The fate of Mohegan Sun’s Seasons Buffet is still uncertain

On any given weekend during the cold winter months, my wife and I could hop in the car for a nice drive to Uncasville, Connecticut, and the Mohegan Sun Casino. None of us are big gamblers, but the casino is great for people watching, is a bit warmer than the park for a walk in the winter, and of course there’s the Seasons Buffet.

For around $30 per person, the buffet offered superb prime rib, shrimp, impressive soups, fabulous desserts, and many other fine and decadent specialties.

The Sun opened on October 12, 1996, and quickly became an alternative to the larger, less staffed Foxwoods Casino a few miles away in Ledyard, Connecticut. I prefer the layout and atmosphere of Mohegan Sun to Foxwoods, which opened as a bingo hall in 1986.

Before the pandemic, the “all you can eat” buffet was a big attraction at both Connecticut casinos, as it was at numerous casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Some Las Vegas buffets have reopened but not those in Connecticut casinos, and their future remains murky.

Foxwoods completed a massive overhaul of its Rainmaker Buffet just in time for the pandemic. It hasn’t reopened and it’s unclear when it will.

There were originally two buffets at the Mohegan Sun: the Sunburst Buffet and the Seasons Buffet. The Sunburst Buffet was closed and a new $10 million remodeled Seasons Buffet opened in 2011. The Seasons Buffet was a huge draw until it closed due to COVID.

Last week, Mohegan Sun announced a $15 million renovation that doesn’t appear to include the reopening of the Seasons Buffet. Public relations manager Cody Chapman tells me that the buffet’s future is “not yet determined.”

“Plans for the buffet are still being evaluated by Mohegan Sun management,” Chapman said. “We should have more information to share soon.”

I’ll cross my fingers, but I’d say the chances of the Seasons Buffet reopening are pretty long.