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| - I'm a native to Las Vegas having lived here my entire life, over 40 years. I grew up in the hotel and gaming community and if there is a buffet in Vegas, I'm sure I've eaten at it. So when I heard all the hype about the Bacchanal Buffet (named after the old Bacchanal restaurant of Caesars Palace ages ago) I was dying to try it. I've already experienced several of the other major buffets in Las Vegas such as the one at the Bellagio and my personal favorite, Wicked Spoon over at Cosmo, so my hopes were high for this place. I must say, my high hopes were let down.
My first experience with the Bacchanal Buffet was about a month after it opened. My wife and I decided to go down and check it out. It was mid-week, about 7 PM when we arrived. Much to my amazement, the line to get in looked like the line for the Matterhorn at Disneyland on Labor Day weekend. My jaw hit the ground when I found out it would be a THREE HOUR WAIT to get in. That's right, a THREE HOUR WAIT! I'm sorry, there is no buffet in the history of the world worth that. Anyone willing to stand in such a line needs to get their head examined. Oh, but wait, for an extra few bucks you can pay to get into a shorter line...what an insult! We left, but not before I asked to speak to a restaurant manager about this insanity.
A young woman, still in her 20's introduced herself as the head assistant manager. I questioned why they had a line this long and didn't use a pager system or numbers or something like that. Hello?! They came up with these ideas 30 years ago! This girl looked at me like I was speaking Martian. The mere concept of this went so far over her head she looked like a deer in headlights. Evidently, this is the new system that Caesars Palace has implemented...get rid of anyone with experience or knowledge of the industry because they cost too much and, instead, hire kids right out of college with a Hospitality degree to run a multi-million dollar restaurant as a General Manager for $50,000/year. This is what happens when your flag-ship property is run by amateurs after a buy out. It's like McDonalds trying to run a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse like a McDonalds. Insane. After this brief conversation that went nowhere, we left.
Fast forward a few months, it was my birthday. My wife knew I wanted to go to the Bacchanal so she took me there as we decided to give it a second try. We went on a Wednesday at 8PM. The hotel was empty but there was still an atrocious 45 minute wait. INSANE. Once inside, our first impression was that it was very nice inside but nothing special. We actually were shocked at how small the seating area was, which would probably explain why the turnover of tables was so slow.
the food was wonderful but in many cases it suffered the same problems that many buffets suffer from and that's batches of food left under heat lamps. Much of the food was hot but much of it was barely warm. The crab legs were a nice touch but by far nothing special. I've had better at Red Lobster or Joes Crab Shack. Seriously, no joke. The desserts were certainly the high point of the buffet and we enjoyed several of the different offerings.
My overall experience of the Bacchanal Buffet was that it was a fair value for the price but the insanely long wait to get in dropped what would be a 4 star review down to a 2 star. It is not worth the wait...not even close. What baffles the mind though is how not one executive at Caesars Palace has not screamed at them over this process. You have people waiting in line for HOURS when they could be putting money in slot machines or playing the tables. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I'm amazed that people haven't been fired over this and I'm even more amazed that the wait process still exists. It's run by idiots with no common sense.
Sarah Jane, one of the top reviewers of this restaurant is even a good friend of mine and because of her relationship with Yelp, she got right in and never had to wait for the gruelingly long line to eat here. She has even told me that if she had to wait an hour or more to eat here she would have dropped her review down a lot too.
My wife and I eat at nice restaurants all the time and the price tag to eat at the Bacchanal seems fair minus the long line. Until they expand with more tables to accommodate more people and change the line system we will not return. We much prefer Wicked Spoon.
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