Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center has turned a portion of its former buffet into a quick service Italian restaurant.

Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center has converted a portion of its shuttered buffet into an Italian restaurant (File photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) For Harrah’s. Buffets in Funner, CA.

Che Bello opened Friday, July 3, and features pizzas, pastas and lasagnas in a space that’s been redecorated with its own look and feel. It’s intended to be a long-term replacement for the former buffet space, which casino officials have decided not to reopen.

Buffets, once an alluring element of the casino experience, have mostly shuttered — at least temporarily — because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Agua Caliente Casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage; Augustine Casino; Fantasy Springs Resort Casino; Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa; Pala Casino, Spa & Resort; Pechanga Resort Casino; San Manuel Casino; and Spotlight 29 Casino are among the other casinos that have closed theirs. Those casinos have not announced reopening plans for those venues.

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One casino buffet, at neighboring Valley View Casino & Hotel, has come back online. The casino recently announced via social media that the buffet had opened with a new format that had servers bring food to guests’ tables rather than having them get the food themselves.

Buffets are currently not allowed in guidelines issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom for restaurant reopenings during the novel coronavirus pandemic, but because Southern California’s casinos are often on tribal land they have sovereignty to make their own decisions on buffets.

At Harrah’s, casino officials said they don’t foresee buffet style dining returning to the property in the near future. Harrah’s Food and Beverage Director Abigail Jestis said the resort’s choice to not reopen the buffet and instead replace it with something else was based on a multiple factors.

“It’s very difficult to physically distance people and keep everything in such a massive space up to the standards of health and safety that we would like to achieve,” Jestis said. “And then as we reopened, we recognized that there were two things we needed — an Italian restaurant and an additional venue that would relieve some of the pressure put on the other restaurants because the buffet obviously was able to handle a large capacity of guests.”

Why Italian? Jestis said the resort looked at what customers asked for “and pizza was it.” There was already a section of the buffet dedicated to Italian food with a pizza oven and an area to saute pastas, so it made sense to turn that portion into its own venue, she said.

Though Harrah’s high end steakhouse Fiore (which means flower in Italian) has some Italian-inspired items such as pastas and risotto, Che Bello’s menu is dedicated to Italian food.

The new restaurant, helmed by former Buffet Chef Keith Cody, will feature pizza by the slice for people who are looking for a quick bite before heading back to the gaming floor, but it will also have specialty and build-your-own pizzas made to order, small batches of ready-made pasta and lasagna. Prices for entrees range from $10-$28.

A section of the restaurant that’s not open just yet is what used to be the Mexican section of the buffet. There will be a make your own salad bar — composed by a restaurant employee — and also made to order Piadina sandwiches, which will be pressed with a metal weight and available on house-made focaccia or flatbread.

Jestis said Che Bello serves beer and is looking into serving wine in the future.

Whether the restaurant remains a long-term addition will depend on how successful it is, Jestis said.

She said she believes it will do well because of its central location in the casino and because people will be able to come in and out quickly.

Harrah's Rincon Casino Resort Buffet

Asked what will happen with the remainder of the buffet, Jestis didn’t have an answer just yet.

“Hey, there’s plenty of space,” she said. “You never know what will happen.”

Che Bello

Where: 777 Harrah’s Rincon Way, Valley Center

Harrah S Rincon Casino Buffet Price

Hours: 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday; 4 p.m. – midnight Sunday; Closed Monday through Thursday.

Harrah's Rincon Casino Buffet

Information: harrahssocal.com