On March 25, the Wicked Spoon will once again be the lone Las Vegas Strip buffet-style restaurant open for business.
The Wicked Spoon is located in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel and casino. During the course of “2020: The Year of Our Pandemic,” it’s been an open-close-open-close-open-again experience.
Yes, that might describe the action your mouth performs at an all-you-can-eat buffet. In this case, it tracks the open or shuttered state of the Wicked Spoon’s kitchen.
Like most eateries, and all buffets, Wicked Spoon closed in March 2020 while the world tried to figure out what COVID-19 was. Whatever it still is, it has not been temporary.
When Las Vegas casinos re-opened in June of last year, Wicked Spoon was one of the only buffets on the Strip to give it a go—albeit with new safety rules in place.
Along with reduced capacity and mandatory reservations, the self-served buffet switched to seated staff service. You could still have anything you wanted from an extensive menu. Now, waiters brought you endless plates of roast beef, grilled crab legs or pork Hokkien udon noodles (during a two-hour time limit).
When Nevada state regulations reduced capacity due to COVID in late 2020, that led to a reclosure of Wicked Spoon in early 2001.
When it opens again on March 25, Wicked Spoon will operate from Thursday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The breakfast buffet will be $38/person; lunch will be $45.
You can also get unlimited beverages for $21/person.
Las Vegas Buffet Blues
For decades, over-the-top buffets were a magnet at Las Vegas casino-hotels. ARIA Resort & Casino had large individual stations for Asian, Indian and Italian cuisine. At Cravings in Mirage, the buffet came with unlimited beer and wine. The buffet at Paris offered delicacies such as sherry shrimp bisque and spicy clams mariniere.
At any buffet you could pile your plate as high as possible.
The best advice I ever heard: “Don’t just put anything on your plate until you’ve looked at everything.”
When coronavirus struck in 2020, and buffets went dark, one of the first to re-open was at the upscale, five-star Wynn. Like the Wicked Spoon, diners at the Buffet at Wynn received unlimited table service, for two hours.
Alas, the Wynn buffet closed in September. An official press statement noted: Based on guest feedback, we found that guests prefer a more traditional buffet experience.”
South Point Strong
Off-Strip, one Las Vegas casino buffet has remained open throughout the pandemic. South Point Casino switched to a staff-served buffet and never stopped operating during 2020.
South Point’s Garden Buffer starts at $12.95 for breakfast. It comes with bottomless Bloody Marys.
The Friday Seafood Night buffet is $32.95, and comes with prime rib and two glasses of beer or wine. J&J
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The buffet looks great and the food indeed looks delicious!
Man…. I have nor eaten from a buffet in years! I always loved them when I was growing up and this one looks amazing 🙂 Maybe I will find one some day that looks as good as this one and cannot wait to get to Vegas 🙂
I would love to visit the Wicked Spoon. The food in their buffet looks absolutely divine. I just know it has to taste amazing.