Thank You, M Resort

Once again I’ve been favored by a hotel in Las Vegas; this time it’s the M Resort ‘way out there at the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard (“The Strip”). I’ve talked about this place before, it’s beautiful and it’s really not that long a drive. Just head down the Strip, pass Mandalay, pass the outlet mall on the left, pass South Point Hotel & Casino on the right, and look in the distance … you’ll see a hotel out there. That’s the one.

So I open my mail one day in June and saw what they were offering: A $10 credit on their machines, 10x points on certain days, and two free buffet meals at Studio B in the casino. Quite coincidentally, I was planning to do a Vegas trip at the end of August, and the days of the slot promotion and free buffet coincided with a special offer I got from the Monte Carlo Hotel on the Strip.

That Monte Carlo offer, by the way, was for three free days. I’m here for five days but only am paying for two … at a very low price of $35 a day (I think that’s what it was).

Anyway, I digress. As soon as I arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday (7:15 arrival), I picked up my bags, rented a car, and drove out to M Resort. I had a 30-minute wait before Studio B opened, so I sat down at the video poker machine with my $10 free play. By the time I saw a few people standing in the buffet line, I quit … $29 ahead of the game.

The Sunday Seafood Buffet ($39.99 a person) is excellent and huge. There are hundreds of dishes to choose from, all of them prepared excellently. As usual when eating at a buffet, I went theme – a few items on the plate, from 4 to 5 plates, not stuffing myself, certainly not eating until I’m ready to pass out.

Here … I’ll share a picture of the first plate: the salad plate.

I wasn’t much into seafood that day, but I did eat a couple of oysters, an unusual offering for a buffet. The salad plate was followed by the custom omelet and breakfast meats plate, the beef short ribs and barbecued pork ribs and lamb ribs plate, the other hot items plate, and finally the dessert plate. I’ve already written about Studio B in my restaurant blog, so I decided not to rehash it here (or there, for that matter).

The décor is certainly food-worthy, along the wall above the food preparation and hot trays is an array of video screens, with Cooking Channel programs presented in living color.

See that? That’s Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. To be truthful, I had to look up her name because although I’ve bumped into the program occasionally on The Cooking Channel, I don’t watch her regularly. Before her show started, they were showing Paula Deen’s son Jamie’s program. I don’t watch them either, and okay, I admit I had to look up his name.

But hey, can’t complain … it was free. Oh, and the waiter tip and hotel parking tip? Compliments of M Resort and the money I won playing video poker that they staked for me.

Life is always good, but sometimes, life is gooder than usual.