The only thing haute about the buffet here is the ceiling.
It is, however about the size of a regulation tennis court, and while the quality is not high, there appears to be nothing that can kill you.
That said, I am all about it. I use my trustworthy technique of circling around like  remote control drone, casing the joint. Small dabs of the hopeful in the beginning...
I'm not saying that they source equine, but whatever they do to their bovine to get the fiber of flesh to tear when you cut at it, is intriguing. Not processed enough to gain my interest.
No, naturally, I am all about whatever shrimp/crab thing they might have fizzing under the lights.
I am all about the pastry section. Always.
In my opinion it is very difficult to get a casserole that could disappoint anymore than you can imagine, therefore, it can't really disappoint. Think about this curlicue of a sentence as you eat casserole. It's a Scandinavian thing, I think.
So, despite some of my better barbs so far (and I can snark forever about buffets, god love 'em) I continue to eat here. Expect to pay about 25% more than Home Town Buffet. This place is much nicer and none of the chairs are wobbly like in most Home Towns.
Go in expecting a pretty good off the strip Vegas style buffet and you got it here.
For another buffet, this is a 3. For a restaurant, maybe like a Shari's or Denny's? 2. We'll round it up just to make Chuck B. nuts.
Well first off it is a buffet, so there is no mind blowing flavors here. pretty much instituitionalized food like most buffets. However this is the better of most buffets i have been too, in Oregon at least. the service is really good, there are tons of options heres. However most of the ethnic food is not great. good enough to swallow, but nothing to do a back flip over. The american comfort food is probably the best food here. RIbs, Roast and a decent seafood variety steal the show here. A great place to stop if you want to lose some money on slots and gain some wieght on your way to the coast. On a final note the pizza is the worst....dont eat the pizza.
Review Source:For $18.95, on a Friday or Saturday night, you can eat all the crab you want.
I'm not a fan of buffets in general but almost all of them have something that they put out that is at least good and the Cedar Plank Buffet is no exception. The crab isn't cooked the same each time, sometimes a bit salty, sometimes a little over cooked, but crab is expensive and when the opportunity presents itself to eat as much crab as you want for such a low price how can you say no?
My rule for buffets is don't eat any starch, stick to lots of protein and just enough fruit and veggies to help with the processing. Also NO ethnic food at the buffet. Buffet's just can't make ethnic food, AT ALL, Ever. If you eat Chinese or sushi at a Buffet or pasta it's your own fault for getting a bad meal.
Cedar Plank also makes a good prime rib, turkey, flat iron steak, steamer clams, occasionally mussels, and pot roast. The put out a huge tub of fried oysters that are at least good and fried cod ( i peel the breading off).
I love fresh fruit and the have fresh pineapple, grapes, melon, and sometimes strawberries. Also all the salad fixin's are pretty good too.
They do have one starch that i think is worth mentioning, a childhood favorite of mine, fry bread with melted honey butter to dip it in. If you want a simple but delicious indulgence, this is it. Almost better than cornbread and honey butter, ALMOST.
The service has always been at least good here and sometimes it has been excellent and the tables and floor in the dinning room always seem clean. The service area is the same, it's one of the cleanest buffets i have ever been to.
Good meat, Fresh fruit and veggies, good fry bread, and a good value if you eat what they do well.
Let me clarify - as good as a buffet gets (in Oregon). We stopped by Spirit Mountain on the way back from a day at the Oregon coast and I had extremely low expectations for a $15 buffet at a casino basically in bum f nowhere. I was pleasantly surprised that the casino was like a nicer Vegas locals casino, and the buffet was comparable to $20 ones in Vegas.
Huge spread with tons of variety. It was late, about an hour before close on a weekday, but the food didn't seem old and dried up like buffets tend to be later in the night. Asian section with Chinese and sushi - not bad for buffet. I really liked the classic American comfort foods like fried chicken, Mac & cheese, meatloaf.
Prime rib was really good - get one of the pre sliced pieces they have sitting on the side in the tub of au jus. Juicy, salty, but still pink and rare. Hot and cold steamed dungeoness crab legs, and their seasoned shrimp cocktail were my favs. Can't go wrong w seafood in the Pacific Northwest. Except for their stone crab claws - they were so dry it was inedible - I tossed it in the bucket.
Desserts were decent. A lot of things were gone, but what we tried wasn't bad. The kids loved all the random things they tried.
Service was also exceptionally great. I wish I remembered her name, but we had a sweetheart waitress who was ridiculously attentive without being harrassing. I have thirsty friends and their glasses were never more than half empty.
I'd definitely stop by on our next trip to the coast. It's a great value and quality overall didn't disappoint.
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Had the privilege in partaking in this feast over the weekend and after two trips during my weekend at the beach I will say that I can fairly give it 3 stars. I will agree with what a lot of the reviews are that they are probably the largest buffet in the NW. A very large array of food from chinese style bbq pork to enchiladas and other usual suspects like a salad and dessert bar. Some of my favorites while I was there was the prime rib/roast beef that is cooked to perfection. The butterfly shrimp is nice and crispy and their pasta dishes are very tasty. Â Lastly, their dessert bar has a large array for the sweet tooth. They have everything from cheesecakes, to exotic flavors of ice cream, and delectable pies.
Overall, I would come back again but I wouldn't make a habit of it. Lucky for me Spirit Mountain is a good hour and half drive away.
Happy Eating Everyone.
We normally eat here every couple of month meeting some friends that live in Newport for dinner.
Cedar Plank is the best buffet in Oregon. That said it is a buffet and buffets typically don't set very high hurdles. I've eaten at better buffets in Vegas but I've also had the misfortune to eat at much worse.
If you stay with the hand carved meats, Dungeness crab, salmon and stay away from the deep fried and over cooked dishes you can have a pretty decent meal.
Personally, the two must have items on the menu are the red grapefruit and peppermint ice cream. They always have both and I have a weakness for both.
If your waist and cholesterol can take it they have fry bread with melted butter and cinnamon sugar, yum.
The ribs tend to be sketchier. Sometimes they're ok and other times they are dry and over cooked.
One of my friends swears by their clam chowder. I've tried it a couple of times and it has a nice consistency with a good ratio of clams & potatoes to liquid but I find it too salty for my tastes.
Table service for drinks and bussing is always questionable. The wait staff is spread too thin probably to keep costs down.
Cedar Plank is a good place too meet friends. The air filtration system is 10,000 times better than the crappy place in Lincoln City and the food is better.
I could have spent the day at the zoo and not seen a more interesting and diverse display of primates! I'm pretty sure Wednesday is not "Discounts for Beautiful People Day" at Spirit Mountain. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been mistaken for Fabio lately, but in this bunch, I thought it might be a possibility.
To the "food"! I must preface this by saying, there's a reason they make you pay before you see it.
They get your money. You are then herded to a table, by a matronly wrangler, along with one or more other groups. Close on her heels is another greatly experienced woman who takes your beverage request. You find your way to what you expect will be a food line, when you discover there is no semblance of one. It's a fee-for-all of prodigiously portly participants crowding in front of and behind each other rather like hogs at a trough.
Armed with my best guttural grunts and elbows, I finally managed to fill my plate. My bride was on her own. When we got back to our table I noticed she had only a small Sausage, an English Muffin and a sliver of Cheese Cake on her plate. Still in full porcine mode, I didn't have the courtesy to ask if that's all she wanted or if she was simply unable to get past the alphas at the steam tables.
She had admonished me last time we went to a breakfast buffet, to "stick to the cold stuff" meaning; Fruit, Pastries, Jell-O, Cottage Cheese and the like. Her advice was unintentionally prescient as today, everything was cold. Including the Scrambled Eggs, Hash Brown Spuds and Battered and Fried Shrimp. (Yup, Shrimp at a breakfast buffet. I didn't ask and neither should you.) The Jell-O and fruit was OK. But the coagulated glop of "Gravy" I had to excavate to get to my heavy, but filling, Biscuit was cold and grey as a tombstone.
Cedar Plank gets one star. I'm really glad we had this experience. I'll be telling stories about it around the campfire for years to come.
I can only vouch for the breakfast buffet, which I've patronized only once, en route to the Oregon Coast.
There is a huge selection of items. Â Except for the mini pancakes which were a little dry, everything else ranged from good to excellent. Â The service was not memorable, so it must have been at least ok. Â It's also a very good value.
I'm not a huge fan of buffets but this one definitely hit the spot. Leave it to us to find the only casino within a hundred or so miles, lol. The buffet had a great selection and was clean and well stocked. We got seated quickly, our drinks kept getting refilled so no complaints here! In addition, their buffet was $12.50 or so...Score! More money for the tables or the slots.
Review Source:I love buffets! I love having so many choices and being able to try a little of this and a little of that. Â We've hit up The Cedar a few times when we've been to the casino.
It's a little pricey on a Friday or Saturday night unless you're really into the seafood. If you're into crab, sushi, etc., then it's a bargain.
The food is pretty good and the selection is great. Â
We'll be back, I'm sure.
This restaurant is located within the Spirit Mountain Casino. Whenever we visit our family in Portland we always take that 2 and a half hour drive for Cedar Planks dinner buffet! I'm from Hawaii so $18.95 for a prime rib buffet is not bad at all! Our buffets in Hawaii are easily $30+!!
So when you get there you stand in line, pay first, then you're seated. The waiter takes your drink order and tells you to help yourself at the buffet line.
The buffet area is huge!! Supposedly its the largest buffet in all Oregon!! They have seven different stations: international, pizza, seafood, carving, american, asian, & the bakery. Everything is so good and tasty! I especially love the prime rib! Ohh so juicy and tender! (*mouth waters*) The servers are always on top of things, always coming back to refills drinks and clear our table.
Everything is kept fresh and hot, and they always keep the entrees full. They are constantly cleaning the counters keeping it neat and clean.
You can also play Keno while dining. The Keno guy comes around yelling "KENO!" lol!
It's a buffet in the casino.
We got there, waited in line, paid, and waited for someone to seat us.
Once the server showed us the table, they asked for what drinks.
Things to keep in mind:
-Kids under 6? eat free
- Wednesday is Seafood night, (the day I went)
- The buffet closes at 9, so dont leave your kids behind or something. (me and my brother are too old for daycare and too young to gamble so we stayed behind while our parents gamble) we got out of there immediately after we tipped once we knew it was 9. ( even though you can stay after 9, but BE COURTEOUS AND JUST GET OUT!!!)
- Â there is no soda/drink machine, so refills are hard to get.
- bring a dollar to tip the guy, if you want him to prepare fresh grill shrimp
-ice cream is served by a server, not self serve, aka you get two scoops
- 6 people for about 88 dollars not including tip
- i heard many good things about the breakfast, look forward to trying it
CON
- I think the workers are slightly racist =/ that's why the -2 stars. ( We were near a table of white people, a party of 6 like us, but the workers never refilled or come by our table until we looked for them.) (Their attitude kind of seem like they lost lots of money from gambling)
- i dont like the location, you have to pass THROUGH the  casino and many smoking areas, not very pleasant.
-The parking, and the exit, if you come from salem to smc, and you exit the same way, you cant turn left, its a right turn only. be careful
- the taco bar, tastes like taco bell, NO JOKE. avoid it
- the chinese food tastes WORSE THAN PANDA EXPRESS
- the pizza, just dont get it :/
- wednesday night is seafood, so lots of shrimp items, not for people with high cholesterol.
- the dessert toppings, the spoons were very sticky and it felt gross to touch.
- there are gambling machines literally near the buffet ( distraction??)
- no hot sauce
PRO:
- the guy that cooks the grill shrimp is really nice!
- the crab legs are higher quality and more meat than your standard buffet.
- lots of shrimp items, cold, pasta, stir fry with celery, Â grilled, you name it.
- yummy desserts. cookies, cakes, ice cream, pies
- for a seafood buffet, it has the selection, fried oysters, calamari, king crab, shrimp, salmon, other fish
- the seats were clean, the plates were clean.
- bright and well lit place.
- it is spacious, fits like 466 people?
- wifi!!
Conclusion:
go eat the grill shrimp (the station) Â most fresh and the shrimp is cooked right not overcook or undercook.
this place is suitable for families or couples.
My fiance lives in Sheridan so this is close and easy to stop into. Â They have a lot of everything so just be prepared.
I generally only go through one time as there is way too much stuff and a lot of it not great for you.
I went through one time at 7:30 or 8:00 am and got a garden salad because the line up was too long at the omelette bar where they make to order.
They have a whole dessert area that I didn't even discover until I had been there four or five times. Â
The food is tasty and again there's a lot of it, if you're into that. Â The wait staff is normally spot on and will constantly give you refills on your beverages.
You can also play Keno while you eat if you like that sort of thing.
I don't really gamble so there isn't much to do at this location except stop into the restaurant.
They need a movie theatre or something to draw people other than gamblers. Â That's just me, I guess.
I'm sure I'll be back.
Now don't read too muchinto it --this is a buffet, and if you don't like buffets, it won't change your mind. Â Now, buffet lovers let me ring the bell and you gather round for my tale of splendor! Â This salmon. Â This salmon. Â I'm speechless. Â Moist, smoky, flaky. Â I felt like a grizzly on the falls. Â Fish upon fish down my gullet. Â I am SO going to hibernate after I write this!
Review Source:Some days this place has a great breakfast, some days it doesn't. Â It depends on who is cooking I guess. Â Have your omelet made how you want , that's my favorite. Waffles with strawberries........they do have a great selection of dishes. Â
The dinner buffet is wonderful, if they have the shrimp station open. Â They will saute fresh shrimp to your liking. Â Add a large slab of prime rib and I'm doing just fine. Â Desert bar........several items to choose from. Â I love the coffee cake.
The major face lift of what was once Spirit Mountain's Legend's Buffet (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/legends-buffet-grand-ronde">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>), is now the super casino buffet that is similar to what can be had in Las Vegas.  In fact it's no face lift, it's a straight up makeover transforming this place into one of the best buffets in the state.
For those familiar with the old buffet, the change is night and day. Â Cedar Plank is located toward the back of the casino where the renovations are newest. Â The buffet itself is massive, completely dwarfing it's predecessor's space (which is now the Mountain View Sports Bar) and can easily seat hundreds of people. Â Prices are now upwards of $15 for adults on weekdays and $19 on Friday and Saturday. Â With it's new spacious interior and abundant tables / booths, lines can only last so long and even the wait staff has quadrupled in size.
Instead of having themed nights, Cedar Plank has themed sections (International, pizza, seafood, carving, American, Asian, and a bakery section) that are completely split up and evenly spaced out to avoid line congestion. Â The food presentation is good and the buffet is clean, which makes any glutton (which is virtually every patron) a happy one.
The seafood and the carving station is what makes this buffet worth trying. Â Prime Rib alone, when fresh out of the oven is fantastic. Â Moist, juicy, and full of flavor, it's by far the biggest show stopper of all that is offered. Â Turkey and ham are traditional favorites, both of which are also quite good. Â If there are any lines, it's usually for the fried shrimp and salmon, a homage to Oregon's outstanding reputation for quality seafood.
Plus size gluttons are likely to avoid the most conspicuous buffet section, the salad bar, which is conveniently plunked right in the middle. Â A good assortment of fruits, greens, and cheese are available here as well as some of the best damn clam chowder I've ever had. Â I could probably eat a bucket of it, it's so good. Â The wait staff tell me it's of the Oregon coast variety, which for a seafood lover like myself always warrants a thumbs up.
The few things that keep this buffet from becoming an epic 5 star venue are some issues that can easily be corrected:
* Most of the stuff in the American food section is greasy and unappetizing. Â Mac & cheese is kind of nasty as is the pot roast and even the mixed vegetables look like a mess. Â Fried chicken is also dry chicken, which is going to happen at most buffets.
* If you thought the American section was a disaster, check out the Asian section. Â I can't entirely fault the poor execution for most of the stuff here, seeing as most of these chefs have never dealt with the array of Asian food they're putting out. Â Some of the choices here are fairly creative, I've seen pork fried rice, Korean kalbi (short ribs), Chinese pan fried dumplings, Vietnamese spring rolls, and Japanese sushi. Â All can best be described as an epic fail. Â People who like and dislike Asian food are sure to hate it here.
* The dessert (aka bakery) section usually looks better than it tastes. Â There is an array of desserts here from pies to cakes to puddings. Â Most of everything I've had is bland, especially the pumpkin cheesecake and strawberry short cake. Â A plus for this section is the variety of sugar free desserts they have, something that will surely help the growing number of diabetics that frequent this place.
In the end, Cedar Plank is a major upgrade in both food and venue space for Spirit Mountain and it's customers. Â It's the perfect getaway from the Oregon coast and a place that never stops regardless of the hour. Â For the lazy, yet hungry families on the holidays, look no further than this massive buffet.
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