You can’t go to Vegas and not eat at a buffet, so I did some research beforehand and settled on the champagne brunch at the Bellagio. It was in the middle of the range in terms of price, not as expensive as the Sterling brunch at Ballys and not as cheap as some of the brunches at the less extravagant hotels, and the reviews all seemed pretty favorable.
We arrived at noon and there was a HUGE line to get inside. It turned out that there were only two cashiers working the line (you pre-pay before you go in), which is kind of stupid in my opinion since that was the hold-up; the dining area itself was pretty empty. So we ended up waiting in line for about an hour before we finally got in and were seated.
Fortunately our waitress stopped by right away to offer us drinks. We both got champagne, of course, as well as orange juice, which is all included if you opt for the champagne brunch (opting for no champagne is only a few dollars cheaper, so it doesn’t make sense not to get it, unless you’re underage!).
Pretty decent cava (Spanish sparking wine)
We did a quick walk through of the buffet area to see what was offered. Josh stuck with breakfast for his first plate, as the omelet line was very short. He took the omelet chef’s recommendation and went for a crab and shrimp omelet with veggies and cheese – it was pretty good!
Crab and shrimp omelet
I went for a more eclectic first plate, trying little bits of lots of things to figure out what I liked. I had a mini bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, onion, and tomato, which was pretty decent (though the bagel was kind of bad), pizza, mashed potatoes, beef tenderloin, leg of lamb, prime rib, and shrimp cocktail. The carved meats weren’t so great – I got an end piece of the lamb and it was horribly overcooked, and the beef tenderloin was pretty much bad hotel food. The prime rib was ok though, as the fattiness helped keep it rare and moist. The pizza was exactly what you would expect from buffet pizza, but since I took it knowing that, it actually wasn’t too bad. The shrimp cocktail was really good and tasted fresh. The shrimp were pretty large and cooked perfectly.
My eclectic first plate
For my second plate I went with all things Asian – chicken with black bean sauce, Singapore style noodles, duck curry, sushi, thai summer roll, and a spicy tuna hand roll.
My asian-themed second plate
Josh also tried the summer roll and the hand rolls, and added in the shrimp cocktail that I raved about, as well as a slice of pizza.
Josh's second plate
Josh moved on to dessert at this point, with soft serve ice cream and a collection of pastries.
Cream puffs, eclair, strawberry tart
I did something kind of gross and had a mixed plate, with cream puffs, a summer roll, a hand roll, and a piece of french toast topped with smoked salmon and syrup (remember my fun with leftovers?). What can I say, I do love mixing my sweet with savory.
Another eclectic plate
I also had a side dish of peach and raspberry yogurt, but these weren’t so great. They tasted very artificial and were a bit too icy.
Peach and raspberry yogurt
Since we got into the buffet an hour later than we intended, and we ended up eating and drinking a lot more than we intended, we actually overlapped from brunch into the early dinner service, and they started bringing out the dinner foods. We nabbed a plate of crab legs, which weren’t really that great. The snow crab legs were ok, but the king crab legs were tiny and obviously frozen, as they still had chunks of ice in them. Totally not worth it, so I’m glad we didn’t do the dinner buffet as it is more expensive.
Sad king crab and snow crab legs
Service was really great, especially for a buffet. Our plates were cleared quickly, and they were very free-pouring with the champagne. No one tried to rush us or kick us out as brunch was ending. In fact, our waitress told us she was off after the brunch shift and brought us a full bottle of champagne right before she left so we could continue pouring drinks for ourselves even after brunch was officially over. At this point, however, we had our fill so we shared our bottle with the table next to us. We stumbled out full and happy.
Overall the food wasn’t spectacular, but it’s a buffet and we weren’t expecting gourmet stuff. If you take it for what it is, there is a lot of great variety and you can just stick with the things you like. The champagne at this brunch is pretty decent, a spanish cava that isn’t too sweet and isn’t too dry. The champagne brunch costs $25, and is a nice way to spend a few hours eating and drinking until you hit your limit.
The Buffet
At the Bellagio
Las Vegas, NV
Good writing, a new point of view, these will be popular.taittinger champagne