A Quickie in Vegas - help please

Yup, I've been through the Vegas threads, new and old, but I still can't figure out where to eat. We're heading in to Vegas basically for one day - my birthday. We're flying in around 6pm on Friday, December 28th and back home on Sunday the 30th. We will not have a car and are staying at New York, New York (air + hotel deal - well, sort of deal. Man, I discovered that's an expensive week to go.) We can figure out somewhere for dinner Friday, my main quandry is what to do Saturday. We have tickets to a show at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. The doors open at 6pm, show starts at 7, and there are three acts (Nashville Pussy, Hank Williams III, and Reverand Horton Heat.) I doubt we'll be out of there before 11pm. So, what would you do? Have a continental breakfast, followed by a large late lunch, then maybe a snack after the show? Is there somewhere between Mandalay Bay and New York, New York that serves food late? Ideally, more upscale than fast food but not too "fancy" as we will be dressed fairly casually for the show.
We've only been to Vegas once before and tried the following:

Pinot Brasserie - OK. I didn't think it was a good value, even by Vegas standards. Service was good though.
Olives - we had lunch there - loved it. Are considering this for dinner on Friday. I know I should really call today for a reservation.
Piero's Restaurant - A friend of my husband's family took us here for dinner. (He retired to Vegas.) We had a great time here, but the friend's semi-regular status might have helped. It reminded me a bit of Sabatino's.
Border Grill - had another lunch here and were dissapointed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Bland salsa, small portions, bad, disinterested service.
Mon Ami Gabi - lunch again. This was a choice based on convenience at the time, but we wound up quite pleased with the experience. I liked it a bit better than the Chicago location.
Some Italian place in Caesar's where you sit under the "stars." This dinner choice happened because time got away from us, it was late, and, well, there we were. This is exactly why I'm asking if there are better late-night options. It wasn't horrible, just unmemorable and our time is so limited this trip.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. However, we are not interested in buffets. Thanks! Lynn

Piero's
355 Convention Center Drive
www.pieroscuisine.com

I just returned from Las Vegas, and I will do a more substantial post some time. For now, I would highly recommend Sea Blue in the MGM. I think it really fits your needs.

Gallagher's is always nice for a good steak and I think they are open till 11 or so.

Thanks, VI. I checked out their website and the menu looks quite intriguing. However, their posted hours are 5:30pm to 10:30pm, so it wouldn't really work for a late lunch or dining after 11pm. We're considering it for Friday though.

SEABLUE
http://www.mgmgrand.com/dining/seablue- ... urant.aspx

For late night, there aren't too many "upscale" dining options, most fine dining places will close down around 11 or so.

That being said, a good place, upscale, yet casual, is Hubert Keller's Burger Bar at Mandalay Place, and is open until 1AM on Friday and Saturdays, and close to House of Blues.

I remember a lot being open on the late side for dinner- I think Fleur de Lis does a late seating, as does the Cafe Boulud in Wynn. Another option in Wynn if they do a late seating is the restaurant in the private suites- you don't need to be staying in the suites to eat there- it's a little known gem in Wynn.

Thanks all, but I think we are going to try the downstairs dining room at RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay. They serve til midnight. If anyone has had a positive or negative experience there I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise, I'll post upon return. We have a dinner reservation at Olives for Friday night as Husband is intent on a return visit. We're going to "wing it" for lunch on Saturday, although I'm leaning towards Batali's Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian. Anyone been?

Thanks,
Lynn

rm seafood downstairs menu
http://www.rmseafood.com/RM_Downstairs_Menu.pdf

rm seafood oyster & beer menu Domestic beers kind of suck, but Imports - not bad
http://www.rmseafood.com/OysterMenu_BeerList.pdf

LynnB wrote:Thanks all, but I think we are going to try the downstairs dining room at RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay. They serve til midnight. If anyone has had a positive or negative experience there I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise, I'll post upon return. We have a dinner reservation at Olives for Friday night as Husband is intent on a return visit. We're going to "wing it" for lunch on Saturday, although I'm leaning towards Batali's Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian. Anyone been?

Thanks,
Lynn

rm seafood downstairs menu
http://www.rmseafood.com/RM_Downstairs_Menu.pdf

rm seafood oyster & beer menu Domestic beers kind of suck, but Imports - not bad
http://www.rmseafood.com/OysterMenu_BeerList.pdf

Lynn, do visit the half price ticket outlets (I believe it's called 1/2 price tix). There's one in front of the Coke bottle, near MGM and one in front of the Fashion Mall. Not only do they have some great show prices, but they have some restaurant discounts. When we were there last week, they had RM discounts.

I should also add that I visited Burger Bar last week for a late dinner. Being that I already had a poor meal there, I should have known better, but in my experiences at least, the place has been far below par. It seems to me the kinda place that a famous chef like Hubert Keller would not want his name repersented. My wife and I shared a turkey burger, and it was one of the grossest things I've tried, period. When the waiter came over later, we told him we did not like it. He just shrugged it off.*

*Compare to Spago. My wife found what she thought was plastic in her salad. It turned out to be an uncooked rice noodle. Not only did they hurriedly replace the salad, they later comped her a dessert.

Wife & I are out in Vegas right now, flying home tomorrow.

Some impressions so far, aside from having bags lost en route and having to replace wardrobe:

Mon Ami Gabi---solid, ate outside (~45 degrees with heaters!), a great steak bearnaise with roast beets, couple glasses of nice '04 Bordeaux whilst watching the Bellagio fountains. Worth another visit..

Makino (the one on Decatur)---best Japanese buffet on the board, esp. for $15.95. Silky tuna & salmon, great udon, crunchy tempura. Many steps up from Todai...

Battista's Hole In The Wall---surprisingly good meat sauce, passable veal marsala, Gordy (the aged, hunched-over concertina player) was on his game. An experience more than a meal...

Settebello (in Henderson)---my new favorite pizza in the world is their marinara, with no cheese. Just a confluence of crispy yet chewy crust, roasted garlic slices, San Marzano tomatoes, and high-grade olive oil. In Chicago this would put places like Quartino to shame...

Wolfgang Puck's Bar & Grill---decent if high-priced fare. Had a nice baby beet, arugula goat cheese & pistachio salad. Halibut was OK, but high at thirty bucks.

Le Village Buffet (Paris)---just fair. Interesting sausages, good coffee. There are better choices around.

*********

All for now...Rosemary's for their $23 prix fixe lunch today, then somewhere downtown tonight for dinner. Then...'home to the land of the ice & snow'...

jnm123 wrote:Makino (the one on Decatur)---best Japanese buffet on the board, esp. for $15.95. Silky tuna & salmon, great udon, crunchy tempura. Many steps up from Todai...

Both in presentation and in food quality.

The price is $15.95 for lunch and $23.95 for dinner. This is a very good value for the quality and quantity of the food you get.

This isn't really helpful to the OP, but in general I just wanted to recommend Vegas's Chinatown and especially the Japanese restaurant called Ichiza located on 4355 Spring Mountain Rd. It's off the strip but accessible by public transport, only about a 10 minute or less bus ride. I was there with my mom last summer and we ate there 2 times during our 3 day trip because it was so good. It's in a strip mall near other restaurants and a large market (where you can load up on fruit and veggies to take back to your hotel room for snacks). Some of the best Japanese food I've ever had, and really fresh and inexpensive (along the lines of Sunshine but w/ a sushi bar). We also ate at the Rio (Carnivale Buffet) which was rather disappointing.

We tried Stripburger the last time there. It's a new Lettuce restaurant. I think the burgers were around $8 which is priced well for the strip. We sat at the bar and each enjoyed a 32 oz cocktail!!...jack and coke for one and absolut tonic for the other along with some fried pickles and a bucket of shrimp.

It's all outdoor seating and although it's a little chilly there right now the heaters worked well. It's located next to the Cafe BaBa Reba they have there across from Wynn. We went late at night and it was a good scene!

Won't work for the late night meal, they close for dinner at 11pm, but I have always gotten solid reports about Nine Fine Irishmen at NYNY for good Irish pub grub. Nice to keep it in mind if it turns out you just really want to stay in the hotel.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. Checked my e-mail this morning and found a "looking forward to seeing you at the show" greeting from the Vegas HOB. One problem, no mention of Hank III on the bill. He was replaced by Lemmy of Motorhead. Ugh!!!!!! I went to Hank's site to find a "Hank III has canceled all dates w/ the Reverand Horton Heat due to strep throat." They are sorry for any inconvenience. So now I'm not sure what we're going to do as Hank was the main draw to that show for me. (Assuming our flight even takes off tomorrow w/ the winter storm advisory looming.) I'm having a giant birthday pity party. I may just have to eat and gamble heavily. Will consider all of the recs above. Lynn

missvjw wrote:Won't work for the late night meal, they close for dinner at 11pm, but I have always gotten solid reports about Nine Fine Irishmen at NYNY for good Irish pub grub. Nice to keep it in mind if it turns out you just really want to stay in the hotel.

Not sure if you're referring to Stripburger, but they are open to 1am. We were there right after midnight and the kitchen was still open.

Sorry misvjw, I read your post incorrectly...my bad!

LynnB wrote:Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. Checked my e-mail this morning and found a "looking forward to seeing you at the show" greeting from the Vegas HOB. One problem, no mention of Hank III on the bill. He was replaced by Lemmy of Motorhead. Ugh!!!!!! I went to Hank's site to find a "Hank III has canceled all dates w/ the Reverand Horton Heat due to strep throat." They are sorry for any inconvenience. So now I'm not sure what we're going to do as Hank was the main draw to that show for me. (Assuming our flight even takes off tomorrow w/ the winter storm advisory looming.) I'm having a giant birthday pity party. I may just have to eat and gamble heavily. Will consider all of the recs above. Lynn

Lemme with The Rev on the same bill? Should be an awesome show. Expand your horizons!

If not have fun and good luck at the tables.

JLenart wrote:Lemme with The Rev on the same bill? Should be an awesome show. Expand your horizons!

Agreed. Anyone with a Kuma burger named after them can't be all bad.

johnny wrote:

JLenart wrote:Lemme with The Rev on the same bill? Should be an awesome show. Expand your horizons!

Agreed. Anyone with a Kuma burger named after them can't be all bad.

In a fight between Lemme and God who would win?

JLenart wrote:

johnny wrote:

JLenart wrote:Lemme with The Rev on the same bill? Should be an awesome show. Expand your horizons!

Agreed. Anyone with a Kuma burger named after them can't be all bad.

In a fight between Lemme and God who would win?

Trick question. Lemme is God!

Well, the debacle that is O'Hare this week has made this thread a moot point for me. At least for now. Flight canceled due to "heavy air traffic." They offered us a later flight that would have put us through Phoenix and in Vegas at 9pm. I'm glad we passed, because now the Chicago flight has been delayed to the point where the connection in Phoenix would have been missed. At least the nice people at Vegas.com gave us a full refund! Birthday dinner has been moved to one sixtyblue.
JLenart - After I got over initial disappointment of lack of Hank, I really was looking forward to that show. Maybe I'll have to have a "Motorhead" for lunch at Kuma's tomorrow in consolation.

Re-scheduled trip is finally coming up! Despite my birthday disappointment, it sort of worked out better in the end - for the same price we were going to pay in December for flight/2 nights at New York, New York, we're going for 3 nights the first weekend of April and staying at Paris. Most of our major meals have been planned, but I have a big question for Saturday night. Here's what we've got so far:

Friday lunch - flight gets in at 11am, meeting a friend at our hotel (Mon Ami Gabi, 1pm.)

Friday dinner - Olives. Husband's choice.

Sat lunch - intentionallly leaving it up in the air.

Sat dinner - Here's where I could use some input. Friend of my husband's family (mentioned in OP,) that lives in Vegas really wants to take us to SW Steakhouse in the Wynn. We never made it to the Wynn first time out and the menu looks great. The issue is the only reservation time he could get is 9:30pm. Not a huge deal, but we would prefer an earlier (8/8:30 time.) Friend is open to whatever we want. Opinions? Factoring in to this is that we have booked a Grand Canyon helicopter tour/Champagne lunch for Sunday morning that I'd like to be awake & feeling good for. However, if the concensus is that SW is worth it, I'm game.

Sun - lunch will be had during the tour. We are leaning towards dinner at Sushi Roku in Caesar's.

As always, I appreciate any/all thoughts. Lynn

Re: Saturday, I see reservations available on Craftsteak's website for 6 and 8:30, if those work better. I cannot endorse it strongly enough.

For anyone going to Las Vegas, I strongly recommend going to Craftsteak in MGM and trying their "Summer Family Style Menu"
http://www.mgmgrand.com/dining/craftste ... -menu.aspx
Just got back from Vegas, and it was one of the best meals I, my husband and mom ever had in our lives, and the most ridiculous bargain. It is three **very** generous courses, and they brought food enough for at least one more person. The first course is Roasted Red Peppers, Persian Cucumber & Water Cress Salad, and Grilled Quail. All outstanding- they brought for the 3 of us 4 portions of peppers and quail, and a huge plate of salad. The second course was Grilled Kobe Sirloin, Roasted Chicken, Diver Sea Scallops (with fennel), Sweet Corn, Potato Purée, and Shiitake Mushrooms- all were huge portions- 2 big steaks, lots of chicken, 3 huge scallops. All were incredible, and the potato puree and roasted corn were unbelievably good. The dessert course for us included homemade ice cream, sorbet, fresh fruit, a berry cobbler, a blueberry pastry/cake, and a chocolate cake. I had the $30 wine pairing, and again, so good and so generous- they refilled my glass anytime it was nearing empty. All in all, one of the best meals we had ever had, at three times the price. The fact that it was only $60 per person (actually, for us it was even less because we had a dining credit for staying at MGM) was obscene- never had so much, and so much great food at that price. I strongly recommend it. You may have to ask them about it- even though these summer tasting specials were advertised in MGM at most of the MGM restaurants, it was not on the menu at Craftsteak, but when we asked the waiter he of course knew about it. Most definately worth checking out if you go to Las Vegas before August!

Wow, that does sound like a deal!

I was doing some research the other day, as I have a fall Vegas foray planned, and I saw that Seablue also has a summer deal. My wife and I also enjoyed this Michael Mina place in the MGM.

The good news for travelers is that in Vegas prices have really gone down; the problem, of course, now, is getting there.

Just made a res for next Monday at Craftsteak for our group of five. Tedesa's review sold me!

As it will be our first time, I read quite a few reviews overall on this place, and some that were fairly negative. But the Summer Family Style Menu appears to be quite a value @ $60/pp, and I'm looking forward to it.

Other favorites we'll be visiting will be Battista's Hole-In-The-Wall (gotta go every trip 'cause you never know when it'll be gone), Makino, Settebello, maybe Mesa Grill.

Since you mentioned Battista's, another Italian classic is located south of the strip. Bootlegger is a bistro that is "old Las Vegas" and features live entertainment some evenings. It is owned by Lorraine Hunt, former lieutenenant governor of Nevada.

The food is probably not the greatest or the fanciest but is generally very solid.

And they have some GREAT graveyard specials (11pm - 6am).

Bootlegger Bistro
http://www.bootleggerlasvegas.com
7700 Las Vegas Blvd S # 1
Las Vegas, NV 89123
(702) 736-4939

In the brain-melting heat of Vegas this week celebrating my daughter's 21st B-Day, we decided to splurge last night and take advantage of Craftsteak's 'Summer Family-Style Menu' for $60 per person, which our party of five ordered. Also, three of us decided to do the Chef's Selection wine pairing for $30 apiece.

It was reported earlier in this thread that this brainchild of Top Chef's Tom Colicchio to drum up summer business was a tremendous value, and as it turned out, it was. But...is it great food, or so much smoke & mirrors to trick our tastebuds?

Homemade dinner rolls were initially brought out, 'hot out of the oven'. Decent, but unremarkable. Then the first course appeared. Plates of roasted red peppers in olive oil with sliced garlic, Persian cucumber & watercress salad, and grilled quail. Separately, they were only pretty fair. But put them all on the same plate, and that is one helluva starter. One marinade blended into the next one--very nice. The quail hindquarters were small but rich & tasty, a great complement. It was matched with a Sidney brand Russian River chardonnay that was good but not great.

Our server Edgar had explained about the grades of Kobe sirloin before the next course. Japanese is Grade 12 (the kinda that will cost you a buck eighty for a 6 oz. steak), Australian is 10, and our 'Kobe-style' is 8. Still, I was expecting that decadent marbling & fork-tenderness for which Kobe beef is known. We didn't get it. Nobody complained, and it was fine, but the taste was more American filet mignon, and a little tough at that. Free-range roast chicken & rich-beyond-rich diver sea scallops were much better. The side dishes to these entrees had been trumpeted previously, and they did not disappoint---the potato puree & roasted corn kernels were made to be on the same fork. A Beaulieu '04 Cab accompanied this course, and it actually overpowered the beef--I'd have backed off a little if it were my choice, maybe to a aged merlot.

Desserts brought this meal back on track. Served with a killer Italian Moscato D'Asti, there multiple desserts were off-loaded on the table. Blueberry tart, Colicchio's famous Monkey Bread, wonderful bread pudding with cream sauce, ice cream (cookies & cream, pistachio, chocolate), sorbet (strawberry & pineapple), vanilla frozen yogurt, two small liquid chocolate cakes. All homemade, all delicious, and it closed the door to stuffed-dom.

For the money, for what Craftsteak usually charges (each of those desserts were $12-15 on their own), I was certainly glad we went. A fine special occasion night. Best meal ever in Vegas? Nope--wifey's 50th B-Day at the now-shuttered Commander's Palace takes that prize.

Colicchio does much with American heartland ingredients (and tons of butter and salt), and had the Kobe beef even approached what I've had at Chicago Kalbi on Lawrence Ave., I'd have ranked this experience much higher.

I'll be going to Vegas the second week of August, and I'm always looking to try new places. I'll start here with a list of some of my favorites (and the unfortunate disappointments) to see if others can recommend additional places I should try.

Favorite fine dining:
Nob Hill (spectacular apps, amazing lobster pot-pie)
Bouchon (a very "authentic" feeling for a place that's in Vegas)
Eiffel Tower restaurant (food as good as the view)

Favorite meat:
Craftsteak (straightforward, all delicious)

Favorite buffets:
Spice Market (better food than the average buffet, but reasonably priced)
Bellagio (more expensive - worth it for marathon eating)
Wynn (also excellent, but the slight edge still goes to Bellagio)
Le Village at Paris (only been for breakfast, long lines but all very good)

Favorite cheap eats:
Fatburger (beats In-n-Out Burger)
L&L (Hawaiian BBQ - yum!)
Chin Chin at New York, NY (not "cheap" but very reasonable compared to all the overpriced, subpar Asian places popping up in hotels)
Chinatown (just go there and pick a restaurant - nothing but good experiences here)
Fried Oreos on Freemont Street (beats the fried Twinkie, hands down)
Carnegie Deli at Mirage (not "cheap," but tasty and an awful lot of food for the price)

Favorite sushi:
Naked Fishes (off strip, great service, creative and fresh menu)

Worst buffets:
Flamingo (everything tasted of dishwater)
Harrah's (not much better)
Seafood buffet at the Rio (a horrendous rip-off)

Worst overpriced food:
Noodle Shop at Mandalay Bay (just go to Chinatown)

Not great but not bad:
Burger Bar (creative sure, but there are better burgers to be had elsewhere)
Nathan's hot dogs (they just taste better in their natural environment)
Pink's hot dogs (ditto)

I'm sure I'm leaving out some good ones that I've visited, but I know there are more to try. Ideas?

Laurent Tourondel just opened his BLT Burger at Mirage, and it's fantastic. Yes, it's burgers, but they're outstanding.

I recently had 2 excellent meals at the Venetian. B & B, Mario Batali's place, and David Burke. We also had a terrific meal at Japonais, in Mirage, but you can eat there in Chicago. In Mandalay Bay, Border Grill has very good mexican, and Aureole, Charlie Palmer's restaurant, is probably my favorite blow out expensive restaurant on the strip.