I promised Liz at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino that I would offer her some valuable feedback to assist her in making the Bayside Buffet more efficient and create a delightful dining experience. Thank you, Liz, for easing the pain just a little.

My husband encouraged me to purchase the all-day pass to the Bayside Buffet at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, I was tempted. We chose instead to eat dinner our first night in Las Vegas in-house, and selected the Bayside Buffet because I love having a little bit of everything for a meal, so buffets are ideal.

Proper dessert portions.

First impressions being important, the kiosk at the entrance was “different.” At first I thought it was kind of cool, until it didn’t function as we had anticipated and we had to start over. Twice. Eventually we pre-paid $90.77 for three buffets, opting to leave a cash tip after the meal.

We were swiftly ushered to a nearby table/booth to our liking. I find chairs uncomfortable and after a 9-hour drive that took over 12, I was thankful to be seated near one end of the buffet and a waitress to bring the drinks. We quickly took turns filling our plates. We waited a reasonable amount of time for the waitress to come take our drink order.

However, by the time the waitress arrived to our table, I was so thirsty I could hardly stand to wait another moment. So, I asked her if she could please hurry with our drinks because we had just arrived after a very long trip. This intercourse took place, of course, immediately after she picked up our reciept, only to find she didn’t get a pre-paid tip. I don’t think she was pleased and it was obvious I had somehow upset her.

I remarked to my husband, “Oh no, I’m in trouble now, she’ll probably spit in my drink.” I tried my best to smooth things over because we kept her pretty busy and I think she was trying to be a good sport. I felt bad for her but at the same time, this meal was costing about $40.00 more than I normally spend on a nice buffet. We are regular diners at the Black Oak Cafe located in the Black Oak Casino in Sonora, CA. The buffet is smaller, but the food at Black Oak is much better quality.

I was thankful for the crab legs, I believe I had 4 of those. As I struggled to crack them, I tried in vain to flag down a waitress. I had checked the salad bar, but was unable to locate the shell crackers anywhere. When I managed to ask the busboy where they were located, I felt really stupid because they were hidden behind a plant next to our table.

Shawn ate a variety of foods from the buffet. The Pizza was pretty good, and he says it was the best thing on the entire buffet. The shrimp was warm (even though it was on ice), and none of the other foods were even on par with McDonalds (which is just across the street, by the way).

Zack didn’t eat much. He tried the pizza, crab legs and sweets, but could only muster an “it’s okay” and a shrug.

The restaurant appeared clean and in good order. I thought the station layout worked well, except for the dessert bar, which was so far away many guests end up leaving without dessert, because they didn’t know it was there. It was difficult to get to, with no clear path for traffic flow.

The dessert bar was most disappointing because everything looked amazing. I tried using the tongs to cut just a small portion off of a couple of desserts. I hate to be wasteful and all the desserts were in huge pieces. I was glad to have only taken a small portion because the chocolate cake that I had been craving was very hard. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it was over a week old. The other items were just as bad. I gave up.

For me, the worst part was finding cold, crusty, hard rolls in a basket on the counter only a couple feet from our booth. Each person dining would peck at them with the tongs, then walk away. The next morning, there was that same basket of rolls on the counter. I made a special trip back downstairs the next morning to see what they were serving, and after seeing the basket, and eating there the night before, I definitely did not plan to eat all 3-meals at the Bayside Buffet. I decided to wait for breakfast.

The breakfast buffet consisted of many of the same items as the night before with the main section being switched over to breakfast items. To be honest, I would have given it a try but I don’t think I could ever eat $15.99 worth of breakfast even if I made it myself. For $15.99 they better be serving Filet Mignon for breakfast.

Krispy Kreme Donuts

You could learn a few things from Seven Sisters at the Black Oak Casino, they have a nice classy breakfast buffet for $24.99, complete with Beef Wellington, Eggs Benedict and Filet Mignon.

I opted instead to pick up a donut at Krispy Kreme (located at Excalibur, accessible by tram) for $1.49. It was a special treat for me and one that filled me up.

The young lady manning the cash register near the entrance was very helpful and friendly, as were both hostesses I spoke with briefly. As a soda drinker, I have a 52 oz cup I travel with because it will keep my drink cold for up to 6-hours — even in the middle of the Mojave desert. I was thankful to be able to fill my soda cup, but I was a little surprised to pay $4.62 for a soda that I normally pay 99 cents for. Even so, I was just so thrilled not to have to hike across the street to the gas station that I paid it with a smile.

The bottom line is that you are overcharging for what you are offering. If you want to be the best buffet on the Las Vegas Strip, please bake some bread more frequently than once a week — everything should be fresh.

Grandma had a saying, “When in doubt, throw it out!” Think about it.

Liz, thank you again for trying to make things right. You have no idea how much it means to me. 

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