threes sometimes spilling out into the casino. It turns out if you go a little later in the day from say 12-9:3o pm, you can meet with a hungry crowd, so get your eats in early if you happen to be awake.)

The Buffet at the Bellagio

Las Vegas, NV

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