Bacchanal Buffet (Caesar's Palace)

We all know that Vegas is famous for many things.  These include bigger than life casinos (which in turn refers to gambling), wedding chapels, debauchery and of course, food!  Over the past couple of decades, we've seen the culinary scene move from buffets over to gourmet offerings from celebrity chefs.  We've also seen outposts of some pretty famous eateries from around North America and even the world.  Knowing that didn't prevent me from visiting the often named "best buffet" in Vegas which is the Bacchanal Buffet located in Casear's Palace.

We decided on lunch because shelling out nearly $400.00 for the dinner would've ruined my appetite before I even dug into the crab claws...   Even with that, I had to pay practically $50.00 per person for lunch!  I must say that the buffet was massive and truly impressive with many different stations.  Similar to the Wicked Spoon, many of the items were individually plated. One of the most impressive parts of the buffet was the Roasted Meats featuring herb roasted turkey, peach smoked brisket, grilled tri-tip, espresso & sea salt crust prime rib, American Wagyu beef, smoked maple bone-in ham and Cornish game hen.  I thought the prime rib was textbook while the brisket was a bit dry.  The Wagyu was fairly disappointing being tough.  

Onto the Seafood, I filled the plate with crab claws, cocktail shrimp, conch, mussels, clams and lox.  Unlike the disappointing Waygu, this plate was excellent.  Springy, briny and sweet, the crab claws required seconds.  The cocktail shrimp had a cold-water snap while the lox was buttery.  The mussels were fairly scrawny, yet prepared properly.  I found the clams to be better where they were plump and briny.  From there, I walked pretty far to get the Sushi and Chinese Food.  For lunch, the selection of nigiri was limited to salmon, tuna and ebi with 4 maki rolls.  These were fairly good, especially for a buffet, where the rice was a touch dry.  In addition, I chose some multi-colored dumplings as well as ha gau, siu mai and xiao long bao.  Sadly, none of them were actually appealing.  Skins were thick and fillings were stiff and bland.

Continuing with the Chinese Food, I did the build-your-own-congee station and plated it a modern fashion (like the one at Nightshade in LA) with green onions, pickled mustard greens, century duck egg, fried shallots, pork floss and salty donut.  With so many ingredients, the congee wasn't bad.  It was thick on its own, yet pretty bland. The rest of the items including the broccoli beef, fried rice, tiger shrimp, impossible mapo tofu and kung pao chicken were neither offending nor being impressive.  Interestingly, the Asian Food section was better where the chicken massaman curry was plenty tasty with a touch of spice and plenty of coconut milk.  Even the Singapore fried rice noodles were decent enough.  However, the pad Thai was dry and too sweet.  That would be the same for the Filipino-style pork skewers, but at least they were charred well and not overdone.

We were able to squeeze a Japanese tonkotsu ramen out of the Noodle Bar even though we were really full.  Actually, it was my daughter who decided to get it.  Not a bad decision as it was respectable.  Broth was lacking somewhat in depth, but it was still plenty meaty and salty enough.  Noodles were not overdone while the pork was decently tender.  Okay for a buffet.  The kids also ended up sampling some items from the section right next to the meats.  I would classify it as Comfort Food which included fried chicken, curly fries, bacon, sausages, baked beans, kielbasa with sauerkraut and mac n' cheese.  Nothing interesting here other than something to fill you up if you the other food wasn't to your liking.  I personally took a pass with this section altogether.

Now, all of these savory items were varied where some where better than others.  However, the Dessert Station was quite impressive to look at.  It included many different cakes and pastries, made-in-house gelato, donuts and fruit.  TBH, unless you didn't eat any of the savory items and/or your name is Mijune, there is no way someone could even put a dent into this section of the buffet.  We did our best and came up with a few items and also tried the gelato.  About that gelato, it was actually very good with a rich texture that was smooth while not heavy.  It was a little sweet though.  Rather than trying to go over every dessert we had, I am confident enough to say most things were good with a few exceptions.  There was a little something for everyone.  This was definitely one of the highlights of the buffet as well as the seafood.  However, we were indifferent with the rest of the food.  It wasn't any better than say, the Wicked Spoon, in my opinion.  Selection was good, same with the service, yet I'm not sure if it was worth the cost.

The Good:
- Huge selection
- Desserts were good
- Food was generally fresh

The Bad:
- Nothing that amazing
- Expensive