Canyon's End: Bellagio Buffet, Las Vegas

So after two weeks of hiking in and out of every deep hole in the southwest, we rewarded my teen sons (Thing 1 and Thing 2, if you've been following my writings here), with the Bellagio Buffet, $33.95 on Saturday nights (I'm insulted by their shilling for 'gratuity' when you pay in advance. I will tip for service I've received -- and I did -- not for what I might receive). I've been trying to come up with some kind of pun around the lines of punishment for gluttony, but it really doesn't work

Arriving at about 4:45 (we hadn't eaten since early in the day, we were trying to shift time zones back to home a bit, we figured we'd have to wait, and besides we'd been on Utah time for a week), we had about a half-hour wait. I thought they'd have been full on the 4:30 'first seating' but there were plenty of seats in the many alcoves around the buffet.

Bottom line? Nothing exceeds like excess. It's a whole lot of good food, but not much is great.

Sushi: The fish was fresh, and excellent texture, but the nigiri rice was rather pasty, a big disappointment. Better were the ahi poke and similar salmon dish, without the rice. On the same station were rock shrimp with mango and wasabi -- I didn't taste wasabi but rather a lot of chili. This was one of the best items I had there: spicy, sweet, and with excellent texture.

'King' Crab Legs: Very disappointing. These tasted like they'd been held in cold water for way too long. The flesh didn't come out of the shell except in shreds. Yet there were people with huge piles of them, digging in. They were also much smaller than what I've considered king crab before.

Meat Station: Buffalo top sirloin was very rare, chewy with good meat flavor and a nice salty crust. Kobe beef roast had a huge beefy flavor, but not beyond what I'd expect for a standing rib roast, f'rinstance (I skipped th standard prime rib). The lamb chops were awesome, though: thick, meaty, juicy and tender with a lot of flavor. Scallopped potatoes wrapped in phyllo at this station were another high note. There were also beef wellington and turkey, but I didn't care.

Chinese dishes: only sampled a couple: szechuan mussels (insipid sauce is the right description here, but can't hate mussels -- chili sauce helped), and baby bok choy with toasted garlic cloves (m m m m m) Grace Adler Voice:Vegetables? Have I taught you nothing?.

Pasta: It's pasta. Alfredo, a tomato of some kind, and pesto sauces. Nothing to write home about, but good textures. MrsF liked the pasta with proscuitto, goat cheese and mushroom broth, and the tube pasta with pesto and rock shrimp.

Pizza: Nice combos: BBQ chicken, shrimp scampi. Crisp, chewy. Pleasing, but not something I should fill up on at these prices.

Smoked salmon, smoked halibut, smoked ahi... good stuff.
Lots and lots of lots and lots.

Dessert? There were lots of choices. Creme brulee and flan seemed to disappear the fastest, but they're not my favorites. Key lime pie was OK but colored green, and in a pastry, not graham crust. Pecan pie very good. Chocolate tart excellent. Apple pie was cold with a crumb crust, not my favorite way to have it.

Final decision? A lot of money for a lot of good but not great food. I might have had a better post-vacation choice in a churrascaria, especially as Things 1 & 2 focused on the red meat. Best items for me were the mango rock shrimp, lamb chops, scalloped potatoes, chocolate tart.