Buffet at Barona Resort & Casino

Please bring the buffet back no other buffet compares
I'll do anything Mr barona lol.

The buffet at Barona Resort & Casino was where I first heard the advice, "When you're offered 'all you can eat,' think like a shark, then eat like a whale," words of wisdom that served me well over the many years that I dined at this place.

But, sadly, since Barona's buffet is permanently closed - a victim of COVID-19 - the only notes I have are that it was good, it provided me and my family many pleasant evenings of dining and relaxation, and, importantly, the in-house butcher and bakery that stocked the buffet also serve many of Barona Resort & Casino's other restaurants. That's good for them, and good for us.

Barona's Buffet is usually so good but tonight they get an F. So unbelievable I've attached pictures.

At the Italian station my vegetarian daughter has always enjoyed a plain pasta option. So imagine the shock and disgust when the food handler picked up raw shrimp with her plastic glove. And then without changing the glove dug deep into the huge pot of pasta and pulled out a mass of freshly boiled, now raw shrimp contaminated pasta.

Ok. So let's go get salad. So filthy around the salad bar and just about everything was empty. See my pics. Returned 10 minutes later and still nothing. Corn??? Same story. Bread?? What bread?? There were just 3 little margarine left overs.

So that was a total waste is $45 on my daughters meal who had no food options.

Next I went to get fried chicken. See the picture.

Big huge disappointment all the way around.

BARF! Not because it's not good but because you'll eat too much!! Lol.

Hands down the best casino buffet in San Diego county IF you go on lobster Wednesday. You get lobster cooked many ways (steam, garlic butter, and Chinese style). So delish!! They also have a mountain of crab legs. You can ask them to steam. It was so good (but salty). The have all around the world food. Even a dim sum pho bar in the middle!! And a pasta bar too. They have Mexican, meat cutting station, stir fry station, Chinese, pho/ramen bar, dim sum, seafood, American/BBQ, huge dessert station... basically everything your heart desires. Ok... they also have some really good steam corn. We were told that is good but I laughed and tried it anyway and it was sweet and soft and tasty.

Lobster Wednesday starts around 4:30, when we came there was a line, but not too bad. When we left around 7, the line was huge. Pricey but worth it... or be a diamond player or know somebody so you can eat free. Come early if you can!

I've been to Barona twice for Lobster Wednesdays and both experiences are overall ok. Customer service isn't great. Wait times are really long, 3+ hours, but half the time if you or someone in your party is a diamond or platinum member. Variety of food offerings are typical of other buffets. Cleanliness is average. Floors are sticky. However, I will say that I enjoy their salt and pepper lobster, steamed lobster, prime rib, pasta, pho and dessert stations so it makes the rest of it somewhat worth it.

I'm sad to hear that they will no longer be offering Lobster after December 11 so we probably won't be back.

I decided to order food inside buffet area which they serve off a menu and food is normally good but last order had multiple hairs inside white rice. I bought 2 dinners and they both had hair in it. Next time I visited there was moldy fruit.

As far as casino buffets go, this place has one of the best. Unlimited raw crab legs (that you can have them cook), prime rib, oysters, and every other cuisine of food you can think of. They have a ramen area, pho, Mongolian noodles, dim sum, sushi, crepe, and desserts !

I would personally stay away from the sushi, Chinese, and Mexican spots.

Must try's: prime rib, crab legs, crepes

Dang, and I don't even eat lobster. But I was a lobster eater last night tho. So Wednesday, I recommend you come try it out. SOOOO many selections. I was such a lobster hog I didn't even get a chance to try out other dishes. They had lobster cooked, steamed and fried so many different ways I only stuffed my fat a$$ with lobster and crab.

BUT there is a super drastic unbelievable wait time lol. 3 hours! when I came they estimated it to be 3 hours but it only happened to be 2 hours. ( we only know cause we kept the buzzer/timer thing )Funny story but we saw a friend that was Diamond status meaning they get to go in a shorter line so we did away with that 2-3 hour wait and got in like in 30 mins lol! yay us. Get you some friends that like to spend money AND we got a discount pricing!

However I couldn't even believe we actually considered waiting that long and buffet pricing is at $44 I would actually wait. This is one of the best buffets I tried.

Miss you... so much! Can't believe it's closed down. This sucks. 100 buffet is disgusting and will be shut down soon.

A review comparing quality and service from now to previous years.
Unfortunately lobster night ended but thankfully that meant shorter lines despite it being the weekend before the holidays.

Service was spotty, maybe you would get a smile or maybe you would have to wave someone down for any requests. Nothing greatly interfered with our dining experiences but I remembered the staff being friendlier in previous years.

Seafood
Oysters: definitely a bad day for these boys. They didn't restock the selection during my whole stay and they probably should have looking at the quality. Can get them steamed if you ask.
Ahi tuna: tough but seasoning was great. Had potential.
Fried catfish: fun fried nugget, nothing too special but tastes great with lemon.
Fried shrimp: crispy and tasted fine on its own but Barona should work on improving the sauce options.

Rotisserie
Prime rib: by far the best dish at this buffet. Tender, juicy, medium rare. Add some au jus to keep it moist.
Mashed potatoes: creamy, well seasoned.
Baked potatoes: appealing yet the toppings were incredibly dirty and should have been cleaned up.

Mongolian
Select from five different proteins with different veggies and noodles for consistent quality. Not much has changed from previous years but this station remained all around great.

Salads
Better selection than before however, the dressing quantity could be reduced. Actually impressed with the various nuts and pre-made options. Fruit was okay, a bit disappointed watermelon was replaced with jicama. Glad they included chamoy and tajin. Sushi had little improvement. Pretty half the rolls were reiterations of the california roll and all the rolls seemed to have difficultly holding up.

Crustacean Center
Piles of different crabs and crayfish. No flavor beside saltiness. Crab legs were already conveniently opened. Ring the bell if you want your seafood to be heated up but I don't think heat would have improved the taste.

Asian Cuisine
Options were limited to many fried rolls, don't expect anything unique nor authentic. Honestly one of the weakest sections of the buffet.
Chicken feet: improved from previous years, actually sauced well.
Custard bun: nice texture with mediocre filling. Actually not a bad filler.

American BBQ
Cheese brats: nice snap, but not that cheesy. On the saltier side but surprisingly addicting.
Onion rings: crispy with good flavor.
Mac and cheese: very cheesy, mild flavor. Complimented cheese brats well.
Potato salad: woah, way too liquidity. Left bitterness in mouth.
Ribs: looked incredibly appealing but was severely disappointing. Cold despite the tray being new and the meat was thin and chewy.

Asian Noodles and Dim Sum
Great selection of noodles and probably was appealing to many individuals who haven't had exposure to noodles dishes of different cultures. However, there was a long wait to get your order and although the taste was accurate, I commend the options. Dim Sum on the other hand was limited and dry. They only had 4 options: har gow, siu mai, lotus sticky rice and pork buns. The har gow was practically brittle and tasted stale. Lotus sticky rice was more like salty fried rice--I'd change the recipe or interpretation for this dish.

Desserts
Fairly nice selection with some sugar-free options.
Creme brule: by far the best dessert. Nice caramelized top and creamy inside. However, there were inconsistencies with the caramelization so look for the best ones.
Flan: thick and flavorless. Borderline cheese.
Tiramisu: more like layered tiramisu flavors with lots of cream. Not too bad but don't expect the original dessert.
Bread pudding: bread was incredibly, soft and cinnamony. The white sauce was so bland, I'd skip it all together.
Ice cream: great way to end the meal but I do wish they expanded selection. Four flavors just wasn't enough.

There were other options but we avoided them due to precious stomach space (pasta station) or seeming poor quality (Mexican and tamalitos). There was also a crepe station but they didn't seem prepared by 4PM. Overall the selection is reasonable if you're a member and you received discounts from the original $44.99 price tag; however, I do think the quality overall needs to be improved. Certain dishes would have been way better had they been restocked and cleaned up. This was incredibly apparent with the Mexican station, some of the rotisserie dishes and the majority of the sides offered. While the selection has improved, some stations have drastically declined in quality and so has the service. Fun side experience if you gamble but not worth coming back otherwise.