All good vacations are planned around the culinary adventures that will transpire during the trip. At least for me. For the past 4 years, I have picked a city and then revolved the touring, shopping, relaxing, beaching etc. schedule around the eating schedule.  My husband and I went to NYC in 2007 (it was his first trip) and I made sure the itinerary included a trip to Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay’s Flagship), Nobu (for the best sushi on the east coast) and Francisco’s  Centro Vasco, a little Spanish restaurant in Chelsea with the best lobster tail orreganato I have ever had! 

*We don’t eat at these types of restaurants every night of the week, but on vacation, we figure the expense into our budget!*

So when J and I started this business we were of course excited about all the “research” trips that we were going to take. The first stop: Las Vegas. Eric and I got married two years ago at Caesar’s Palace and Vegas holds a special place in our heart. It’s a quick 5-hour drive from Phoenix (or 40 min flight) and it is host to so many amazing restaurants, the list is endless. I started bugging J to use his handy “Open Table.com” application for his iPhone to make some reservations as soon as we took off on the highway. We mulled over le Cirque, Olives and Craft Steak. We discussed the Mario Batali-Joe Bastianich restaurants that seem to have taken over the Venetian. I got hungrier as the road trip went on. The snack mix and beef jerky were not cutting it! I needed a gourmet fix and fast!

We got into Vegas at about noon on Saturday and were able to check into Treasure Island (or TI as they would like cool and hip people to call it) early.  We got refreshed from the drive across the desert and headed out to the Caesars Forum Shops. We needed food! First stop was Spago for some sandwiches, pizza and pasta. Eric had chicken sausage pizza, I had fennel sausage pizza, J had pasta and Shena had a chicken salad sandwich. The food was decent. I was not amazed, but I was reminded that Wolfgang Puck now has cafes in airports, so I guess my expectations should not be so high. This lunch was our very first taste of the service degradation that is fine dining during a recession. We waited for water. We waited for cocktails. We waited for bread. We stacked out own dirty dishes and handed them to the waiter. Sigh. I thought, ok, this is a fluke. The next culinary adventure will surely be better.

That night we met up with our friends Sonny and his girlfriend Rebecca. Sonny is a partner in a business called Chef Live that features local Vegas chefs cooking their signature dishes. He set us a reservation at Firefly, a Tapas joint off the strip. I had high expectations because I really trust Sonny’s opinion on food. He is a true foodie.  Firefly is a small joint that serves big flavor. We ordered a sampling of 10 different tapas (Small Plates) and holy amazing. The food was dynamite. We sampled prosciutto wrapped dates, camarones del ajo, warm beet salad, filet sliders. The list goes on and on. The food was first rate. The atmosphere has a Spanish flair and is a great happy hour location. I had a watermelon mojito that I won’t soon forget. The place was packed, so I was not overly concerned by the fact that we bused 80% of our dishes ourselves, asked repeatedly for new plates and silverware and had a hard time getting drink refills. Besides, 6 of us ate and drank ourselves silly for less than $300.

 

 

The next morning as we wandered around the Venetian, we discovered that the one and only Thomas Keller has a Bouchon hidden away from the hubbub of the casino.  My heart started pounding. My palms got sweaty. I started speaking in a high-pitched monkey type voice. Thomas Keller’s cooking? Here? Wow. So we headed upstairs. We had a short wait and I poured over the French Laundry cookbook while J and Eric served us Champagne and Beer. We were called to our table. Shena and Eric headed to the restroom and J took a photo of me eager with anticipation of the culinary adventure that was surely to ensure.

Hmm…we met our waiter. He was not really interested in discussing his arm tattoos. No worries. Let’s talk about the food. We ordered: Quiche, an omelet, chicken and waffles, and steamed mussels. Then we ordered another round of drinks. Ten minutes go by. Nothing. A lady shows up with 2 pieces of bread and a confused look on her face when I mention that there are four people dining. Five more minutes. Still nothing. I flag down Mr. Tattoo. He says our drinks are on the way. Drinks finally show. It’s now been twenty-five minutes since we ordered and no food. Mr. Tattoo assures us it’s on the way. Ten more minutes. Then a purple clad manager squats down at the edge of our table and explains he is sorry for the “mishap” in the kitchen and he is going to buy us a round of drinks. He promises food very soon. Ten more minutes. No free drinks, no food. At this point I am done with patience. I am in full-fledged grumpy mode. J leaves the table and the drinks finally show up with little acknowledgement from Mr. Tattoo. About five minutes later, the food finally shows up. Nice presentation, but nothing amazing. And certainly, not worth waiting fifty minutes after ordering for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered eggs. How long can eggs take? So we eat, spend some time grumbling and discussing this as a future blog entry and we try to enjoy what’s left of our morning. After we stack our plates to be cleared (again!) another manager comes over and apologizes for our experience. He brings the check and voila! All the drinks have been comped. This was a nice touch. I started thinking, “hmm, perhaps they do understand that a restaurant such as this should not treat any customers how they have treated us.” Oh no. J explains that when he left the table, he called American Express (who truly enjoy making him happy!) and explained the story. Amex called the GM of the restaurant and explained it would be in their best interest to make us happy. So they did. I just wish it had not taken a third party to correct the problem. We left, I took a picture of the sign for posterity and we were on our way to figure out dinner plans.

 

 

 

You may have figured out that J and I take eating quite seriously. We knew there is a plethora of good eats at the Venetian and Wynn properties so we wanted to walk to each restaurant, read the menu and decide where dinner was going to be. (J also likes to sample champagne at each place ) So Eric and Shena headed out to gamble and we headed out to find our next adventure. We wandered up and down Batali Alley (my coined name) at the Venetian where Mario must have literally purchased every restaurant on this strip. We looked at Delmonico, Emeril’s steakhouse. We checked out a couple of more local chef’s joints. Then we found Carnevino between Venetian and the Palazzo. Wow. This was our jackpot. We had read about it online, but were very impressed. It had a mock “outside” patio into the casino for optimum people watching, dark wood paneling, a tasting menu and it really screamed “MEAT” which always closes the deal for me. We made our reservation. We were excited.

We spent the afternoon shopping and gambling. After a quick rest, we headed out to Batali and Bastianich’s Carnevino. Our reservation was for 7:30 PM. We arrived at 7:30 PM and our table was not ready. The restaurant was about 40% full at this point. No sweat, we love getting to know bartenders! We bellied up to the bar. We ate some breadsticks. We looked at each other. The bartender continued to wash glasses. I asked for water and a glass of wine. He took my order, filled it and went back to washing glasses. Eric and Shena got his attention, ordered some drinks and were served. J, who was seated on my left, was ignored. We sighed and finally I snarked, “This gentleman is with us, and would like a drink as well. And I want my water.” That did the job. Just was we finally were all hydrated, our table was ready. They wouldn’t allow us to transfer the tab (*sigh*) so we closed out and headed to our “patio seating.” Our waiter arrived and we told him that we were fed up with the lack of service we had received in the past two days, and that we were counting on him to change our experiences for the better. He looked nervous. He explained the menu and suggested we order their two signature steak cuts for the table, two pasta entrees and two-three appetizers. We concurred. The appetizers arrived: razor clam two ways, beef Carpaccio on arugula, and duck egg with pastrami. Delicious.  

 

The razor clam was outstanding. We started to relax. We stacked our dishes without annoyance. We looked at our empty cocktails without any distain. We waited for the pasta. Cornish Game Hen Cannelloni and Black Fettuccini with shallots. Wow. The Cannelloni was cooked to perfection. We scarfed down the pasta. We mused about culinary genius. We stacked our plates again. We needed more wine. But, we were so sated by the Cannelloni that it didn’t faze us. 

 

 

Next came the meat. Now, I consider myself a meat connoisseur. I love grilled, smoked, braised, or sautéed meat. I am not very picky about steak. Cook it the way I order it, season with salt and pepper. I am a happy camper. Up rolls our steak on two side carts complete with four employees to do the carving. The steaks are Fred Flintstone sized. Pretty darn amazing cuts of beef goodness. They start carving. I wonder, is that meat done medium? Hmm…They place the platters in the center of the table. The meat is medium rare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grr. We decide not to complain, and arguably, it is fantastic. I like my steak a bit more firm, but it was still one of the most flavorful cuts of meat I have had in years.  At this point, we were all stuffed and happy. (Still managing our own dishes and drink refills, but happy) We ordered some dessert to share. We got the bill; it was not cheap. We had a great meal, but still left feeling a bit disappointed. Why, during a $600 dinner, should one EVER have to bus their own dishes, seek our a water pitcher or go without a wine refill?

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of our trip included a free trip to the TI buffett (more bad service from the hotel staff) and a stop in Laughlin at a gas station for some Funyuns.

We ate our way through Las Vegas at some incredible restaurants. We were exposed to some tremendous chefs, menus and features. The absolute pain of this ordeal is that we spent more time busing our own dishes, calling over the server to fix a problem, than we did enjoying the food. I know we are in a recession. I understand that restaurants are staffing down. I know that fine dining restaurants are off budget by 30-60% depending on the place. However, in Vegas especially, if your restaurant has patrons, who are ordering everything you suggest and $25/glass champagne, I think it’s all right to give them extra special service. Scratch that. We didn’t even get basic service. The reality is this, during tough economic times, if you take care of your core clientele, even BETTER than during a normal economy, they will return. They will tell their other upwardly mobile friends. They will write positive assessments of their experiences and they will do it with pride. I am disgusted with the lack of consistent service we received. I am pleased that Bouchon and TI made adjustments for us (at the prompting of AMEX Concierge). I am going to pay close attention to all future service I receive during the next six months. I hope restaurateurs do the same.

 

**J returned to Vegas the following weekend and had equally bad service at 2 different restaurants.