The 9 Worst Foods To Order At A Casino

Anyone who frequents casinos knows you always end up staying longer than intended, riding waves of wins and defeat, hopefully leaving with your ego and wallet in a similar state to when you arrived. Those marathon sessions bring not only an appetite to win but also one for food and drink to keep you going. Unfortunately, you're at the whims of whatever the in-house buffet or restaurants have, and it may not be the best food for the mental gymnastics involved in gambling. Many casinos offer standard fare, including fried foods, burgers, pizza, and, if you're lucky, a decent steakhouse. While these foods can fill you up and perhaps even be free with certain rewards programs, they might not be conducive to a successful night at the craps table. 

That said, the allure of a larger-than-life Vegas buffet is certainly appealing, with all-you-can-eat shrimp tempting to bring out your inner George Costanza, risking scrutiny from your gambling pals. Casino buffets also run the gamut from casual comfort food to luxury-forward fancy plates, offering something for everyone. And we all love a good deal, especially considering hotel prices are through the roof, making a visit to a well-stocked buffet seem justifiable. However, some of the foods on offer might be best avoided or eaten in moderation. Here, we present nine casino foods to avoid so that you can optimize your Sin City experience at both the buffet and poker tables.

Nothing quite hits like mac and cheese. It's one of the ultimate comfort foods, always seeming to hit the spot. It can even serve as a blank canvas, allowing home cooks to play with fun ingredients that will upgrade the mac and cheese for when they want something especially indulgent. But this popular carb and cheese bomb might not be the most optimal fuel for a night of blackjack. Though it may tempt with its familiarity and comfort factor, calling your name as it steams from the stainless steel buffet tray, mac and cheese has the potential to derail your gambling streak.

According to an article published by the DNA testing website 23andMe, more than 70% of people have varying degrees of lactose intolerance. This could be you, unless you're one of the 30% who can gladly indulge in dairy consequence-free. And while it would suck to pay for a genetic test only to find out cheese isn't your friend, it sucks more to lose a big poker hand because your tummy is grumbling. What's more, according to a nutrition lecture by Wu-Hsun Tom Yang, a licensed naturopathic physician and acupuncturist at the University of Washington, consuming simple carbohydrates like pasta can trigger anxiety, irritability, cognitive impairment, and even fatigue. This doesn't sound like a winning strategy for enjoying casino entertainment. Save the mac and cheese for a chill, low-stakes night in of doom scrolling or show bingeing.

Coffee and energy drinks are synonymous with gambling, serving as trusty companions for when a card game crosses over into the wee hours. Staying awake and alert only makes sense, especially when hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars are at stake. Keeping your wits about you and maintaining focus for hours on end will have the best of us looking for an edge, be it an Americano or a can of Monster. Even so, the risk of overdoing it and getting really jazzed on caffeine is something to consider.

With four cups of coffee, 10 cans of cola, or two energy drinks, you will hit what the Mayo Clinic considers the critical 400-milligram limit of caffeine for adults. In a long night of cards and revelry, it's easy to imagine having that much coffee as you fight to stay awake while keeping your nose in front of the poker play. If you overdo the free Cokes, though, you may experience a headache, insomnia, nervousness, a fast heartbeat, muscle tremors, and an upset stomach. This sounds like a one-way ticket back to your hotel room, a crappy night's sleep, and missing out on the action. When it comes to casino coffee, you might want to get a seltzer instead.

This one might sound obvious, but excess alcohol at a casino (or, really, in general) isn't your friend. With so many Vegas casinos luring in guests with free booze, keeping them happy and more prone to sticking around, it can be hard to limit consumption. There's also the issue of nerves, with card sharks looking to keep their cool as small fortunes trade places across a smooth, green felt table. But unless you have a sober friend in your crew keeping everyone in check, things can easily get messy, as they often do in Vegas.

Ordering too many drinks can actually affect your memory and cognition and even make you feel tired. Even worse, it can affect impulse control, which could lead to brutal, unintended consequences like an acutely depleted bank account or a bloated credit card. Experts state that in addition to these issues, overdoing it can cause a "blackout" where a person may not remember any events of a night of drinking, also affecting nerve function. Go easy so your hotel room doesn't end up looking like the morning-after scene from "The Hangover."

Some people say that even bad pizza is good. While this argument would probably stop people like Andrew Zimmern, who thinks restaurants in New York serve the best pizza in America, dead in his tracks, a casino pizza at 2 a.m. could hit the spot. Whether at a buffet or a sit-down casino restaurant, pizza is a no-brainer option to offer gamblers while they saunter from game table to table; a slice or two goes down easily and gets you back to the roulette action in short order.

But it can also potentially make you feel less awake. It's the combination of fat from the cheese with carbohydrates from the dough that has such a postprandial effect. Postprandial somnolence is the medical term used to describe the period after a meal when digestion and nutrient absorption take place, which is what takes place during a food coma. Too many slices of the piping hot cheese pizza could also lead to poor concentration and a general feeling of lethargy, potentially cutting your night short. Rather than indulging in Vegas pizza that could ruin a hot streak, wait to splurge on a better pie the next time you're in New York.

French fries are a staple in all types of restaurants, from low-brow fast food to high-end steakhouses serving those super thin and crispy ones. They feel inextricably linked to American food due to a certain chain that does them exceptionally well, even though it's one of many products whose original recipe has changed over the years. Any French fries — let alone McDonald's fries — are hard to turn down, even if they've been sitting under a heating lamp at a buffet for hours. You might want to think twice before loading your plate sky-high with a stack of crispy, golden fries, though.

Studies have shown that high fried food consumption can increase anxiety and depression. This happens due to the way our bodies metabolize fats and the subsequent inflammation that results. Not to be a buzzkill, but those fries might not facilitate a great casino night, whether taking in the sights or actively gambling. Look for a healthier choice if you can, as those empty calories could contribute to your anxiety.

Casino restaurants and buffets want to keep you satiated, and they are going to play all the greatest hits when it comes to late-night fare. If you and your pals are taking a snack break after an epic Texas Hold'em run, a juicy dog would be tempting to tuck into. With so many different styles out there, a fully loaded hot dog done right can truly be greater than the sum of its parts. But let's not kid ourselves. This isn't health food, obviously, and is more of a fun indulgence or even a quick lunch when on the go. A hot dog also seems to be synonymous with heartburn, prompting you to reach for some Pepcid AC or Tums to quell the indigestion after eating too fast. We've all been there! 

In the context of a Vegas vacation, eating a casino hot dog seems like a likely scenario for many. However, this particular food might be best avoided if you're looking to stay dialed in while playing baccarat. According to Harvard Medical School, in a study from May of 2025 that focused on 134,000 adult subjects, processed meats were found to be linked to a greater risk of dementia. No, eating a single hot dog will not ruin your brain health, but the study also links cognitive function, such as memory and recall, to being negatively affected by the very type of meat found in hot dogs. Here's some food for thought: Skip the casino hot dog!

Save for a scant few total health buffs out there, we've all felt that horrible sugar crash. It's not fun, and it harkens back to childhood when candy was eaten hand over fist, riding the sugar rush only to crash hard. Rinse and repeat. But as adults, we know better, right? Well, sometimes you just need to eat a whole bag of Skittles in one go and embrace your inner child. That's okay! But sugary sweets like ice cream, cakes, and pies, whether from the dessert menu at a restaurant or the MGM Grand Buffet, can rapidly kill the fun casino vibe.

According to Dr. Darius Schneider, a board-certified endocrinologist, high sugar consumption can cause many concerning outcomes, affecting learning, exacerbating anxiety, and causing fatigue (aka the sugar crash), hyperactivity, and even aggressive behavior. Yikes. For those with a sweet tooth, it can be hard to turn down a cupcake after dinner, but for the sake of keeping an even keel, we think sugary desserts are one of the worst things to order at a casino.

Whether it's a bucket of the Colonel's best, with his secret seasoning recipe, or some chicken and waffles at your local brunch spot, fried chicken always hits. It's such a simple yet exceedingly delicious food and a real delight of textural contrast, with a super dry and crunchy golden exterior and a moist and tender meat interior. It fills you up, but as we all know, it can also weigh you down. No surprise, given it's so salty and fatty; it can ruin your favorite shirt with a grease stain while forcing you to get horizontal on the nearest couch post-nosh.

A diet with high fried food content has also been shown in studies to be linked to low memory and cognition scores. So if you want to be uber present, taking in your entire vacation with your family and maybe winning a few hands in the process, you might want to skip the fried chicken and avoid that food coma, too.

Noodle dishes are often found at buffets and are flavorful and carb-forward options for those looking to fill up. They also encompass so many different cuisines from around the world, whether it's an Italian-American ziti, a Chinese lo mein, or a spicy Korean bibim-guksu. Yum. How can you go wrong when you take chewy noodles and cover them in a rich sauce? It's a match made in heaven.

Where things can go wrong is noodle dishes, being so high in carbs, may cause you to feel drowsy, as they spike blood sugar quickly, risking that sleepy feeling as your body adjusts. If you want to keep up your energy for slot machine pulls and stay sharp while you shoot craps, you might consider skipping the noodle dishes on offer. The postprandial response that leaves you in a food coma could be avoided with a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and nuts, while lowering processed and high-fat food intake. Sure, dishes that would make a nutritionist smile from ear to ear are likely not found at most casino buffets, but at least now you know a few to avoid to help keep the odds of winning in your favor.