Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 38

Thread: Station casinos buffets closed for good

  1. #1
    Playing at a Station's property today, employees were buzzing about the news that Station Casino buffets would not be re-opening. Before covid Station's operated 10 buffets, between their 7 Station properties, Palms and 2 Fiesta. That was 10 of the 40 buffets in Vegas pre covid. Only 6 of those properties have re-opened with Palms having just been sold and Texas station and the 2 fiesta remaining closed and now the rumor than none of the buffets will be re-opening.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  2. #2
    Originally Posted by kewlJ View Post
    Playing at a Station's property today, employees were buzzing about the news that Station Casino buffets would not be re-opening. Before covid Station's operated 10 buffets, between their 7 Station properties, Palms and 2 Fiesta. That was 10 of the 40 buffets in Vegas pre covid. Only 6 of those properties have re-opened with Palms having just been sold and Texas station and the 2 fiesta remaining closed and now the rumor than none of the buffets will be re-opening.

    That's a shame. And they had just opened that new Palace buffet downstairs, which got rave reviews and a top 10 value listing at LVA.

    I'm just sorry I didn't eat there on my last trip and never will get to check it out. I opted for the coffee shop instead.

  3. #3
    I just finished eating at a Station restaurant and asked the waitress who said she hadn't heard anything. Will try to look for some sort of announcement when I get home. maybe it hasn't been made yet.

    During my 12 years in Vegas, free or greatly reduced meals (with points) have always been a hidden benefit of my play that was never calculated into my earnings. My partner and I ate out almost every day, many of them at Station or Boyd buffets. And when my brother moved to Vegas about 5 years ago, he joined the free meal gravy train. I didn't realize just what a benefit that was until casinos shut down last year and I had to start buying groceries on a regular basis. I mean we were always buying snacks and stuff, but all of the sudden had to start buying groceries for real meals at home. Grocery bills skyrocketed, making me appreciate the financial benefit of all those free meals everyday.

    Let's hope Boyd doesn't follow suit. I like some coffee shops and Grand Cafe type places too, and will still eat out at casinos expense, but I will miss the Station buffets if this is confirmed.

    add on: I ate at Palace Station several times after the remodel. It was nice. VERY nice at first, but has already started to slip back a little when covid hit.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  4. #4
    Thank you for the on topic thread You know what they say about broken clocks and all that.

  5. #5
    I remember back in bygone days when I was deducting meal prices and all that as a formal expense of spending 90 days a year in LV. When I first started, in the 80's, the per diem allowed for LV deductions was quite low. LV was considered a "cheap" city. By the time I stopped doing that, LV's allowed per diem had gone way up. I think it almost had doubled, putting it at the other end of the range.

    If Boyd keeps buffets shuttered along with Stations, I will mourn the free food. Many Boyd daily promos centered on the buffets. And that reminds me, I still have a couple hundred in both Stations and Boyd comps that I better blow on meals next trip. It won't go nearly as far if the buffets aren't available.

  6. #6
    Originally Posted by redietz View Post
    If Boyd keeps buffets shuttered along with Stations, I will mourn the free food. Many Boyd daily promos centered on the buffets. And that reminds me, I still have a couple hundred in both Stations and Boyd comps that I better blow on meals next trip. It won't go nearly as far if the buffets aren't available.
    So when my partner was alive and we were doing a lot of machine play supplemental stuff that he handled, we always had 2 or 3 accounts that were presidential or chairman. Mostly presidential, I think 1 chairman account for 1 or 2 years. Wasn't a whole lot of benefit to that except presidential received 50% discount at the buffet at all times and the shorter line (that might have been the real benefit ). And if it was senior day for my partner, or we had a 50% off coupon, they doubled up the discount, meaning we were paying 25% or like $2.

    So after my partner passed, and stations started tightening up a bit, my play at stations really dropped. I would play enough on multiplier days just to have money for the discounted meals (had to pay with points) and get whatever free play rolled in. So my last presidential account expired end of 2019. I was downgraded to the grey or silver card, whatever that is. So early last year, I was trying to decide if I wanted to score a big coin in and get back to presidential. Really the only real benefit I could see was the discounted buffets and shorter lines at the buffet. I decided to go for it and picked a multiplier day in February and played enough to hit presidential and it earned me enough points to eat for the rest of the year, or so I thought.

    casinos shut down a month later and I have been screwed out of that buffet 50% off and shorter line benefit. And the presidential was extended because of covid until June 2021 (next month). I though maybe if buffets opened, I would squeeze 50%'s in during June.....but not to be. In hind sight, I got Zero out of that presidential for the last year. Should have just let it go, which I will now.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  7. #7
    So I have searched high and low and see nothing resembling any kind of official announcement about Stations closing buffets. About the only related comment I have found is Stations CEO saying Buffets are a losing proposition for his casinos and have been for sometime and would not be opening when casinos re-opened. That was on an earnings call one year ago, in May 2020.

    Also, while I don't check every visit, when ever I happen to walk by or near the buffet area at all of the 6 open Stations properties, the buffets are sitting there completely intact, looking like they are just waiting for the green light to open. You would think after a year, they would have dismantled the fixtures and be preparing to use that space for something else.

    For anyone interested this info or rumor came about when a dealer at Red Rock mentioned it yesterday. I hadn't asked him, he just volunteered this out of the blue. He said, that he had just been told buffets wouldn't be re-opening. So a little while later, I asked a second dealer if he knew anything about the buffets re-opening and he confirmed that they had just been told they were not. Several hours later, I asked the waitress in the cafe and she knew nothing of this. Seems strange that dealers were told this while waitresses and people in that department were not.

    I guess we will find out shortly as I would expect more buffets to reopen if they are going to. Maybe I am just being hopeful, because I like a few of the station buffets (GVR, Red Rock, sunset) so much.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  8. #8

  9. #9
    Originally Posted by MaxPen View Post
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peop...?ocid=msedgdhp

    Looks like it's official.

    RIP......Station buffets
    Bummer!

    I think it is a mistake. Local casinos have things like movie theaters and bowling alley's to draw locals to the casino, that might not otherwise be going. The buffet falls into that catagory.

    I know I have planned a trip to a casino, based on a free buffet for that particular day in my mailer. I mean it is a casino in my regular rotation, so I play blackjack or if a multiplier day, maybe some VP, but it was the free buffet (especially when my partner was alive) that got us there on that particular day. Now yeah, I am an AP, so the casinos don't case about me, but take the AP out of it, there are plenty of locals that do the same thing, plan their visit around a free or discounted buffet and then play while they are there.

    So the new generation pencil pushers, look at the numbers and say, the buffet is losing money. What they should be looking at is that free or discounted buffet, that the casino says they are losing money on, (cost $10) brings in that player who loses 2-3 hundred that day that otherwise wouldn't have come. Sort of like free play. The pencil pusher can look at the free play given away and say that costs money. But if that $10, $15 whatever amount of free play, gets that player to that casino that the player would otherwise not visited, that is $10 well spent. It's called marketing.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  10. #10
    Originally Posted by kewlJ View Post
    Originally Posted by MaxPen View Post
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peop...?ocid=msedgdhp

    Looks like it's official.

    RIP......Station buffets
    Bummer!

    I think it is a mistake. Local casinos have things like movie theaters and bowling alley's to draw locals to the casino, that might not otherwise be going. The buffet falls into that catagory.

    I know I have planned a trip to a casino, based on a free buffet for that particular day in my mailer. I mean it is a casino in my regular rotation, so I play blackjack or if a multiplier day, maybe some VP, but it was the free buffet (especially when my partner was alive) that got us there on that particular day. Now yeah, I am an AP, so the casinos don't case about me, but take the AP out of it, there are plenty of locals that do the same thing, plan their visit around a free or discounted buffet and then play while they are there.

    So the new generation pencil pushers, look at the numbers and say, the buffet is losing money. What they should be looking at is that free or discounted buffet, that the casino says they are losing money on, (cost $10) brings in that player who loses 2-3 hundred that day that otherwise wouldn't have come. Sort of like free play. The pencil pusher can look at the free play given away and say that costs money. But if that $10, $15 whatever amount of free play, gets that player to that casino that the player would otherwise not visited, that is $10 well spent. It's called marketing.
    More like Vegas 101. Markers came first, comped buffets were next to get or keep the gambler there. My question for Stations and ElDiablo is - what are they going to do with all that empty space? Buffets have large footprints in casinos. Most of these casino have food courts already.
    Keep your friends close, keep your drinks closer...

  11. #11
    Not all casinos have buffets.

    Ilani tribal casino, a fairly new casino near Portland, does not have one.

    They're building out in stages; first the casino, than a parking structure, then a hotel.

    No buffet is on the drawing board.

    Man, a casino without a buffet seems like having a girl friend who won't put out: does not compute.
    Last edited by MisterV; 05-22-2021 at 09:06 AM.
    What, Me Worry?

  12. #12
    Mr jpfromla asked the big question: what happens to all that space?

    I dont believe the words "never again" apply to casinos. I think in two years buffets will be back.

    The Station Casinos group has a history of making blunders and misjudging the market. Look at the Palms disaster.

    Slot machines cost a casino something like $300 a day. So I doubt they will fill the buffet areas with machines. Tables are more expensive to run.

    Could they rent out the space to retailers? That's risky but possible.

    But I think the spaces will stay vacant and in two years the buffets will be back.

  13. #13
    Originally Posted by AndrewG View Post
    But I think the spaces will stay vacant and in two years the buffets will be back.
    I was thinking something along these lines, if not all properties, at least a few like Red Rock, GVR, Sante Fe.

    I also was wondering if Boyd will follow suit. If I were boyd, I would not, instead hoping to pick up some of those patrons that like and enjoy local buffets. Might be an opportunity to bump up price a couple bucks though.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  14. #14
    Lost in the buffet announcement was that during the same earnings call, the CEO, or was it CFO, also said Stations had cut promo and promo offers to the bone and would continue those cuts, something many of us had recognized for quite a while.

    There was a time just a couple years ago, when I would get mailers from the station properties (Red Rock, Palace, GVR, Boulder, ect) and a second mailer from the 2 Fiesta properties, a third mailer from The little Wildfire joints, Wild west casino and Barleys on sunset road, and a 4th mailer with just table game offers, weekly and twice weekly free table bets and match plays. For a period there was even a seperate mailer for just Palms. The Station properties were free money in our pockets. Sadly, those days are gone.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  15. #15
    Originally Posted by AndrewG View Post
    Mr jpfromla asked the big question: what happens to all that space?

    I dont believe the words "never again" apply to casinos. I think in two years buffets will be back.

    The Station Casinos group has a history of making blunders and misjudging the market. Look at the Palms disaster.

    Slot machines cost a casino something like $300 a day. So I doubt they will fill the buffet areas with machines. Tables are more expensive to run.

    Could they rent out the space to retailers? That's risky but possible.

    But I think the spaces will stay vacant and in two years the buffets will be back.
    I agree with both of you. Buffets are a big footprint and what will replace and generate income... another upscale restaurant. Food court-unless they already have one (and most do). Four wall it and turn them into timeshare broiler rooms?
    I agree that they will be back. Notice the old school owners haven’t permanently shut theirs down. Gaughan kept South Point open and there have been no negative rumors from Boyd (except for MMS). As soon as the bean counters realize that the $10 buffet is costing them $300 in slot action there might be a change. There is a reason why buffets are in the bowels of the casino.
    Keep your friends close, keep your drinks closer...

  16. #16
    Silverton to follow suit?

    Yesterday I received an email with a brief survey from Sliverton casino. Survey had 4 questions.

    1.) what is your favorite football team?

    2.) what is your favorite hockey team?

    3.) how often do you eat at the Silverton buffet?

    4.) would you be less likely to visit a casino that didn't offer a buffet option?

    I have to assume they are at least considering not re-opening their buffet. I hope not. Nice little buffet.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  17. #17
    Originally Posted by kewlJ View Post
    Silverton to follow suit?

    Yesterday I received an email with a brief survey from Sliverton casino. Survey had 4 questions.

    1.) what is your favorite football team?

    2.) what is your favorite hockey team?

    3.) how often do you eat at the Silverton buffet?

    4.) would you be less likely to visit a casino that didn't offer a buffet option?

    I have to assume they are at least considering not re-opening their buffet. I hope not. Nice little buffet.

    Hey guys, is the Boyd combo buffet/coffee shop at the Fremont open? I was wondering if they just switched it completely over to the coffee shop option with the pandemic. That room is so old school, it would absolutely break my heart if it closed.

  18. #18
    Originally Posted by redietz View Post

    Hey guys, is the Boyd combo buffet/coffee shop at the Fremont open? I was wondering if they just switched it completely over to the coffee shop option with the pandemic. That room is so old school, it would absolutely break my heart if it closed.
    Don't know. If you don'rt get an answer, I will look next time I am downtown, but probably won't be until next week, now.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  19. #19
    Flamingo and Treasure Island buffets also will not be opening.

    The fact that buffets are allowed to be open and only 3 are open, 2 high priced on the strip (Cosmo and Caesars) and South Point which has been open since July with servers serving food, sure seems like the days of low & medium priced buffets, a staple in Vegas for 80 years is over.
    Dan Druff: "there's no question that MDawg has been an obnoxious braggart, and has rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. There's something missing from his stories. Either they're fabricated, grossly exaggerated, or largely incomplete".

  20. #20
    MGM and.....wait for it.....Circus Circus are opening on the 26th and 29th.
    Keep your friends close, keep your drinks closer...

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Biloxi Casinos Closed
    By radicalwin in forum Eastern US & Non-US Casinos
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 09-15-2020, 06:47 PM
  2. Casinos that are already closed again? :/
    By Tasha in forum Las Vegas
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 09-02-2020, 11:10 AM
  3. Las Vegas Buffets
    By monet in forum Las Vegas
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 06-23-2020, 05:12 AM
  4. MGM closing buffets because of Coronavirus
    By AndrewG in forum Las Vegas
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 03-11-2020, 08:19 AM
  5. Station Casinos getting the system that Rincon has
    By Alan Mendelson in forum Las Vegas
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-06-2016, 10:31 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •