Las Vegas hotels offer a bevy of buffets

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

Breakfast is the easiest time to experience the vaunted Las Vegas buffet. The lines are short and the prices are low.

Here are four buffets in diverse locations with their own distinctive breakfasts:

The Feast, Sunset Station

This aptly named buffet opens three ethnically diverse stations for breakfast; Mamma Mia, for Italian foods, Viva Mexico, and Farmer's Market, the American foods station. That's plenty. The Feast is a great deal, and you'll probably eat more than you intended.

One of the best aspects is a griddle where chefs busy themselves making French toast and pancakes to order, both delicious. There is also an omelet bar where you can get a nearly perfect lox, egg and onion omelet. You'd pay almost twice the price of this buffet for such an omelet at a typical deli.

At Viva Mexico, try the breakfast burrito stuffed with sausage and egg, or a made-to-order version of huevos rancheros, fried eggs atop crisp corn tortillas with refried beans and ranchero sauce.

The Italian breakfast sausage at Mamma Mia is made by the house butcher shop, far better than the buffet's limp, greasy bacon. The cinnamon biscuits are great, a homemade buttermilk biscuit drenched in butter and brushed with cinnamon and sugar.

Acceptable cinnamon rolls are made in house, and fresh doughnuts are brought in. If you can handle chicken Italiano (sauteed chicken tenders with spinach) or spaghetti Pomodoro for breakfast, you have a healthier appetite than most.

One downside to this buffet are watery juices, prepared from concentrate. But overall, this is, well, a veritable feast.

The breakfast buffet is served from 8-11 a.m., Monday through Friday, at $4.99 per person.

Bellagio Buffet

Sure, this swank buffet is twice as expensive as most of the competition, but just look at what you get. The atmosphere is vaguely Tuscan and there is plenty of space. This is also one of the only buffets in Las Vegas with restrooms inside the dining area, making a trip into the casino unnecessary.

The most impressive aspect of this buffet may be its multiculturalism. There are Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Mexican and Scandinavian foods to eat, not to mention all the American classics. One of the most popular stations is the steel-cut oatmeal bar, where you can load up your cereal with luxury toppings, such as macadamia nuts and dried apricots.

There are excellent, thin crust pizzas in the morning, straight from a wood-burning oven, as well as a breakfast pizza topped with oatmeal and fresh raspberry jam.

Lovers of Asian breakfasts can hit the congee bar, rice porridge that you mix with condiments such as spicy beef, sauteed peanuts, spicy tofu and chopped green onions. A classic Japanese miso soup is offered, as well as wasabi (green horseradish) and other condiments that the Japanese eat for breakfast.

Seafood includes creamed herring, smoked salmon with all the trimmings, piquant tomato-marinated bay shrimp and usually one or two types of sashimi. The baked goods are the equal of any in town: La Brea Bakery rolls, flaky croissants, three types of pound cake and egg muffins.

It's hard not to be impressed by the number of healthy foods on this buffet, from ripe pineapple and other tropical fruits, to a selection of yogurt. The Buffet at Bellagio is, in short, a movable feast, and you get what you pay for.

The breakfast buffet is served from 7-10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, at $10.99 per person.

Golden Nugget Buffet

The most distinguishing feature of this otherwise ordinary breakfast spread is the famous bread pudding, which the chefs put out even for the morning spread. It really does live up to the billing, but not enough to justify these long lines.

This buffet is spotty, despite a Belle Epoque decor that is quite attractive. The do-it-yourself Eggs Benedict setup is a nice idea, but the components aren't up to speed. Unbuttered English muffin halves get rubbery in the steam table. The poached eggs are overcooked, and the Hollandaise gluey.

Pass on the tired cling peach halves in syrup and the tasteless frozen blintzes. The buffet's baking powder biscuits are as hard as little rocks, and steam table eggs and undercooked hash browns aren't going to make anyone's day.

The best you can do is to stick to the basics. Omelets are made to order and mostly just fine, and there are crusty La Brea Bakery rolls to accompany them. Good quality ham is carved to order. And baked goods are above average, like a nice pecan-topped sticky bun and a delicious honey walnut muffin.

Fresh carrots and celery go best with the ranch and dill dips on the salad table. An odd selection of composed salads includes an overly creamy Waldorf salad, and a chicken salad that tastes as if the chicken were mulched in a lawnmower. If braving the long lines seems daunting, you can always cross the lobby for a bagel and cappuccino at the hotel's Starbucks.

The breakfast buffet is served from 7-10:30 a.m., at $6.17 per person.

Terrible's Buffet

Terrible's Buffet isn't the Ritz, but at these prices, you wouldn't expect it to be. The buffet area is an escalator ride upstairs from the main casino. It's a claustrophobic room furnished with flower print tables and wallpaper done in scenes from Venice.

The coffee is good, served in sturdy porcelain mugs, but juices are weak. The line contains a few interesting surprises. Alongside a vat of cream of wheat, there are dried tropical fruits such as mango, papaya and pineapple to give the cereal some zip, and there are also unpeeled navel oranges, which you rarely see on a buffet.

Cooked dishes are erratic, but if you're a trencherman, try the excellent chicken-fried steak, and the nice country-sausage gravy that goes with it. This isn't exactly what your doctor is recommending, but it does taste good, at least.

The breakfast burrito isn't bad, either, and the side salsa is pretty tasty. Italian sausage, which the chef will cut from a giant coil, also gets high marks. But the frozen waffles and overcooked, pre-made omelets do not cut the mustard. (Though mini-croissants, stuffed with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, are surprisingly palatable, and the tiny blueberry muffins are nicely fresh.)

Whatever. You're skipping lunch, no matter what.