Planet Hollywood's Spice Market Buffet - a review

During my April 2010 trip I finally got the chance to try Planet Hollywood's Spice Market Buffet. I tried it as part of HET's 24-hour "Buffet of Buffet" pass, and I'll have to admit I was more than a bit disappointed in it. I have a feeling, though, that I'll be back to try it again at a future date because a lot of things were not going well that day: I'd been on my feet almost non-stop since early in the morning, I wasn't feeling very well in general, and they were still working out the kinks for the "Buffet of Buffet" passes and how they'd work for their guests. The 24-hour pass had only been in existence for a couple of weeks before I arrived for this trip, and I consider that brand-new.

I came directly from CityCenter - where I'd been lost inside of Crystals shopping area for almost an hour - and I was really already dead on my feet. That's not a good start for reviewing ANY buffet, so I don't know that this will be fair as most people really like this buffet and it's huge selection. My intent was to just sample some unusual items on the buffet so I could say I’d finally tried it. I was pleased that there was no line, and the cashier said I could either get a wristband or just put the buffet info on my HET card and swipe it every time I wanted to use it during the 24-hour period. I chose the card option because I don’t really care for wristbands, and I just had to present my HET card and ID when I went for subsequent meals.

The Spice Market Buffet offers its lunch menu until 3:30 p.m., and I was severely disappointed that most of the dishes were empty at 2:20. Really? The buffet wasn’t crowded, and they still had over an hour to serve people on the lunch menu. I went back and looked at a few of the options again a few minutes later, but the few people who were in the buffet had descended upon the food as soon as it was placed in the warmers and they were empty again. They definitely need to work on replenishing the food selections in a very timely manner given the popularity of some of their exotic seafood dishes; if you know it's going to be a popular selection, make more of it for your guests.

In the end, I tried a delicious shrimp and pasta dish in a thick cream sauce, some buffalo shrimp that was way too vinegar-y and not very good at all, an antipasta salad that was okay but really needed more seasoning, and I ended with a freshly prepared Bananas Foster crepe for dessert that was absolutely awesome. I wish I'd gone back for seconds there!

There were so many other dishes I would've liked to have sampled based on their descriptive labels, but they were never available. I'm definitely beginning to think that popular buffets such as these should start to pre-portion their offerings into smaller dishes so that people can take a SMALL portion instead of grabbing everything on the warming table and not allowing anyone else the opportunity to even get a BITE - there are many other buffets that do this very well. As a rule, I take a small sample size of everything because I know I can always go back and get more, and I prefer to sample, not gobble. I always say "You can always get more, but you can't get less." I wish more people would take this approach to buffets!

I was suddenly glad I wasn’t paying $18.99 for one lunch, to be sure. Harrah’s Flavors Buffet is still the best of the HET buffets I’ve tried, and that's where I'm setting my standard for HET's "Buffet of Buffets" after trying 4 of the 7 available (Harrah's, Flamingo, Planet Hollywood and Imperial Palace being the ones I've tried so far). When compared to Bellagio or Wynn, though, Harrah's is definitely rated a very low third when it comes to my favorite Strip buffets so far. I can't imagine any other buffet on the Strip getting near Bellagio or Wynn when it comes to quality, selection and service.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood at a poorly showing 5 (barely) based on this visit. There was so much to improve on. My waitress was very attentive, though, and I'm hoping that the good personal service I got is indicative of the food service and selection I should've gotten. Next time...