Wicked Spoon Buffet at The Cosmopolitan - a review

Chicken Adobo taco (in bowl), Pecan Swirl French Toast, Moroccan Rice Salad, Antipasti and Asparagus

Bacon & Spinach Quiche (top), Mac-and-cheese (left), Eggs Benedict (right), California rolls

The Wicked Spoon Buffet at The Cosmopolitan is one of the newest buffets on the Las Vegas Strip.  It's in the lower mid-price range of all the buffets on the Strip, with the Imperial Palace's Emperor's Buffet being the lowest at about $12 per person and the popular, Sunday-only Jasmine Brunch at the Bellagio starting at $55 before drinks on the higher end.  (For the record, Bally's Sunday Sterling Brunch is the highest priced at $78 per person, but they automatically include champagne with the price of every brunch buffet, so I think their price is on-par with the Jasmine Brunch.)

I was really looking forward to trying this buffet because I took it off of my “to do” list in July.   On that trip I ended up grossly overeating every day when I booked too many restaurants in my plans.  On this day Hayley and I were properly hungry, but not starving, so I personally was ready to try some new dishes and was looking forward to sampling lots of new things.  

There are two services available at this buffet:  brunch is served from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. daily, with a full selection of breakfast and lunch dishes, and dinner is served from 5:00 p.m. - 10 p.m. daily with dinner entrees.  There was no line just before 10 a.m., and we were seated and choosing our first dishes in less than 5 minutes. 

The Wicked Spoon buffet area itself is very pretty and modern, with lots of seating and great artistic touches everywhere.  The food items are laid out by region (Italy, Morocco, etc.) as well as by separate breakfast and lunch selections across the back of the buffet, so there’s no winding around to find something hidden somewhere.  I was very happy that the brunch seating included equal offerings of breakfast and lunch items because I hate to have more choices of one than the other, but that's a personal preference for me when it comes to buffets.  

Here are some of the selections we tried: 

Bacon, tomato and cheese omelet - Hayley ordered from the omelet chef.  The eggs were perfectly cooked and the omelet was a nice size, but maybe a little too much for a buffet.

Buttermilk pancakes - Served with lots of maple syrup, these were light and fluffy.  Hayley said she could've eaten a couple of stacks, but she was saving room for other things, too.

Pecan Swirl French toast - This was my favorite breakfast item of the day.  They were delicious, fluffy, warm, filled with nuts and slightly caramelized.  Add on the hot maple syrup and it was a very good way to start the day.  

Bacon and spinach quiche - Light and perfectly cooked, the quiche was topped with chives and a bit of mozzarella cheese, leaving yummy strings of cheese trailing when you took a bite.  The pieces of bacon were big enough to pick out but small enough to keep you from having to cut them up.  I wanted seconds.  

Eggs Benedict - Served in its own little silver pot, it was a very pretty presentation, but not a good item on this day.  Eggs Benedict is one of my very favorite breakfast items, so I try to enjoy them whenever I can.  These, however, were not good.  The egg whites were underdone, to the point of the egg being jelly-like and quite raw,  and the English muffin was too tough to cut with a fork, a knife, or both, so I ended up putting that aside.

California rolls - Fresh and bite-sized, these were really good and I sampled a couple of them because I'm too cheap to order sushi at a restaurant.  They had a nice selection of sushi available, but I don't get too adventurous when it comes to sushi, so I just admired most of it for its pretty presentation.

Moroccan rice salad - I put it down after one bite.  It was way too sweet for my taste.  Yes, it had raisins in it, but it was too sugary and not flavorful at all.  It was a very overpowering sweetness for a rice dish that was NOT a pudding.  

Mac-and-cheese - Also served in small, silver pots, these were good but very dense and almost overly cheesy, so it was hard to eat more than a couple of bites without feeling too full.  Definitely a comfort food, but I would've needed a nap after eating the whole serving.

Chicken Adobo taco - A nice, light, bite-sized treat in a tiny corn tortilla.  They added too many onions to the taco so it overpowered the chicken, but I ended up taking the onions off so that I could enjoy the flavor of the chicken, instead.

Chocolate-covered strawberries - Hayley was disappointed in these because they added nuts to their topping, and she hates nuts.  Who puts nuts on chocolate-covered strawberries?  

Pizza - We were both disappointed by their limited pizza selection to even try a single slice; they only had plain pepperoni and sausage pizza slices available on this particular day.  I was expecting more varieties of pizza, I guess, especially for a big, nice buffet.  No white pizza selections were available, either (the "sauceless" pizzas, with extra cheeses instead of marinara).

Asparagus - These were served crisp and slightly blanched, but they put lemon on them before serving them.  I prefer my asparagus with just a bit of salt, no lemon, so that's probably just a personal choice.

Mint and chocolate chip gelatos - Hayley said they had several different flavors available, but chocolate or chocolate chip is usually a safe bet in any case.  Theirs was nice and creamy, but the mint was especially delicious.  Maybe it's just a favorite of mine and I'm biased - who knows?

Chocolate-covered marshmallows on a stick - Not much to mess up here.  The marshmallows are covered in dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, so they aren't as super-sweet as you'd expect.  A bite-sized treat that's a great end to a buffet.

Chocolate-orange mousse - A surprising little layered treat in a clear cup, this tiny mousse was surprisingly light and not overpowering with orange flavor.  Hayley debated getting a second one, but decided FULL was a good stopping point.

Overall, we were just not happy or impressed with most of the lunch selections we sampled, which is a shame.  The breakfast items and dessert selections were fine, but we just weren't WOW'ed by the whole experience, so I'd give the whole buffet a 6 out of 10 rating.  There are so many other great buffets in Las Vegas that I don't think I'll be going back to this one anytime soon.  I still think that Wynn and Bellagio have the best buffets on the Strip.

The Wicked Spoon Buffet is $22 per person and includes coffee, tea, and soft drinks.  Alcoholic drinks are available at an additional cost.