The Sterling Brunch at Bally’s has taken on somewhat legendary status. An all-you-can-eat Buffet Featuring only the best dishes, such as Fillet Steak, Prime Rib King Crab Legs, and of course Bottomless Lobster all washed down with unlimited Champagne it’s not hard o see why it is appealing. However, it does not come cheap. In fact, for a single meal, the price is simply Eye-Watering.
So we needed to know if this was an expensive tourist trap or a one-off treat that justifies the exorbitant cost. In order to find out and bring you the BEST Sterling Brunch At Bally’s Review we could produce we did the only thing, we could. We grabbed some reservations and headed over with empty stomachs ready to try everything we could manage to ram down. The length we have to go to for you! So let’s find out if the Sterling Brunch is Worth it?
Sterling Brunch – Closed
The Brunch is now permanently Closed. The initial closure was due to Covid, However, Bally’s Rebranded as the Horseshoe and Decided a Luxury Brunch Buffet was not in fitting with the Re-Brand, and the Brunch is now gone forever.
This brings tears to our eyes!
Sterling Brunch Reservations
The Brunch is only available on Sundays and has limited availability and they have no issue filling up the restaurant week in week out. In fact, it can be incredibly difficult to get reservations at all. With two months to go before our trip, we decided to get on it and grab our reservations. This proved problematic as with even two months’ notice at the low season it was completely booked up! Damn.
Our advice, Stop reading this, go here and get your reservations NOW! Even if you are not sure you want to visit, if it’s a possible option just get the reservation then come back and read our review, if it’s not for you you can always just cancel the reservation, it’s through OpenTable so there is no penalty for canceling.
Ok, you got reservations? Great move on to the next section of our review. But if you were too late and missed out, don’t despair too much. We were too late as well but we still ate there on our chosen day!
You have three options now. The first is to Email Customer services, we tried the Group Booking contact lvcitywiderestaurantgroupsales@caesars.com but they were unable to help. You could also try giving the restaurant a call (702) 967-7258. But the problem with these two methods is if they are fully booked there is not much they can do, but they have a little more flexibility than OpenTable and might squeeze you in.
The Second option is Tenacity! People’s plans change, and they can, do, and WILL cancel their booking via OpenTable. So you need to check back. Regularly, over and over for as long as it takes right up to the day before, just keep checking and maybe a slot will open up. This was our next tactic to getting in and it worked a treat. With a week or so to go a 1:15 pm reservation popped up and was instantly booked by us! Perfect!
If you are still unlucky and couldn’t bag a spot then there is still one last chance. This should work but is by no means guaranteed and will require a wait. Just rock up and get on the reserve list. The earlier you get there the better but even then expect a long wait, possibly an hour or two, but they do try and get people in when possible. Be careful though as you are free to wait in the casino …and this could get pricey.
With this popularity, it’s clear this Brunch is something special. So let’s take a look at what you can expect to find on the menu.
The Sterling Brunch Menu
The Menu is very limited for a buffet, but this is because they leave off the filler and only provide the high-end items. It really is a fantastic offering.
The First Course is served at the Table and is an Amazing Gruyere Cheese Pop-Over. A Highly risen baked bread puff. We know them as Yorkshire Puddings although our version is not usually cheese flavored, although they may be from now on. While these are fantastic, the breadiness feels too filling when there is so much to get through, but they were great to nibble on.
These were served with the first glass of Champagne or if you prefer as a mimosa. We took it straight.
Seafood takes a big part of the menu and seafood lovers will be very happy, Fresh Shucked Oysters, Jumbo Shrimp, Stone Crab Claws, Smoked Salmon, and Caviar along with a fantastic Sushi Station with Fresh Tuna Salmon and eel in various forms serve with Japanese Sake.
The Hot Seafood is top-notch with endless Alaskan King Crab Legs (no Snow Crab here!) and of course, the CharBroiled Lobster Tails served with Drawn Butter.
The Carving Station features Rack Of Lamb, Prime Rib of Beef, and Hoey roast Ham, although the precise meats do change, it is always a Fine-cut of Lamb, Beef, and Pork.
As this is brunch there is also a selection of breakfast items such as sausage Bacon and a fresh omelet station. really with so much top-end food on offer we steered away from these as you can find these at any Buffet.
Like other high-end buffets, there is a selection of mini dishes pre-made in small servings these alternate on different weeks but we got the Lobster Ravioli and Lobster Eggs Benedict. The sides are pretty disappointing with only a selection of Truffle Mash, Fingerling Potatoes, and Asparagus. But in all honesty, who wants sides when the main event is so special. There is also a cheese charcuterie but again this is not really why we were there.
Dessert comes in the form of mini French Patisseries, which vary from delicious to mind-blowingly so. There are selections of fruit jellies and Chocolate popsicles and Giant Chocolate Covered Strawberries. It’s all quite light and just a sweet touch. Which is handy as by the time you are on dessert there will be a lot of lobster and steak in your belly! The other Dessert Item is the Banana Bread pudding…more on that later.
The Sterling Brunch Price
There is one big issue with the sterling brunch. It is by far the most expensive Buffet in Las Vegas, almost twice the cost of even the Bacchanal. But exactly how much is it? Well, it is hard to say as the pricing is not fixed and fluctuates depending on demand. But it’s always over $100 per person!
Our Bill, for the two of us, came to a whopping $315.63 including Tip! We didn’t order anything extra over the standard buffet. So yeah it needs to be pretty special to justify the Price tag of $135 EACH!
What is the Sterling Brunch like?
Service
On Arrival, we had a short wait but this was only 5mins and we were then seated. We were pretty much the last seating so we were worried there would be food running out and a rush to get us out of the restaurant. This was never the case at all, we had everything our hearts desired and left only when completely stuffed and a little squiffy!
The service was fantastic. Plates were cleared nearly instantly, Our Waiter gave us several recommendations on things we might not have tried otherwise which turned out to be fabulous. The Style was friendly but professional, which is exactly how we like it. No rude stuffy waiter just a helpful, friendly, guy doing his job perfectly.
Food
The food was absolutely stunning. Everything we tried was perfect. This was not Buffet Food in any way. The Fillet Steak was perfectly cooked to medium-rare and was pink the whole way through. There were endless King Crab Legs and they were fantastic. Until you have Real King Crab it’s harder to see how poor the Snow crab legs you find at most buffets are. These are thick and filled with chunky sweet meat.
The Cold seafood was also fantastic. Confession here, I will not eat Oysters at a buffet. One look and I can already feel the food poisoning. Oysters need to be freshly shucked and eaten straight away, not left out dead for an indeterminate amount of time. Here had the look, smell, and taste of being truly fresh and as such, I was happy to eat them. The Shrimp were Big, Juicy, and Plump. The addition of Endless Stone Crab Claws is a big deal. Overlooked by most but all I could think of was how much these go for at Joe’s Stone Crab! The Caviar was a nice touch of indulgence as well.
The Sushi Station comes in for a bit of a bashing and we have seen this in some poor states, but for us it was excellent. The Tuna was really fresh and served as Nigiri, but admittedly it was running out a little by the time we got there, the only thing that was! The California rolls were well made and there was a good choice of fish, Salmon Shrimp and we think Eel! There were all the required accouterments and even a nice glass of Sake! We definitely enjoyed our Sushi Course.
On to our main course. We Started at the Obvious. Fillet Steak and Lobster, with the Fingerling Potatoes. We already mentioned the perfect Steak, but the potatoes were annoyingly delicious. There were clearly taking up space in my stomach but I couldn’t stop eating them. The lobster is just awesome. The Tails are Large Plump and perfectly cooked so they are still tender and juicy. We have had such disappointing Lobster buffets in the past. It really was hard to accept there were as many of these Plump juicy tails as we wanted!
The Carving Station was too tempting to ignore so we tried some of the lamb and a little prime rib, both perfect. And on the side this time we went for…well another lobster…because we could! By now room was running out and we just had a little space for dessert. And some more Champagne.
Drinks
Minutes after being seated we were served our first glass of champagne. From this point on our glass never got more than a quarter empty. when every it did it was refilled. We never once asked or requested this, just as soon as it was spotted it was low it was refilled. This continued until we actually had to say to the waiter not to, over 1hr30mins after arriving. The Champagne was real French Champagne not some Californian knockoff and was decent quality. We are used to cheap Franch Champagne at home as there is no import tax in the UK so can readily get it from supermarkets for $10-15 a bottle. But this was a top-shelf bottle and would be more in the range of $40+ and probably a lot more in US Supermarkets. And would sell for around $100 a bottle in a restaurant (BLT Steak, sell it for $19 a glass at dinner)!
We counted our Glasses and by the end had quaffed over 8 glasses each, and we could easily have continued if we were not so …er drunk! That is getting on for three bottles! This helps take a huge chunk out of the price.
Dessert
There are two desserts on offer really, the dessert station and the Banna Bread Pudding. The dessert station is an array of small french patisseries. These are perfect as they are a mere bite or two and when stuffed with lobster and steak this does the trick. There are delicate Fruit Jellies, tantalizing Chocolate popsicles, and huge chocolate-covered strawberries. It really was the perfect sweet treat.
On to the Banana bread pudding…We were advised by the waiter to try this and sure it looked good but come’ on we have a buffet of steak and lobster you want us to fill up on bread pudding! So after gorging on the many delights on offer we thought we could give it a little try, just share a piece. It was utterly, mind-blowingly awesome! It seems to be french toast covered in Caramel Banana’s then baked till the edges are crispy. It is hard to explain how utterly perfect it is. The layers pull apart and it is far lighter than it looks, the crispy caramel edges of the bread are possibly the most delicious part of any dish I have tasted. I had no idea where I was putting this but could not stop eating and both of us cursing ourselves for not listening to the waiter sooner!
Is the Sterling Brunch Worth It?
So here it is the million-dollar question, or the $315.63 Question to be precise! Is it Worth it? In all honesty, it’s hard to see how they could charge much less. They apparently tear through 300lb’s of lobster, 300lbs of King Crab, 400 Bottles of Champagne, and similar quantities of the other foods. It is a staggering achievement and that is going to cost money. The amount of food and drink we consumed would have set us back 3 maybe 4 times the price we paid if we had eaten Ala Carte at a restaurant. The nearly 3 bottles of Champagne we drank would have almost done it!
But that’s the thing, we would NEVER have done that in a restaurant. We plundered and indulged precisely because there were no limits. It was never a case of trying to get our money’s worth but when there is a pile of 40+ Plump lobster tails sitting in front of you, it’s hard to say no, when your Champagne glass is automatically refilled, you just keep going.
In this respect, it is equally worth it. It’s an experience like no other. You are able to eat as you imagine a billionaire can eat. Faced with the finest selection of foods money can buy and you can just tear in with abandon. This sort of experience is always going to be expensive.
However, it is still an awful lot of money for a meal, especially a buffet. It can only be for us a once in a lifetime (unless those lottery numbers come up!) experience. If you are in Vegas on a Bucket list trip and want the most amazing and special meal we wholeheartedly recommend it. But at $315 it is a huge outlay for one meal. The same could buy you 3/4 or even 5 times as many meals at the cheaper buffets. Is it 3x the Bachhanel? It is 5x as great as the Mirage Buffet? We do Struggle to say so!
Then there is the Type of Restaraunt you could eat at for a similar cost. We are talking Nobu or Joël Robuchon (a 3 Star Michelin Restaurant) And does the Sterling brunch really live up to those types of restaurants. No, it’s not even close, but it’s also VERY different.
The thing that makes the Sterling Buffet different is its truly Vegas Feel. The level of indulgence would only work here, whereas, Nobu was a bit of a letdown in Vegas, not the food, but the general feel of the place, buried in the guts of Ceasars. It’s a far cry from Malibu. Every big city in the world has its selection of ultra-high-end restaurants but only Vegas has this type of experience.
If you are going for Gourmet Perfection you will be disappointed, Head to one of Vegas’s many fine-dining restaurants. But if an expression of pure indulgent gluttony is what you are after, and that is Vegas down to a tee, then the Sterling Brunch is the place to go. The cost did sting a bit, and rationalizing the cost of 3 bottles of champagne, 5 Lobsters and two Fillet Steaks didn’t really help. But putting it down to a wonderful once in a lifetime experience, one to tick off the list, made it worth it in our eyes, just about. Certainly, when you compare it to throwing $100 in a slot machine for 10 mins of disappointment, it seems like GREAT value.
Another possible problem is your personal tastes. If Seafood is not high on your loved food items it might be hard to get value here, yes the Carving Stations are excellent, best in Vegas, but carved meat is still really good at other much cheaper buffets. And again if you are not big drinkers the free-flowing Champagne will offer little value.
Have Your Say
Have you tried the Sterling Brunch at Bally’s? What did you make of it? Was it worth it to you or was it just a bit too steep? What Dishes did you like best and of course How Good is that Banana Bread Pudding! Let s know in the comments below if you have anything to say or if you have any questions at all about this stunning buffet.