As even the formerly inexpensive buffets on the Strip get more and more pricey, with the average dinner check running about $20, there's little choice but to head elsewhere for the kind of high-quality, low-cost buffet that you used to be able to get on Las Vegas Boulevard. Luckily, you don't have to go very far.

The Gold Coast is located on Flamingo Road, about 1.5 miles east of the intersection where you'll find Bellagio and Ceasars Palace. You know where the Rio and The Palms are? Gold Coast is right there too, operating in relative obscurity in the shadow of its higher-priced neighbors.

Walk inside and you'll find all of the ingredients of a successful locals' style casino -- low-limit gaming, low-cost rooms and a lot of affordable restaurants, including the Ports O'Call Buffet.

Done with a subtle ships-at-sea theme, the buffet has several "regions," each themed to a different cuisine from around the globe. There's Mexican, Chinese, Italian, American, and salads. I'm not sure what country salads are supposed to represent, but let's not get crazy with the details here.

A big seafood section (love those shrimp and crab legs), a carving station, and a fully-stocked dessert station round out the offerings.

There's nothing you can find here that you can't find at another buffet. People looking for adventurous food choices will be disappointed, but it has all of the traditional elements and a couple of perks. For instance, the carving station offers up full rotisserie chickens, not just a hunk carved off to go with your mashed potatoes.

Being the big, fat, giant pig that I am, I sampled a little bit of everything -- from pizza to potstickers, beef fajitas to lamb chops. Everything I tasted was fresh, flavorful, warm when it was supposed to be and cool when it wasn't. The food won't win any epicurean awards, but it's all solid, hearty and well-prepared.

Granted, you can get solid, hearty, and well-prepared food at almost any buffet, but that's where we have to start comparing prices. Breakfast at a comparable Strip buffet is about $10. Here it's $6.45. Lunch on the Strip will run you $12 to $15. At Ports O'Call, it's $7.45. Dinners and Sunday brunches are often more than $20 a mile away, but at the Gold Coast you'll pay $12 to $17, the latter for the all-you-can-eat seafood night.

Heck, even the all-you-can-eat steak night is only $13. That's a dollar cheaper than the breakfast buffet at Bellagio.

The service is neighborhood-casino friendly and efficient. My server had two drinks for every person waiting by the time we got back to our table.

The moral of the story is, if you're in the mood for a good buffet but don't want to pay a fortune for it, head for the coast. The Gold Coast, that is.

Ports O'Call Buffet
Gold Coast Hotel & Casino
4000 W. Flamingo Rd.
(702)367-7111
Mon. through Sat. -- breakfast, 7 to 10 a.m.; lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday brunch, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; nightly dinner, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Breakfast, $6.45; Lunch, $7.45; Brunch, $11.95; Dinner $11.95 to $16.95

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