The Buffet was closed down for a while during the pandemic but reopened in late 2022…read more
Grand Villa Casino had a contest where if you swipe your casino "Encore" loyalty card on the contest machine, you'd have a chance to instantly win things such as free casino plays and restaurant coupons. A cash prize was offered as well. My friend was lucky enough to win a 2 for 1 coupon for Grand Villa's buffet and invited me over to try it out. Lucky me. I haven't visited Grand Villa Casino's Buffet in about 5 years so I was interested to see if anything changed since then. When we approached the entrance, there was no line up and there were plenty of seats available in the buffet. This was around 4pm on a Sunday.
I took a glance at the food available for the day and it looked decent but nothing stood out, unfortunately.
Here's a rundown of everything they offered that day.
For soups they got vegetarian chili and chicken gumbo. The chicken gumbo was not good and my friend couldn't finish it. Just avoid the soups.
For salads, they got romaine, kale, macaroni, coleslaw, and potato. I tried a bit of the kale and the macaroni salads and it was surprisingly tasty.
For mains they got corn on the cob, corn bread, waffles, fried chicken, baked beans, mac and cheese, beef brisket, bbq ribs, and fried basa fish.
The corn bread was pretty bland. It needs more flavor.
The fried chicken is like the chicken you would buy at a superstore or walmart. Very average. It was drier than I preferred. The breaded skin was kinda tasteless. Worse than KFC.
The mac and cheese was actually good. Very cheesy, tasty, and looked pretty yummy.
The BBQ ribs were alright. It had very little meat on it. The sauce was tastier than I expected.
The basa fried fish is nothing to write home about. Very average. It didn't have much flavor and tasted like the fish you would buy in the supermarket frozen dinner food section and pop it in the oven.
The beef brisket was too tough, dry, and lacked flavor. Needs more seasoning. I think it was a tad overcooked.
At the carving station, they had roast beef. It's not bad at all! The beef did not have any fat and it was tender and not dry. You can try it with dijon mustard or demi-glace sauce. I liked it with the dijon mustard.
For pop, they got a coca cola freestyle machine with literally dozens of options of different types of pop. Coke, Barqs, Sprite, Fanta, and more. I have no complaints about the drinks.
For dessert, they got mini donuts, double chocolate cake with chocolate icing and flakes on top, Red Velvet cake, chocolate brownies, and a fruit platter. They also have ice cream with a small selection of toppings.
The mini donuts were sweet and tasty. They appear to be freshly baked.
I liked the chocolate brownies a lot. It wasn't overly sweet but it was tasty.
The chocolate cake was decent. It was a tad too sweet and tasted like an average chocolate cake overall.
The red velvet cake was very average tasting as well.
My friend didn't like the chocolate ice cream at all and could not finish it after taking a bite.
There might have been a few more desserts and drinks available that I missed but I didn't take a good look.
Besides the average quality food, the service by the wait staff and the dining area was actually better than other restaurants.
The wait staff took away our plates very quickly after we were done with them. They were friendly and fast when we entered the restaurant and during our visit. I have no complaints about the service.
The dining area was spacious and clean. The chairs had thick pillow cushions on them so it was better than an average dining chair. They had large windows that let the sunlight in. The decor was minimal but nicer than an average family restaurant.
Overall, at the regular price of $33.99 per person, I would hesitate to recommend Grand Villa's Casino Buffet to anybody for the quality of the food that's offered. It really needs improvement. The chefs need to replace what it has now with better than average tasting food to ask for that price. I wouldn't think of going again unless i scored a 2 for 1 coupon because there are plenty of restaurants where your $34 can be better spent. 2.5 out of 5 stars rounded up to 3 stars since yelp doesn't do half stars.