Our family of six (including three older teenagers) will be staying at the Mandalay Bay for five nights in August. I've gotten the impression that the once very popular hotel buffets are taking a back seat to the new, pricey celebrity restaurants. Any suggestions regarding the ones that still have something special (quality, value and variety) to offer? Thanks!!

The Rio seems to be most popular cause of the variety and price.

My favorite is the lunch buffet at the Bellagio. Great food and reasonable price

Dennis -

Skip the Rio unless it's for the Village Seafood Buffet. The World Buffet has gone down hill.

The Bellagio is excellent. Very good quality and a good variety. The chilled shrimp is already peeled and they'll make any pizza you want in their brick oven if they have the ingredient. To me, this alone is worth the price. Weekend brunch is about $18.95. Worth it.

The Mandalay buffet is pretty good but I like Bellagio better. By the way, the pool at Mandalay is superb. We loved it.

If you and the Mrs. are looking for a nice (but not formal) meal for the 2 of you, highly, highly recommend the Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. The escargot is excellent. The bread is excellent. The steaks are very good. The chocolate mousse and creme brulee are excellent. I can't vouch for the salads and sandwiches. I'll be trying them next time. At the moment, this is our favorite restaurant in Vegas. Went last month, this month and going back in August. If you like wine. Try the Vouvray, Demi-Sec, Monmousseau, '98. I don't know much about wine but they called it an off-dry white. It was so good we had 2 bottles and ended up sitting there for 3 hours. And we don't usually drink much of anything. Heck, with the Bellagio fountains to watch, why not?

Also, the Eiffel Tower lounge is terrific. Piano bar-type setup. Very sleek and comfortable for a drink away from the kids.

Have you been to Vegas before? We go many times per year (been 5 already this year) and often have taken my husband's 2 boys. We used to do a long weekend there every summer. Now they're 19 and 20 and at that "in between" stage. Too young for blackjack and too old for video games. They still like the Lazer Tag at Circus Circus. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Viva Las Vegas

Thanks for your quick response and suggestions!!!

Thanks for resonding and for your suggestions!!

I am in the process of planning a July trip with my family and, based on the research I have done, the Paris and the Bellagio have the best buffets. You cannot take kids into the Bellagio unless you have restaurant reservations...I am not sure the buffet qualifies...I intend to check that out myself. Also, will dine at Cheesecake Factory, maybe Dive, the Black Spot at TI, and a couple other restaurants at Paris. The buffet at the Rio has apparently gone downhill, but the Mirage buffet fits into the next tier down quality wise from the above. Have you checked out www. lvol.com?? Tons of good info on that site!

In Vegas this week and visited two buffets. Ate lunch yesterday at Fiesta at Lake Mead Blvd. and Rancho Dr. It was $6.49 and even included a Mongolian grill. This evening we ate at the buffet at the Luxor, despite reviews that it wasn't very good. It was $11.49 and the food was very good. Nothing sexy foodwise, but had an excellent salad bar and the desserts were great.

We spent ate most of our meals in off-strip restaurants....where the locals eat. Had some great meals reasonably priced. And had a great lunch at Emeril's at the MGM, too.

BTW, Fiesta was really good. A wide variety of food, even includes an espresso bar.

We like Orleans Hotel on W. Tropicana not far from where you are staying but to far to walk. The buffet is like Rio's and other hotels with the different food stations. We go on Monday for the seafood $13.99 the rest of the week might be about $8.99. Food has always been good at all the stations. Also, check out their shows. www.lasvegas.com might be of some help to you. Good Luck.