Buon Gusto - Henderson, NV

After an afternoon of shopping, my friend and I were famished and decided to try Buon Gusto for dinner since we had a coupon. 

We walked in at 8pm and there it took some time to get seated since it's a pretty small place. We were finally seated and our waitress took our drink order. 

I ordered the baked ziti Siciliano and the Italian wedding soup. Our order took a pretty long time coming out and after about 20 minutes of waiting the waitress came out to let us know that she was sorry for the wait since they had apparently closed down the kitchen without letting her know and that they had to start it all up again to cook our orders and that of another table that came in before us. I'm a little surprised and disappointed that they decided to close down the kitchen a good hour before they were scheduled to close. Seems like a bad business practice. 

If we had known that the kitchen was closed, we would have found another place to eat, but after waiting so long we figured we might as well wait it out. 

The soup was lukewarm, not surprising after hearing about the kitchen snafu. Our entrees finally came out and they were decent. My pasta was good and I enjoyed the sauce quite a bit. The eggplant was overcooked and had an unappealing texture.

Our server was sweet and she kept an upbeat attitude despite all the shenanigans that seemed to be going on in he kitchen. The kitchen staff seemed to be playing around and more focused on wanting to leave for the evening, which made us uncomfortable and we ended up rushing through our meal to leave.

I see this being a decent spot for take out, but try not to come by too close to closing time.

Pho Lan - Las Vegas

Located in an obscure strip mall location, it's a bit hard to find. 

We arrived around 7 on a Friday evening and the place was pretty empty. The restaurant is spacious and clean-looking. 

We ordered some eggrolls to start and then took our time choosing entrees. I ordered the grilled pork and eggroll vermicelli bowl and it was really good. All the veggies were fresh and I enjoyed my meal. They offered us complimentary Vietnamese coffees and we couldn't resist. I was buzzing after a few sips, but it was delicious. 

Service was excellent. Friendly and superior to many other restaurants I frequent in town. 

I would be curious to try their pho and a different appetizer the next time I visit. I hope they have more patrons then.

Yassou's - Las Vegas

Attempting to eat a little better than usual, I had my eye on a salad for lunch. I have wandered by this restaurant on many occasions and finally decided to give them a shot. 

They were packed for lunch, so I put in my order and found a seat to sit and wait. It took a good amount of time since there were a number of orders ahead of me, but once it was ready I was so excited to dig right in to my lemon chicken and gyro Greek salad. 

There was tons of meat, feta, onions and kalamata olives to accompany the lettuce. I didn't even feel the need to pour any dressing over it, since it was packed with so many delicious toppings. The salad really hit the spot the well-cooked gyro and chicken made my day, it was so delicious. 

I plan on making this a regular on my lunchtime rotation and I look forward to trying many more menu items in the future. I might call my order in ahead of time to save time.

Buldogi's - Las Vegas

I have been slightly curious about Buldogi's over the years and when I came across an Entertainment book coupon for buy one get one free menu item free, I could no longer resist. 

I ordered the Gangnam dog which was topped with pork belly and pickled cucumber and my friend and I shared an angry kimchi fries, but switched out the sweet potato fries for regular fries. 

The service was friendly and quick and we had our food in no time. The food looked so pretty, it made for a perfect picture opportunity.

My dog was good, nothing to write home about, but it was decent and I enjoyed the toppings more than the actual hot dog since it got a little wrinkly and shriveled after the cooking process. The fries were well cooked. I have a feeling I might enjoy plain fries more if I were to come back, instead of the ones with all the toppings. The fries themselves were perfectly cooked and while I enjoyed all the toppings, including the nicely cooked egg, I found myself picking out the plain fries to enjoy by themselves.

Overall, I enjoyed our meal, but I don't think I'd make this a regular stop on my foodventures.

Yardbird - Las Vegas

We had the luxury of enjoying the private dining area to celebrate a birthday in our small group of seven. Arriving at 5:30, we were treated to a plethora of menu options and we all left full and happy. 

The highlights of the meal were the chicken and waffles, farmer's cheese with watermelon, meat pie that wasn't officially on the menu at the time of our meal, bone marrow on toast points, chicken and biscuits and the fried green tomato BLT. Everything was decadent and prepared with love. Honestly, I can only think of one menu item that we tried that I didn't enjoy. The mac & cheese was decent, but didn't live up to the rest of the meal. It's the only thing I wouldn't order again, which is impressive based on the quantity of menu items we had the pleasure of trying.

Of the desserts, my favorite was the black and blueberry cobbler. I'm a sucker for anything fruity and this lived up to my expectations. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but the rest of the desserts we tried were excellent as well. A table favorite was the chess pie. A little too sweet for my palate, I do understand the appeal and recommend it to those who enjoy sweeter dessert items. 

Overall, it was an excellent meal with great company and I look forward to coming back again soon.

Bachanal Buffet at Caesars Palace

If you're going to do a buffet, you might as well do the best one there is in town. Bacchanal is the best, but it comes with a pretty hefty price tag and a usually long wait in line.

All the stations are decent and I end up roaming around from food area to good area for far too long trying to narrow down my choices. I like to think of it as a little exercise before filling up on crab legs, steak and gelato.

Be sure you factor in wait times before coming here. Obviously they are usually busier during weekends and holidays.

Mercadito

I didn't have much interest in checking out Mercadito until I heard they had a Tuesday industry special for 50% off all their menu items, including cocktails. 

We arrived and it was packed. The noise level was a little louder than I would have preferred, but I guess that's to be expected. Our server was attentive and my friend and I decided to share two taco plates and some elote.

The pork belly tacos were my favorite. Good texture and flavor. They even had a nice spicy kick. The camaron were ok, they didn't have as much kick as I would have liked. I will likely ask them to heat the tortillas next time since they were a little on the cooler side. I think that would have made all the difference.

My friend tried their dessert and said it was good. Their menu is tapas style, so I encourage larger groups to come and share. They had some really interesting cocktails on their menu as well that I look forward to trying on my next Tuesday night visit.

Location: 11011 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89135

Items samples: tacos camaron, pork belly tacos, elote