You are given a review about a place. You need to provide a rating from "1 star" to "5 stars" for this place.

I've wanted to try this place ever since my friend told me that the meat quality is really good. She said ever since she had this place, she can't really go to the cheaper places like Tofu Hut. This place closed down for a little bit because of the fire.

I got the chance to go the other day. We ordered beef ribeye, beef brisket, beef tongue, pork belly, pork neck, large intestines, and kalbi. It might be because I don't have refined tastes, but I didn't taste any difference in meat quality. They did have more meat variety than other places usually do. I did like the beef ribeye. It was really flavorful. The saving grace was the kalbi. You are only allowed 2 pieces per person. It did taste amazing. The pieces were huge. We first ordered 6, but the waitress said 3 for now. We were like... uh what, but we'll go with it. We understood once we got them. They were huge pieces. It was delicious, and the meat was so soft and tender. The only downside is that it's sweet. I wish they had a non marinated version. A friend said that at Gen in California has both marinated and non marinated.

This place was decent, but I wouldn't agree that it's worth it for the price. I'd always wanted to try it, so it is good experience.

A perk is that they do have side dishes like soup, steamed egg, and topoki.

Side note, after cooking our meats, the server tried to clean our pan with a napkin, and ended up ruining our cooking area because there was tissue residue. They changed our pans twice which was just unnecessary. It was nice, but I felt bad that they just kept trying to change the plate. In their side dishes, they included 4 slices of radish, and when we asked for more they only put 4 more. Service was just mediocre.
3 stars

Sushi 101 is THE BEST. I was referred here by over 10 people. I finally tried it and now I'm addicted. Tuna is so fresh. Everything is fresh. Cajun egg rolls are yummy. $2 kabobs delicious. And, the fried rice is amazing. Love this place.
5 stars

This may be a buffet for folks who, like my hubby and me, dislike buffets - for the excess they encourage, for the wasted food, for the lines and carnivore centric formats. This may be a buffet for folks who prefer small plates formats and who like to have interesting vegetarian, even vegan, options in the mix.

What we found when we tried Wicked Spoon during a June trip to Las Vegas, was it worked for us for a one time stop. Whether we'll go back or not on another visit, can't say because overall there are things about buffets that give us heartburn, no matter how good the quality of the food. (If you want to know what that is, jump to end of review.)

But we're glad we tried Wicked Spoon once to see what all the buzz was about. Overall we think it lived up to its Yelp billing. Here's our summary assessment.

Service: 5
Ambiance (as buffets go): 5
Food (as buffets go): 4
Value (as the Las Vegas Strip goes): 4

Here's what we enjoyed when we went for brunch on a weekday. (Breakfast / brunch / lunch format goes from morning opening to sometime in later afternoon when it transitions to dinner.)

SERVICE: Ultra friendly, as with almost all service in The Cosmopolitan. Top notch. From check in to purchase your pass to seating at the table, to the folks at the food stations.

AMBIANCE: Not your normal buffet setting for seating ambiance. See photos. In particular when in The Cosmopolitan anywhere in the facility look up! The lighting fixtures are diverse and interesting throughout. Including here.

VALUE: The cost is higher than many others in Las Vegas. For those who want to chow down on the $14.99 breakfast buffet at Flamingo (where our relatives were on this morning), the idea of $22 and change (brunch / $30+ for dinner) for a buffet at The Cosmopolitan may seem too much to consider. From our view, you get what you pay for in food quality and options.

LIMITED CROWDS IF YOU TIME IT RIGHT: There was a good sized line on the Monday morning when we first went. So we skipped it and went back at about 10:30 am on Tuesday and walked right in. Our advice - time it to skip the lines...because if they're not there at check in, they won't be there for the food service either!

UNIQUE FOOD: As much as this has small plate formats for some of the items, served in little covered casseroles, there are also open service bins for some things. But somehow the quantities in them suggest fresher food and less "come on up to the trough to gorge yourself" consumption. There is also a large carving station for those who enjoy roasted meat proteins. On the morning of our visit it seemed to include things like ham, pork belly, prime rib and so on.

The set up for the various food stations was as if visiting different continents or countries.

There were standard offerings too, like pancakes and omelets for the breakfast service, but we leaned to the unusual, which is our tendency.

Things we tried and enjoyed were...
...spicy tofu with red curry vegetables from the Asian / SE Asian section,
...creamy polenta with wild mushrooms from the Italian / Mediterranean section,
...the very best item of the day, a cauliflower puree with clementines and roasted cauliflower on top (we had seconds!),
...plump Medjool dates with feta,
...refreshing watermelon salad with cilantro and cucumber.
...wicked good watermelon gazpacho,
...beautiful fresh raspberries and blueberries.

The dessert bar, which was huge, included hundreds of petite sized pastries and also a gelato station. This was the disappointment for us. Although we liked the tiny sizes (like 2" for pastries and maybe 2 oz for containers of panna cotta) the flavors in the fruit tart, the meyer lemon panna cotta and lavender macaron we tried weren't stellar.

BEVERAGES: Too funny that the brunch service is offered with a complimentary Mimosa, glass of champagne, or Bloody Mary but one has to pay for coffee. (Pretty decent coffee it is too.)

WHY BUFFETS GIVE US INDIGESTION: Even at buffets like this, formatted to encourage reasonable consumption, some folks just can't break themselves of the practice of heaping plates with food and leaving half behind to go get another heaping plate to leave half behind. Different strokes for different folks, but this is why buffets, even pretty good ones like this, tend not to be our thing. I'd like to hand out a copy of Mr. Bloom's book: American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food... Wet blanket that I am.
4 stars