Ended by the Covid scare.
Yea, COVID was the last nail. There are still some really good buffets but they cost.
I looked around Town....How do people eat out?? Prices are crazy...
Tell me where to go for a reasonable lunch.
Vegas too:
https://youtu.be/QPW5VS3TBI4?si=hlLgiZLNPlXYfNsL
Laughlin, NV & some Indian casinos might still be OK.
So when you know a deal you bloody well keep it tucked away for you to enjoy or the same thing will happen to it.
Ugh, i must be old. I recall $1.99 prime rib buffets in vegas in the late 1980s...for an extra $1.00 you got lobster. but then, you lost $500 later at the blackjack and craps tables.
The casinos in Yavapai County, AZ, haven’t had buffets since at least 2017. On the other hand, the casino restaurants have pretty food and are reasonably priced.
Tell the CEOs that Luigi has noticed and misses the buffets!
I remember 99 cent buffets and cheap hotel rooms and free drinks while playing the slots or on the tables. But that was 50 years ago.
My family used to go out Sunday mornings for a wonderful breakfast buffet. That is where I first tried bagels and lox. Boo that Bidenomics has ruined that. I
Lots of you tube videos of people going to the casinos with buffets. Most buffets are breakfast, or brunch, with dinner buffets only on certain days of the week. Three factors which make prices higher than before...inflation(roughly 300% from 1980. Less competition(only about 14 buffets in casinos in Vegas) and the range of choices and quality of food is better.
One meal at a decent restaurant sometimes cost more than a good buffet. There are non casinos buffets with decent quality off the strip. There are prime rib dinners at casinos as low as about 12 bucks. But good deals, and good meals can be had at 25-35 bucks...for prime rib.
As COVID fears disappear, I expect competition to heat up and prices will moderate and more casino buffets will reopen.
Since the Indians started running their own Casino Skimming Operations profit margins have dropped considerably. The old fashion mobs have to complete directly with the Indian Mobs.
Economics...
Loss leader...
They, smartly, transformed them to “food courts”...
People who eat and don't gamble are the reason... like the guy mentioned above.
PJ, I agree that you can’t find them any more.
I was in Vegas in the late 80’s. 1.99 Breakfast and 3.99 Prime Rib. All Buffet.
Those days left long ago. I lived there and later Tonopah at the Station House Casino. I would say it all was gone by 2000.
I staged out of Vegas in the early 90’s working the last underground nuke tests at NTS, and the buffet deals were still there. Last time there was late 90’s, big new hotel off strip doing Yucca Mountain. Good room prices, but the buffets were gone. Since I had to get up at 2 AM to reach the tunnel on time, breakfast was cheap, but dinner was “normal” prices.
Winner, winner. Chicken dinner.
Some of it is that they invested in making the strip a place to come, so that allowed them to profit off the meals.