Whoever said the best things in life are free needs to have a firm talking to after the wife and I had dined here..I won a comp through MyVegas and I admit with mixed reviews I wanted to give this buffet a shot since it's Aria and all, but WOW did I ever regret that!\n\nMy overall opinion for the variety of food offered was hopeful at first, but disappointed as I walked around to scope things out. It does have your customary dessert area, asian area, mexican area, salad area, a tandoor area, and carving area. At one point I saw Area 51, but that was the only thing out of this world here unfortunately!\n\nThe food itself missed many marks as it was to the point where I only had 1 plate and refused to go back for anything further..I tried a vegetable egg roll, pineapple sausage,  and orange chicken from the Asian station. I did find the egg roll to be cooked quite well and not too crispy like it was swimming in a day pool of grease. The orange chicken was hit or miss piece to piece. I had some that were soft and flavorful and a majority that well were more geared towards being a jawbreaker than a delight of the orient.\n\nMy highlight of the meal was the prime rib from the carving station, but that didn't totally \""meat\"" the mark (pardon the pun)..The gentleman who manned the station was very pleasant and did seem to take to me being respectful as a rarity which made me wonder how people are normally..I give kudos to him and certainly people deserve to be treated as equals..THAT could be a whole other review in itself..The prime rib itself was very tender, BUT it did lack quite a bit of flavor..I drenched it in au jus, but still some bold flavor would've been appreciated\n\nAnother notable was the peel and eat shrimp and steamed snow crab..The shrimp itself was a high point and I did enjoy that the crab was cut in half so that you could just essentially skin the crab for the meat vs. getting carpal tunnel cracking all day..I probably could've eaten much more of that and from looking around it did seem like these were a crowd pleaser of patrons above anything else.\n\nI have to say in closing this was a let down for me as there are clearly better and well accepted buffets in Vegas (seems like a dying breed of what once was), but I really hope that Aria takes notice and conducts a serious revamp of things in the near future..The staff was warm and inviting which is a saving grace, but an empty dining room during the pre Zarkana hours does kind of paint a very disturbing picture right?