Fresh Harvest Buffet — Restaurant in Olivehurst

An update:: 11/07/24 Here's a change. Hard rock casino has advertised Thursday night as surf and turf with steak and snow crab. Price is 29.99 per person. Well with little notice and customers in line at the cashier's, after you pay they tell you it is no longer snow crab, but "rock crab" an inferior grade crab with little taste and hard to crack. Terrible, don't do it Well you would think for the price, that this casino buffet would rival the great casino buffets in Reno and Las Vegas. Not a chance!!!!! We have not patronized the hard rock casino located in Wheatland CA., since before the COVID pandemic. Now we know why. The food quality is mediocre at best. Our food needed seasoning, so we added salt to almost everything. The taste was so bland. In addition, the carving station, that included, beef brisket, new York strip, kielbasa, roast turkey and ham. The meats were so dry. The kielbasa was cold. I asked for medium rare to rare new York steak. They had to bring out another roast, and it was still dry. The other food stations included, Italian, american and Asian cuisine. The dishes were limited. 4 or 5 dishes at best. Since it was a Friday, their claim to fame was lobster and crab. The lobster was ok, but not the melt in your mouth lobster meat I'm accustomed to. The crab included dungeness and snow crab. It was fresh and the dungeness crab was sweet and the meat firm. I don't know where they acquired the crab, since it is not crab season in California, but it was good. The salad and dessert bars were also limited, and the offerings didn't taste sweet. For instance the apple crisp was way to tart for us. We ended up selecting just a plain dish of mango and strawberry ice cream, as well as an ice cream sandwich to satisfy our sweet tooths. With limited casino buffets in Northern California, we are kind of stuck with what we have. Over the Sierra's in Reno, NV though you have some great offerings for the same price. We will wait to get our groove on when we visit Reno and Las Vegas, and not feel ripped by the quality of the buffets in Northern California. Alas, both the Pala and Barona casino buffets in southern California have also closed permanently. They also compared to the best Las Vegas buffets had to offer. I don't think we will return to the hard rock casino buffet for a long time. Update: 10/24/24 Visited on a Thursday night. The price was 29.99 per person (adult). It was surf and turf night. I know we said we would not come again for a long time, but they offered us complimentary dinners. So on with the review. Difference between Friday night lobster night and Thursday night surf and turf. Not much. Just no lobster, but 30.00 cheaper. Same dishes, the meat carving station was a little bit better. Meats (tri-tip) and herb sausage were more succulent and not dried out, grilled vegetables included carrots and bell pepper. Italian station was still the pasta and pepperoni pizza. The Mexican station, included chilli Colorado (I prefer chilli Verde,) refried beans, mexican rice, chicken taquitos, and shrimp fajitas with corn and flour tortillas. The chilli Colorado sauce tasted more like canned chilli beans with very little meat in a scoop. The mexican rice was fluffy and not stiff, the shrimp fajitas were excellent though, well flavored, but small shrimp. I needed jalapenos and salsa. The chicken taquitos were cooked well not crispy burnt, but lightly cooked. They offered guacamole, salsa and pico de Gallo on the side. There was a very small Asian section that offered white rice, sauteed bok choy, veggie egg rolls and pork won ton. The won tons were fried too long though, making them hard to eat. The veggie egg rolls on the hand, were cooked long enough to cook the inside ingredients, but making the contents flavorful, tender and moist and the outside roll just crispy enough. They have a small section for make it your self salads, and a small dessert area, with ice cream, cookies, brownies, and some cake. A better option in price is the Thursday buffet, rather than spending an extra 30.00 just...

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If there was a corner to cut to save money, they cut it. I had 4 lobster tails. The first one was so disgusting it fell apart as I was trying to extract it from the shell. It literally disintegrated when I touched it. The second one was perfect, raising my hopes, the 3rd was so over cooked I could bounce it like a golf ball. The 4th one was just slightly undercooked. The snow crab was way so salty it burned your mouth. The lady serving the lobster, and the young man serving the crab legs obviously hated their jobs, and possibly their lives. The steak was cooked perfectly, but it lacked any seasoning, and it was fairly tough. Not even A-1 Steak Sauce could save it. I read previous reviews and was fairly weary of this place but the allure of a lobster and crab buffet was overwhelming. There were many more dessert options than in previous reviews, but not one of them were fresh. All were frozen, prepackaged. Our server and the ones that were assigned to the surrounding tables were great. Very attentive and kept the table clear of excess buckets and plates, and kept beverage cups full. Keeping in mind it was less than $60 a person for lobster and crab buffet it was to be expected to be sub part. I'd spend an extra $25 for more attention to detail, more consistency, and better quality food. Unfortunately we won't be back for the Fresh Harvest Buffet.

UPDATE After reading several later reviews seeing opinions both good and bad (a few more good than bad) my wife and I decided to give it a second try after a two year hiatus.

We we pleasently surprised that this time around was much, much better. There was still a variance in the level of doneness of the lobster depending on the variety. The whole Atlantic lobster was just a little over cooked but to be expected as it is cooked in mass quantity to keep up with demand. Two of the 3 lobster tails I had were on the opposite side of the cooked spectrum, one was raw in the middle one was over cooked but not too bad.

Once again I kinda expected this.

The snow crab was fabulous. It was well cooked and delicious. The Dungeness crab was eh OK but even though they tried to help by splitting the claws it didn't help much. It was super tough to crack the shell with the flimsy shell cracker. And the meat was hard to extract. But this time not over salted like our first visit.

The carving station was again depressing as the meat stays under the heat lamps too long and is dried out.

The dresserts didn't disappoint this time. Nice selection of cakes, ice cream, and other goodies

Again the table service was superior. Our table was constantly cleared of dirty plates, and our drinks were constantly filled. A little bit of small talk to make us feel welcome, but not so much to be disturbing.

I feel that the almost $60 a person is a fair price considering the mediocre quality. Would I come back? Yes, but for me the almost 2.5 hour drive it would be a rare trip. Maybe once...

Lobster buffet. . Came here on a Friday with no special event or holiday. We arrived around 730pm and the waiting list was closed. So we didn't get to experience it. It was so dissapointing. . Came back another Friday at 3pm so we can experience the lobster buffet. There was no wait and we got right in. It was 60 bucks per person. There is no discount except your play points which you can trade in to redeem. . There is a line for crab and lobster. The server behind the counter serves to you. They place the whole lobster and snow crabs in a bucket for you to enjoy. There is crab openers so no need to bring your own. . The snow crab was fresh. It was better than the lobster. I got a green salad to go with it. . Lobster it was overcooked. The lobster was not good we had one Bite and just threw it away. We didn't bother to get seconds. . The variety at the buffet is no good. Very little choice to choose from. The buffet doesn't make me want to come back. Let's just say even the green salad there was very little choices for the toppings. There was only can beets. Most of the food they had feel like they rip it out of a box and just empty it on a platter. Frozen food in boxes just fry it and serve it on a buffet line was the vibe I got. . Also there were lots of flies at rhe table where we were enjoying food. I don't know what casino has this problem. But it was annoying that food wasn't good and then flies too... yea thanks for reading and hope this helps. Have a...