Teacher:You are given a review about a place. You need to provide a rating from "1 star" to "5 stars" for this place.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: Short end of it: Save your money/calories/time!

I decided to use up some of my resort credit on this place and the only positive thing that I can say is that I was definitely not hungry after.

First of all, I am a huge crab fan. I can sit for hours eating crab. However, Aria, much like other buffet places on the strip, have found a way to totally ruin the crab experience for me. How? They cut the crab legs in half! Now some of you are probably thinking, "this makes it easier to eat". For a crab eating veteran, all this does is to frustrate me. Over the years, I have honed my skillz at cracking, pulling out the 'crab tendons' and then freeing huge chunks of crab that provide a great melt in your mouth feeling experience. When the crab is cut in half, the tendon is still in there and you have to scrape it off. The result is shredded crab. In addition, since they were sliced in this fashion, the meat tends to dry out....but you didn't start reading this review about my pet peeves of buffet crab, you want to know about the Aria Buffet.

The buffet is not as pretty looking as some of the other high end buffets on the strip. Someone else had mentioned cafeteria feeling, and they are right. The intent was supposed to be a high end feel, but it ended up feeling sterile, like hospital sterile.

The food was a mixed bag of foods from all over the world. Asian, Mexican, Indian (they have a tandoor oven), American.....along with some cut cheeses and meats. All the food was executed poorly. The brisket was shoe leather tough. I come from brisket country and I know that the brisket presented there was several hours undercooked. The prime rib was tender, but not very flavorful. I also would have preferred it to be more on the rare side. You already know my stance on the crab legs. The tandori chicken was forgettable (bad thing for Indian food). The desserts were pretty poor too (I will give them a pass on the ice cream/gelato/sorbet)

The whole experience made me think about the buffets on cruise ships. Cruise ship buffets can be hit or miss, but there is always something tasty to eat. I once read that the food budget for one of the mass market cruise lines is around $7 per person per day (pastries, breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Considering I just forked over $35 for this meal, I was even more depressed (I know it was resort credit, but I could have eaten at another venue for that credit).

Don't get me started on the service. All I can say is that I felt like I was an annoyance to the server. Cmon people, smiles are free and they go a long way!

Not the worst strip buffet (that goes to the Riviera), but not too far off.

So...if you are thinking about it...don't. If you absolutely need to do a buffet, try somewhere else. This is an expensive way to feel not hungry!
Student:
2 stars