Painted Parrot Buffet

This buffet was terrible! There was not one thing I liked — including the Ranch dressing for the salad.

Being that I live in the area I have been to buffalo thunder on a few occasions. I have eaten at the restaurants inside the casino and never had complaints. This was until Thursday December 31, 2015. My parents, fiancée and I went to buffalo thunder to attend a new years eve concert which was a very good show I might add. We figured that it would be best to eat at the casino instead of eating elsewhere. We decided on the painted parrot buffet being that the menu for that night was prime rib and seafood. We arrived at 715 but we’re forced to wait longer in line being that the cashier didn’t have change for the customer in front of us. We finally got seated at 730 after paying 24 95 per person for the prime rib dinner. While going through the buffet, there was no prime rib and a limited amount of seafood. Another customer asked for prime rib to which the chefs rudely replied that they were out of prime rib. Later in the evening, they put «short prime rib» on the grill. It seemed to be only seared on each side and not cooked completely. When my dad and fiancée got their piece of short prime rib, the meat was severely rare and cold in the middle. My fiancée who enjoys rare steak was even repulsed by the appearance of the meat. On top of this, the wait staff only came once to refill out beverages. I understand that we were there close to closing time, however it seemed that customer service was the least of their concerns. Bring that there were numerous events going on at the casino, one would think that the buffet would be prepared for the influx of people. However, they were not. I don’t feel that we will be going back to the painted parrot.

This was the worst part of our trip. Save your money… the food was awful. We left our plates full. I have not one good thing to say about this place. We expected so much more out of a buffet at Buffalo thunder.

This buffet has great food. Really one of the best casino buffets I’ve ever been to. Why not 5 stars, then? I got violently ill for three days after eating there from the nurovirus. Now, I can’t say for sure that it was from this buffet, but chances are pretty good.
This is my parents favorite, so they will probably be dragging me there a few more times.
Still, the food was really tasty before I spent 3 days on the toilet shooting it back out both ends! Buffalo thunder, indeed!

The quality of food varies tremendously which is why I suspect one see’s both good and bad reviews. I’d actually give this a 3.5 star if you select properly. My wife and I ate there because we got a voucher for a massage (awesome) then dinner. It’s a huge buffet and the quality of the offerings range from pretty disgusting to rather good. There are 5 or 6 stations and the night we went, the ‘theme’ was international. Chile Fest with local favorites was part of the offering. Being that we’re in New Mexico, we found the local offerings the best. Chili (red and green) good on top of crispy Flautas. Barbacoa was really very good. Carbe adovada had no real flavor but the pork was plentiful and tender. It was as if the chef forget the spice. You can build your own taco’s and the condiments (sour cream, tomato, onions etc) were fresh. Chili relleno was a guilty pleasure in that the outside was kind of like a very crispy sopapilla. A bit much and a tad greasy, only eat one. That said, some of the food looked just awful. I took one piece of the Chinese «orange chicken» which was pretty bad. The Italian and other offerings looked horrible. Meat station had a lovely looking pork tenderloin but of course they have to cook it far too much and dry it out. Too bad, the meat itself would have been great if it wasn’t cooked to 165+. For dessert, they had these little pies (cherry, banana, mouse) and all were surprisingly good. Not over sweet, good crust and not at all artificial tasting. Bottom line, pick the right options and for the price (certainly $ 12 – 20), it’s a bargain considering it is all you can eat. Where in this area can you get a lot of pretty good Mexican and New Mexican food, a drink and dessert for that price? Pick the wrong food and you’ll be in bad shape. I agree with other reviews that some of the offerings ranged from disgusting to laughable but with 40 – 50 different options, pick half a dozen, you’ll do fine. Oh, the service was also very good.

After reading reviews panning this place I felt that I needed to say something good. I come here frequently and I enjoy the food.
Here you get what you pay for and then some. There are wide selections of items to choose from.
For the price (players discounts and 2 for 1 specials) you can’t beat it.
Keep in mind, this is a buffet… not haute cuisine.

I’m pretty sure the food here is fake. It either tastes old or has no flavor at all. Like cable TV, there are 100s of options but nothing good. I had only two good items there. One was chocolate cake, and the other was a dinner roll. I also had a desert tart that miraculously had no detectable flavor, it seemed like it was made just for show, like most of the food. Glad we had free buffets because I would never pay for this. Very bland and not impressive.

This was a buffet. The service was excellent. What a variety of food. Must do buffet.

Let me start by saying this is a buffet, but not your typical ‘Furr’s Cafeteria’, it’s a higher end buffet (typically $ 15 per person). However, they do have local deals on particular nights and spending less than $ 10 each is a steal!
The food is amazing and the variety is very good. The service was extremely good and the desserts were awesome! I will definitely be back!

It’s a buffet, it’s always hit or miss, one time everything is just okay, the next time everything is mediocre. it’s a little on the pricey side for what it is, and what you get. Like I said, it’s a buffet.