Crowds, Cost Take Focus From Rio Buffet Food
Once-Original Food-Station Concept Now Standard
Updated: 11:11 a.m. EDT May 19, 2003
LAS VEGAS -- The Carnival World buffet at the Rio is one of those places that people usually rave about for its vast selection of high-quality food.
I have to agree on that point -- if you have a hard time finding something to eat here, you're way too picky. But there are a few other things about the buffet that place it in the second tier of our choices for Vegas buffets: cost and crowds.
First, the good stuff.
The Carnival World Buffet was one of the first in Vegas to utilize the concept of food stations, individual themed areas that diners could pick and choose from, as opposed to one long line starting with salads and ending with the desserts. These days, the food-station concept is just about everywhere, so it doesn't seem quite as revolutionary as it may have, but it is still successful here primarily because it has more themes than most other places.
There's a large fresh-salad bar area, of course, with all of the things you'd expect to find in one, plus some hot soups. An American grill area features cool touches like hamburgers, hot dogs, milk shakes, and deliciously crispy onion rings. A barbecue station offers various takes on barbecue and the fixings that often accompany it.
There's also a fresh sushi area, which isn't my particular bag of raw fish, but you have to give points for originality. A Brazilian grill area allows patrons to create their own South American stir fry, cooked to order before their very eyes. There's also the more-traditional carving station, Italian pastas, pizza, Chinese dishes, and Mexican entrees, plus a big dessert station and -- during breakfast or brunch -- a sizeable offering of everything from scrambled eggs to French toast and beyond. The bacon from this area was especially noteworthy, but bacon often is.
Everything my group sampled was terrific and well-prepared, although some of the warm entrees could have been rotated a little more often.
So talking strictly about food, the Carnival World Buffet is a terrific choice. But those cost and crowd issues keep nagging at me. Breakfast is $10, lunch is $12 and dinner and the Saturday and Sunday brunches are $17. True, it's not the most expensive in town, but I think there are buffets that are just as good, if not better, for less money.
And you're going to have to patient if you want to visit this place pretty much anytime. I hit it for Sunday brunch at around noon and waited in line for almost an hour to get in.
We happened to walk back by a few hours later and the line was just as long as it had been before.
Again, I know that other buffets also have similarly long lines, but if I'm going to wait that long, I want something fantastic. While it's very good, I don't think the Carnival World Buffet quite attained the fantastic level.
Rio Carnival World Buffet
Rio Suites
3700 W. Flamingo
Las Vegas, NV 89103
(888) 746-7153
Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Meals: $10 to $17, not including tax or tip
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