Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Saltgrass Steakhouse - Laughlin

Ok, so it's a chain and this particular location is in Laughlin, but all that aside this is a pretty decent restaurant with excellent service and servers. 

I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so we decided to try them out on a recent visit to Laughlin. Located inside the Golden Nugget, overlooking the river, this is prime real estate on good ol' Casino Drive. 

We arrived around 5:30 on a Saturday and they were packed! They took our number down and we were able to go get a drink and watch the sunset while we waited for our text that our table was ready. 

Everyone working here is incredibly friendly and genuinely hospitable. Our server was attentive throughout and kept on top of refills, orders and requests. 

My fella and I decided to try the rattlers, which are basically deep fried japapeno poppers stuffed with shrimp. This was the low point of our meal. They were awful and we ended up disassembling them and just eating the shrimp out of the middle, so it didn't go to waste. We had the cowboy ribeye as well and it was really good. Cooked to order and huge. The quality is what you would expect from a chain.

We were too full to order dessert and we had plenty of leftovers to take back to our room with us to enjoy later. 

Excellent meal made all the better because our gift card covered the whole bill.


The Sandwich Spot

I couldn't resist trying The Sandwich Spot after hearing they had just opened up. 

It's located in an obscure mini mall. I asked for some advice on what to order since I was a bit overwhelmed with choices and the guy behind the counter suggested the Carter. I was a little wary about cream cheese on a sandwich, but figured I'd give it a shot and I opted for the Dutch crunch bread. 

I got my sandwich quickly and was out the door. I arrived just before the lunch rush as the line built up quite a bit when I was leaving.

I enjoyed my sandwich, but I have to say that I'm glad I tried it as it was on the menu but I didn't love the cream cheese and the bomb sauce didn't have as much kick as I would have liked. The bread was good and the rest of the ingredients were tasty, but there wasn't enough about my meal to make me go out of my way to return. 

Decent sandwich if you're in the area with good prices. 


Mr Mama's

Mr Mama's moved and now they're located on the corner of Russell and Jones. With this new location comes many benefits. 

The parking lot is much larger to accommodate more patrons and their restaurant is much larger allowing for more tables. They have updated their look as well. Nicer tables and the decor is homey.  

They have the same great service and reasonable prices, luckily. The wait was still pretty long, but despite being quoted a 45 minute wait, we stayed and the wait was more along the lines of 25-30 minutes. I'm not sure if it's because they underestimated the wait or that guests on the lists wandered away before having their name called.

My omelette was perfectly cooked and delicious. Our server was generous with refills. I'm happy with this new location and looking forward to frequenting it for weekend breakfasts.


Monday, February 16, 2015

Orchids Garden

Having done dim sum at many different spots around time, I am surprised it has taken me this long to give Orchids Garden a chance. 

They serve dim sum all day. The carts come around and it was relatively busy. Obliviously, it s better for freshness if they are pretty busy so the food can be replenished often. Most of the items we tried were decent. Obviously some had been sitting on the carts a little longer than was optimal. 

I can't say any one item was a standout but for the price it was good and filling. I'd be interested in giving them another go during a busy weekend morning to see how they hold up.


Griddle Cafe at SLS

Came here for the pancakes and was not disappointed in the food. The service and drinks, in the other hand, were terrible.

Everything having to do with SLS is a disappointment and I'm not surprised that the restaurant are pulling out as quickly as they can.

Not busy on a Monday and our server couldn't keep our orders straight and ended up just bringing out the same order for both my friend and myself, despite U.S. ordering different things. She admitted her error but aside from calling herself dumb and forgetful we didn't get much in the way of an apology as she continued to forget refills, take forever with drinks and return with my friend's corrected meal when I was already done with mine. 

I rarely give service so much influence over my star rating, but service was so atrocious I couldn't get past it.


Sunday, February 15, 2015

Shake Shack at NYNY Hotel & Casino

I've never had a chance to try Shake Shack before, so I was interested when the new location opened up at NYNY Hotel & Casino. 

The line wasn't too crazy based on what I've seen to be the norm. I went for the shake stack, cheese fries and a drink. All this for $17.50. Yikes!!! 

The burger was solid and the I enjoyed the fries, but for a fast food burger, that price was steep. I liked the burger, but if I were ever to happen upon Shake Shack again, I would skip the fried stuffed mushroom. The concept sounded delicious, but I was disappointed in the execution. It was over battered, dry and the cheese stuffed inside was a watery mess.

It was good for a one off, but I'll stick to other notable fast food stops for my burger fixes at 1/3 the price.


India Masala at Riviera Hotel & Casino

I was on strip with my fella and decided to grab a quick bite at the Riviera. I remembered they had a food court and recalled some positive reviews for India Masala. 

My expectations were low, but I persevered. I ordered the chicken tikka masala which came with rice and a side of naan.

The curry was decent. Not very spicy and more on the bland side than I would prefer, but still ok. The rice was dry and overcooked. It was clearly sitting around a while so I avoided it. The naan was my favorite part of the meal. It was overly oily, but delicious. We were tempted to order an extra one for dipping, but decided against it.

Decent for a food court and probably ten times better than the other food court options at the Riviera, but that isn't saying much.


Cafe Noodle & Chinese BBQ Cafe

Having been relatively unimpressed by this place years ago when I first tried it, it wasn't for several years that I returned.

I stopped by with a friend for dinner as we were starving. We ordered a gluttonous amount of food, expecting to have plenty of leftovers. If the items we tried, there were a few items I enjoyed, but overall, nothing really stood out. My favorite from the meal were the salt & pepper pork chops and the service was surprisingly attentive. 

The food is cheap, but I don't see myself coming back any time soon.


Old School Brewery

I'm not really sure how to review this place. It's an awkward and very spacious location. We were driving in the area and decided to grab some food and drinks here.

We opted for the restaurant side, which is huge. It's a little too well lit for my taste and there are rows of booths as far as the eye can see. They just recently opened, but the decor is bare, and that's being kind. The walls are stark and there is really no ambiance to speak of.

The menu is small and despite the restaurant being completely empty the server only had one menu for our table and promised to find another one for us, which she did after a while. For a restaurant this large, I'm pretty surprised they don't have more menus, especially since they are printed paper on clipboards. 

The menu didn't look too exciting and after a while of perusing neither me nor my dining companion could find anything we wanted to try. Our server was so nice and friendly, we felt obligated to order something so I went with a house brewed Hef and my friend got a cider. We also shared some tater tots. The waitress offered me a sample of brew first off, which worked out well. I tried a sip and I didn't enjoy it one bit. So glad they gave me a sample first. The tots were basic but I didn't really enjoy any of the flavors of the beer cheese and bbq dipping sauces.

I wanted to like the place and although I didn't try too many options, I can't see making any special effort to return. I hope they can put a little more decor on the walls, lighten up the atmosphere and develop their menu a bit more and I could see this place being successful, but for now it's dullsville.


Pink Box Doughnuts on Lake Mead

I've heard about Pinkbox for quite a while and they seem to have exploded here in town, so I'm surprised at myself that it took me as long as it did to give them a shot.

They are located in a generic strip mall along with tons of other chain shops. The store is small. There were a few of us in line and we all had to keep maneuvering to let one another by since it was so cramped. 

Their fridge was down, so they were keeping all cold beverages in the back. They have quite a few different options as far as donuts so but nothing really stood out to me surprisingly. I decided on the green tea because it looked the most enticing and the tutti frutti because I thought it was the most photogenic. 

The girl behind the counter was really nice and I was on my way in no time. 

The green tea was my favorite. Fresh, soft and subtle in flavor. I enjoyed this donut the best of the two I chose. The tutti frutti did nothing for me. It was overly sweet and the frutti pebbles on top had hardened. The cake donut was well-made and I ended up scraping the icing off and enjoying that part.

Overall, everything I tried was decent but I don't see this becoming my go-to donut spot.


Pei Wei in Summerlin

This was my first visit to a Pei Wei and I didn't walk in with high expectations, but they didn't really live up to even the low ones I had set.

Having had the flu last week, I decided to stick to something mild and safe on my first real meal back. I ordered a bowl of wonton soup and a kid's size of lo mein. My fella had the sweet & sour chicken with white rice. 

I ordered in advance and when we arrived our meal was sitting on the counter ready for pick up. My soup was bland, good my stomach couldn't handle much, but under normal circumstances it was too boring to order with mushy bits of wonton floating around in it. The lo mein had a lot more sauce than I was expecting. It was overly sweet and I had a hard taking a bite or two before giving up on that mess. My fella didn't like his meal either so I don't expect to give them another visit any time soon.