Cravings at The Mirage is the first buffet in Las Vegas history to give itself a name. That’s because Cravings is more restaurant than buffet. Yes, you still walk around and gather up your meal, but now you gather herbed risotto instead of rice pilaf; exotic hot and sour soup instead of cream of broccoli; gelato instead of jello; kung pao shrimp instead of fish sticks; eggplant rollotini instead of spaghetti and meatballs; and grilled vegetable focaccia sandwiches instead of…no grilled vegetable focaccia sandwiches.

As you walk the terrazzo floors inlaid with onyx, notice the red and orange resin tabletops, gaze at the metal ceiling imported from France, and admire the contemporary designed glassware and attentive service, you also start to believe that Cravings is more restaurant than buffet.

“Our first direction when we decided to renovate the buffet was to redefine what a buffet should be and redefine how it should look,” said Bart Mahoney, Vice President of Food and Beverage at The Mirage. “We asked designer Adam Tihany to marry the elements of dining and design so that customers would have the ultimate buffet experience.”

As guests enter, there are 18 flat-screen color televisions displaying food and drink preparation. Once inside, diners notice there are no steam tables since almost all foods are cooked to order. Fresh and packaged produce and other ingredients identify each kitchen area: pizza and pasta, Latin, carving, rotisserie, American, noodle kitchen, sushi bar, Asian, deli, salad, and desserts. Cravings is a marketplace of food and color with a large dining area in the center that resembles a village square.