Chef's Stage Buffet

Reviews

• ★★★½☆ Sauerkraut Latke Pork Schnitzel Spaetzel Currywurst Visited Oct 17, 2015

  German Buffet At The Casino For Octoberfest

  It was October when I stopped at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and decided to see what they had available to eat. While looking around, I noticed they had a buffet in the building, and when I reached the entrance, saw a whiteboard advertising an Oktoberfest-themed buffet. That caught my attention, and I decided to give it a try.
  
  I was a little skeptical about German food at a casino buffet, so I kept my first trip through the buffet line fairly conservative. The plate in the photo is actually my first pass, since I wanted to try a few things before committing to larger portions.
  
  I picked up some currywurst, the sausage served in a red sauce, sauerkraut, a potato pancake, pork schnitzel, and a small portion of spaetzle.
  
  Unfortunately, my initial skepticism turned out to be well justified.
  
  The schnitzel was okay, but was barely recognizable as schnitzel. It was dry and lacked much flavor, and there weren't any of the traditional sauces I would have liked to see, such as a mushroom-based Jäger gravy or a paprika-style sauce.
  
  The sauerkraut was also disappointing. The flavor was very muted, almost as if much of the bitter and sweet flavor had been cooked out of it, it just didn't have much flavor at all.
  
  The potato pancake was another letdown. It was floppy and chewy rather than crispy, and without the traditional accompaniments like applesauce or sour cream, it ended up tasting more like a chewy hash brown than the potato pancake I was expecting.
  
  The spaetzle was probably the blandest item on the plate. It was extremely mild and tasted more like plain noodles .
  
  The currywurst while probably the most flavorful thing I tried, wasn't something I went back for. The flavor simply didn't appeal to me very much.
  
  I left the buffet disappointed. I went in knowing that a casino buffet might only offer a mediocre interpretation of German food, but I’m always willing to give a place the benefit of the doubt. You never know whos running a kitchen, it could have been someone with German background.
  
  But unfortunately, that wasn't the case on this visit. The Oktoberfest theme sounded promising, but the food left me unsatisfied overall.

  — Paul