We are going to Las Vegas for the first time next month.
I hear the buffets are the best place to eat and they're really cheap.
Which one is best?

Skip the buffets and spend your dollars on a real meal. ALL buffets are tasteless and the food sits on the tables for hours at a time.
Lots of good restaurants in Vegas. No need to waste time and money on buffets!!

Pass up the buffets in any location. You don't get good food at buffets, you get bad food, as much as you want. People who eat buffets are looking for quantity not quality.

John and Disgusting, what makes you the authority of what people like? Obviously many people do prefer quantity to quality or cheap price before excellence. I'd gather from the tone of Johnny's question that such a thing is just what he is looking for. Just because you don't like buffets is no reason to trash his preference for them. If someone asked you for a cheap chain motel, would you also rant and rave about how they should really stay in a five star resort because it would be much better?

Sorry I can't help Johnny. I hate buffets for the same reason as John and Disgusting, but do a search here and you will find lots of opinions on the various buffets. In fact there is a thread running on that issue right now.

We were in LV for a few days with our family last spring. We ate at the Mirage and the Treasure Island Buffets. They are both decent. Not as awful as dedscribed in the other posts. TI was a little cheaper than Mirage. The main difference was Mirage had unlimited crab legs (TI didn't). Both had carving stations with roast beef and turkey and I think fish (and maybe some other meats as well), both had pasta bars (cooked to order), both had salad bars and both had a variety of prepared foods, steam table style. We ate mostly from the carving stations and the salad bar.

We were not looking for quantity (we're not big eaters), we were also looking for moderate prices and family friendly food. From what we could tell, most of the hotel restaurants from quite pricey and definitely not worth going with kids. Many were very crowded with long waits. We also found some inexpenseive restaurants a few blocks from the strip.

The nicest non-buffet meal we had was at the Italian restaurant in the shopping concourse of ceasar's palace. I can't remember the name but it had 'outdoor' seating adjacent to a piazza navona-type fountain. It was very pleasant there.

If you happen to be downtown, do not miss the buffet at Main Street Station. You'll find everything from wood-fired pizzas to rotisserie meats. Everything is fresh and delicious. I do not live near downtown, but make the trip at least once per month to eat there. Prices vary depending upon the meal and the day of the week. Expect to pay between $8 and $12 per person.

For dinner on the strip, do not miss the buffet at the Aladdin. They feature Mediterranean foods, as well as American favorites. I was a little dissappointed to find the line for the buffet long, but once we ate, we realized why we waited. Again, all of the food was fresh, colorful, and delicious. The variety was also plentiful. I think dinner was around $20 per person.

By all means, skip the cheap buffets, like the one at Circus Circus, unless fish sticks and jello are your idea of a good dinner. The cheap buffets are almost never worth the savings.

Have a great time here in Las Vegas!