Our wedding reception meal was right around that. Choice of steak, chicken or salmon, sides, + water/tea/soft drinks, I think it was right around $50 a person. Every little thing is an add-on when you're doing a wedding meal. It was like $30 for the base entree, another $8 if you want salads + bread beforehand, another $5 if you want to offer coffee/tea/soft drinks, then $2 or $3 for them to plate and serve your own wedding cake. We didn't go buffet though, this was all table service with waiters and waitresses to refill drinks, but because of that it also wasn't all-you-can-eat.
If you can get a wedding meal for ~$50 a person or less, you are doing really well. A lot of catering services and nice restaurants want upwards of $80-$100 a person.
Originally we had planned to just eat at a restaurant in a private room, when our wedding was planned to only be 20-30 people. Once it ballooned to 70ish and we had to start looking at catering options and small banquet halls to rent, the prices skyrocketed because at that point it was obvious it was a wedding. You pay well above going restaurant prices once they know it's a wedding.
I believe the alcohol pricing was something like $12 a person for unlimited beer, $15 a person for beer + wine, $25 a person for unlimited well/mixed drinks, $35 a person for unlimited premium mixed drinks.
Out of our 70 or so people, 60 were adults, so to do a fully open bar with top-shelf liquor we would have been looking at another $2100 on top of the $3500 we spent on the meal. They charge for EVERY adult that attends, whether they drink or not. We went with a cash bar, and everyone seemed fine with that.