First Day At Caesars Bacchanal Buffet
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock this week, you’ve probably heard about the new Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace, which opened yesterday. In addition to getting massive local coverage, the place has even been making national news. Why the hell would a Las Vegas buffet be getting so much attention? Well it probably has something to do with the fact that Caesars has one hell of a P.R. team. But the massive size also has a lot to do with it. The buffet cost the casino an unbelievable $17 million to build, and employs a team of 80 chefs. There are three huge dining areas, 600 seats and nine kitchens in the 25,000-square-foot space. And every time you think you’ve come to the end of the food line, you turn the corner and find more, and more, and more — over 500 items in all.
Honestly, you’d be hard-pressed to find me eating at any Las Vegas buffet. (I think I’ve been to one in the past five years.) It’s not that the food isn’t good. Buffet chefs often wipe the floor with chefs from the most expensive restaurants in town during hotel cooking competitions. But I can’t stand the waste that occurs at buffets. In addition to being morally offensive, I’m paying for all the idiots who leave piles of uneaten food at their tables and return to try something else. There’s also no way in hell you’d catch me standing in the lines to get into some of this town’s top buffets. I’m told people often wait three to four hours at places like Wynn. I wouldn’t wait that long if there were free lap dances inside!
However, unlike certain local food writers, I’m not here to judge your taste in restaurants. I know a lot of you love buffets, and that’s cool with me. So I decided to pay Bacchanal a visit during its first day of operation so I could show you what the scene was like.
The pictures below were taken around 11:45 am. I’m told the wait to get in was about 20 minutes. I didn’t get a lot of food close-ups for two reasons. First, there was just too damn much food to get shots of even a fraction of it. And second, hungry people were crowded around most of it, and I didn’t want to get in their way. I should also note that I did not taste any of the food. A press day is scheduled later this month, which I’m hoping to attend. In the meantime, here are some pics.
