So a restaurant with a price range of $30-$120 per person is "dirt cheap" relative to other options in a casual dining thread?

If by dirt cheap, you mean, 50%+ more expensive than average, then yes, I agree.

(For the record, I like Musashi and have no problem with their prices.)

Describing a place where most people spend $50-100 on a meal as "dirt cheap" is absurd imo.

Was in Vegas for Neckcar last weekend and we ate at China Poblano.

Pretty good food. There were 8 of us, so we had an opportunity to try a lot of different things.

Asian:
1) Beef Sui Mai - Very good. The people in our group all really liked this.
2) Lamb potstickers - these were more mexican tasting to me than asian. Also very good.
3) Spring rolls - meh. tasted like any spring roll I've ever had and I did not like the sesame dipping sauce.
4) Lettuce cups - These are good and very much like the lettuce wraps at PF Changs. I'd say they are better than the pf chang version but the tastes are very similar.
5) We also ate the Pork Street Taco - I'm not sure if it's mexican or asian to be honest. They say the bread is indian naan but it reminded me also of asian steamed buns. The filling is a super rich slow-roasted pork and pork belly filling with a salty but good sauce. It's really really rich, but good. It is a bit salty though.

Mexican stuff we had.
1) Queso Fundido - plain and the version with Chorizo - These are really good. They aren't anything special above good queso fundido that I get in texas, but if you aren't from a place that has this, definitely give it a try.
2) Conchinita Pibil - Yucatan pork tacos - Pretty good and very authentic. Slow roasted with the achiote, and served with the traditional pickled onions. Good dish.
3) Lengua - Beef tongue tacos - this was my favorite. Very beefy, very tender and quite spicy. Definitely try this.
4) Carnitas Taco - Best taco of the nite according to the table, but some of them were wimps and wouldn't try the lengua. Very Very good and definitely worth ordering.

Overall I thought their mexican stuff was better than their asian. If I go back i'm trying the Barbacoa (they were out the night we were there) and I'd like to try the Pozole and the Mojo shrimp.

Sura is all you can eat, as are several of it's competitors.

Best Mexican on the strip? Been to Dos Caminos? (I thing it's gone but was in Palazzo) I really liked their food. Also tried Diablo's, (just outside of Monte Carlo) and I wasn't impressed. Something in the $50 and under p/p?

Also, Brazilian steakhouse on the strip? Is there one at Mirage? PHo? Best IYO?

Thanks

Dont know about Mexican but mint Indian bistros's lunch buffet may be one of the best values I've partaken in

See my post on China Poblano. The menu is half mexican / half chinese, but the mexican stuff we had was all really good. Queso fundido and Tacos were top notch. You can get out of there for under 50 pp. I thought the mexican stuff was really good, and I'm from Texas so I'm more picky than the average person since we have good Mexican food here.

try the lengua, carnitas and barbacoa tacos...queso fundido for an app, and then maybe try some of their ceviche or the pozole. I think you'll be happy.

Thank you, I honesly stopped reading when your post said "half Chinese" for two reasons; 1) I don't see Chinese and Mexican working together, but I am obviously wrong and will most likely give it a go. And 2). IMO there is one of the best Asian/Chinese restaurants 5 minutes from my house.

Chino Poblano is in ARIA?

cosmo

and i second the carnitas recommendation.

I thought it was very average. Not even as good as the place in TI, which is also gone now. There used to be a number of good Mexican places on the strip, but apparently Mexican food is not hip these days.

It's not on the Strip, but the place in the Orleans is the best place I know of in Vegas any more.

It's in the cosmo and you can basically decide to eat all one or the other. It's not fusion per se, it's more like 2 restaurants in 1. You could choose to eat all chinese, or all Mexican so don't let that put you. You wouldn't be going to a place that tries to make like a chinese food enchilada...it's not that sort of place. Go all Mexican there and you'll be happy.

Did not like china poblano at all. I did mostly stay on the asian side of the menu though which it sounds like was a mistake.

Only Brazilian Steakhouse I've been to on the strip was at PHo, Pampas. Both times I've eaten there have got the GroupOn. It's like half off iirc. Otherwise, it feels a bit overpriced. The meat, seafood & salad bar options are all pretty good, but I wouldn't say are necessarily special.

iMO China Poblano can barely if at all be described as "casual dining".

Owned and conceived by name/"celebrity" chef Jose Andres, and featuring a fare that in terms of prep methods (at least as claimed by wait staff), presentation, portion sizes, and not least price is a far leap from the typical casual Mexican or Chinese restaurant, CP falls much closer to the (Vegas version of) the "fine dining" concept.

I'm neither talking about the quality of the food nor the experienced level of the service, but rather about the intentions of the restaurateur.

That said, in addition to inconsistencies in these two areas (food quality and service), it is possible that confusion about the concept underlies the far from heterogeneous reviews.

Spanish born Jose Andres himself describes the food as his "personal take on Chinese and Mexican cuisines", and it's likely that the random Vegas reveler who stumbles upon the restaurant and expects to be served typical Mexican or Chinese food will be disappointed by the departures from classic "chimichanga/rice & refried beans/taco chips" American-Mexican fare.

My personal experience is that China Poblano tries to be unique, and sometimes succeeds, sometimes not so much.

Pampas (@Pho) was very meh. Samba Grill (@Mirage) was ok, the oversize caipirinhas were tasty, convenient location, nothing special.

Fogo De Chao and Texas De Brazil are both off strip, but a short cab ride, and better imo.

As for Mexican, will definitely try the Mexican elements in China Poblano next time. Diegos (MGM) also made a little more effort than the standard tex-mex places, where pretty much everything you order comes out looking the same and tasting the same.

Qft.
I work and live near San Francisco & Oakland Chinatown and I was not impressed with China Poblanos take on dim sum.

Best Mexican place on the strip is likely Border Grill at Mandalay Bay. I'm not saying it's exceptional, but it is likely the best of the bunch.

Komex > China Poblano, and everything is 1/3 of the price and the portions are twice as big. Not exactly the same concept, but sort of similar. The bulgogi fried rice at Komex is the way to go, you can thank me later.

x2 on the Texas de Brazil/Fogo de Chao recommendations. The salad bar is better at TdB, but FdC has a garlic steak that's amazing, and their side dishes that are brought to the table are better.

if you want a modernized version of mexican food nothing is really great

if you want mexican food on the strip go to tacos el gordo. open til 5am fri/sat 3am otherwise

meh, for vegas strip, it's casual. It's not anywhere near fine dining inside and the prices though high for normal off-strip dining is what I'd call casual for strip. There are no tablecloths, the inside is very casual and you can eat 3 tacos for 15 bucks and be satisfied. You can spend more as well, don't get me wrong, but in my book that's casual. It's no more expensive than Noodles in the B where you can also eat cheap, or eat expensive, and nobody would call Noodles fine dining.

I'd agree that it's not tex-mex, but I think the tacos are pretty close what I consider cal-mex. Carnitas, etc. If you go in looking for cheese enchiladas, then yes, you'll be disappointed, but I mean, read the menu before you go.

New places I ate at this trip:

BurGR - It was ok. For the strip, the burger was actually on the cheap side. I think they under-cook them a bit. The onion rings were solid.
Sugar Factory - I could have sworn someone in this thread recommended them for dinner. It was awful and way over-priced. I had a ham and brie, which was decent, but my wife got the mac and cheese which tasted just like kraft that you can buy at the store.
GR Pub and Grill - The English sausage and mashed potatoes meal and the service were both good.

Anyone here have the Bellagio buffet? It was profiled on a recent cable TV show. How does it compare with other Vegas buffets. I couldn't find anything posted on 2+2, so this looked like the right place to ask.

I've had their breakfast buffet which was pretty damn good...would recommend.

How's the quacamole?

It's OK.

Like a lot of other **** it's been going downhill over the last 5 years, but it kind of still holds up. The fish section has become notably weak, but the carvery is going strong.

Get a line pass from the poker room or walk past the cue and tell the hostess you want to sit at the bar.