Though I like GC, going to them often enough gets tiring.
Though buffets are ok, I've come to realize how blah of an experience they are.
Value wise they can be ok to good. The problem is is that their food is mediocre. Mediocre this, mediocre that...you STUFF yourself on mediocre. Everything always LOOKS good. But you try a little of this, a little of that and a little of something else and all of this is just mediocre. You end up with a piled plate. A stuffed stomach, to the point of discomfort.
I love Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. The food is GOOOOOOD. And you just can't seem to eat enough of it. You eat to the brink of discomfort, but the food was oh so good.
A couple of months ago I stopped at a really nice casino and ate at their buffet. The restaurant was REALLY nice. The selection very nice. This DEFINETLY wasn't Golden Corral. But at $26 dollars a person, it shouldn't be. The problem was, though the food was good, it wasn't ...I don't know...can't think of the right word. The food was good, it just wasn't GOOD.
At $26, I'd rather sit down for a GOOD steak dinner without dessert. I will be comfortably filled, but would have ENJOYED the meal.
I've always wanted to go on a cruise. Being that I enjoy eating, I have always relished the idea of their buffets. But now, my thoughts are, if a cruise ships buffet is anything like other places buffets, whats the big deal? Whats so special about luke warm shrimp or prime rib? I'd rather have a GOOD, and hot, steak.
There was this "Best of" show about Las Vegas, and they listed the Sunday "Sterling Buffet Brunch" at Bally's as the best buffet in Vegas. Though ridiculously expensive, it was also the best meal I've ever had. IIRC, it was $52 at the time, but well worth it. It included pretty darned good restaurant champagne, a really mind boggling selection of appetizers (including caviar & sushi - blech, stone crab claws, lobster stuffed roma tomatos and really HUGE shrimp) and wild entrees - I had never had Beef Wellington before, and it's now my favorite! They would only bring small amounts out to the buffet at any time, so nothing had a chance to get cold or stale, there was this constant stream of runners to the buffet. And the deserts were simply works of art. Holy cow!
Mark