Last time I was in Vegas I ate at 1st Food and Bar and loved it. Now I see it's not around anymore. Can anyone recommend something similar? Thank you.

LoS is out because there won't be things there that are familiar to the crowd. At least at the japanese places all of the food is recognizable, and at PPP I can do a banquet with half the food fairly american-standard.

But yeah that would definitely have been my first choice.

This is basically for the equivalent of a rehearsal dinner (there is no rehearsal, so this seems dumb, but our wedding is going to be very nontraditional, so we're already throwing a lot of wrenches into mother-in-law's plans. She wants a rehearsal dinner for the crew, so I have to book someplace). We're doing our "reception" (really post-wedding dinner) at Carmine's because it's low-ish cost and everyone will be happy with the food. They were also incredibly accommodating -- yes, I even needed special requests at a place that simple. So now after performing the miracle of finding one dinner spot for this whole crew, I'm being asked to part the Red Sea again.

We are staying at MGM and looked at Pub 1842 and Avenue 24, but neither of these can really accommodate a group our size either. Todd English PUB can, so maybe we'll try to do that. I thought P^3 might be a more fun way to go, but maybe I'll just go super standard American/Italian/pub for the group meals and plan all my other meals at Monta, Raku, LoS, Kabuto, Nobu, ...

Any other pub-type places I should be considering?

Wy,

Please describe the makeup of this group of people!

I feel like Todd English is too expensive for your target. I can't say for sure since so much of our tab there is always beer, but I always end up feeling like the food is crazy expensive there for that kind of place.

Eh, price isn't a huge deal. Fiancée and I will cover whatever is left over, and we were thinking like 2k for the ~30 of us. [with half drinkers and ~$30 meals, seems reasonable, maybe 25-27 all in].

Makeup:
4 children <= 10
1 grandparent who will barely eat and won't drink (also basically thinks she's allergic to everything and will eat plain chicken breast, plain white fish eg tilapia, or chicken fingers)
1 set parents, not afraid to try things within reason, but not adventurous and def not foodies. But they will drink for sure.
1 set parents, very limited palates. Meat and potatoes, pasta, etc. We're doing border grill brunch and that's gonna be really pushing it for them. Also one won't drink and will make the other feel bad for drinking. Also they will bitch about how picky the grandma is.
My sister, a celiac
13 friends, 2 of whom are vegetarian & 2 of whom are pregnant & 1 of whom (besides the pregnant folks) doesn't drink. And one of whom doesn't eat seafood or anything spicy. Ate chicken fingers and pasta thru college. Oh, but she will eat pad Thai after her husband worked on her for a few years. The rest of the friends are normal food-loving and -appreciating folks like ourselves who eat everything.
7 siblings/spouses, one of whom doesn't eat any seafood.
Fiancée and myself, who will try basically anything (eg the Jungsik and Minetta TR in the NYC thread)

Among us, I'm aware of at least 3 people who won't eat steak unless its med/well+. One who orders toast black, and sends it back until it is basically set on fire. One who bitches about every.single.thing that has ever come out of a kitchen, ever. One who only eats well done french fries and sends them back until they are sufficiently crispy/brown. One who keeps kosher (but will eat vegetarian out).

We are planning a simple wedding and dealing with a mom that wants to plan every little detail (we don't want any details) and is in tears every day about wedding issues (this was supposed to be stress free).

**** I need a drink.

You don't just need a drink, you need a new family.

Wy,

Good lord. I do kind of like the crispy fries person, though!

Yeah, budget-wise TE pub should be fine, especially based on which kinds of beers I'm guessing that crowd will order.

Also pretty sure this group would not have been big fans of the new Mina gastropub (1842?) you said didn't have space. It's significantly more adventurous than TE pub.

I'm surprised you consider Ichiza more accessible or better for picky eaters than Lotus. Have you actually eaten there? With the exception of a few simple grilled/fried meat/fish/veggie dishes, most of the menu is pretty out there by American standards.

Between Pad Thai, fried rice, and basic curries, I'd think there's a lot of stuff at Lotus that would be nearly as familiar and agreeable to picky eaters as what you could get at Ping Pang Pong or any other Chinese place.

I guess Ping Pang Pong is probably your best bet for upsetting the fewest people, but it sounds like you're dealing with a lot of people who are just going to find something to be upset about anyway. My advice would be to absolve yourself of the obligation to please these people and do what you want to do.

Duh, thats why im getting married.

I get the "OMG your wedding is going to be awful if the tissue paper in the goodie bags you didn't want doesn't match the colors on your invitations, which by the way looked terrible because you did them yourself and didnt use a professional and why aren't you involving me in more oops I mean ALL of your wedding decisions especially linens and flowers and photographers and colors and music" mother-in-law

...whom I love dearly, but jfc she is crazy. But at least I can take her to a restaurant*

*that isn't Mexican, Thai, Korean, ...

I haven't been to Ichiza, but I've heard good things.

"Basic curries" are still a little too out there. Because curry is Indian food, and that gives you the ****s. :sigh: But I hear you loud and clear re: Ichiza. Thanks.

And you're right obviously re:doing what I want. But mostly I want my fiancée to be happy, and she's going to bear the brunt of it from M-I-L-zilla, so I'm trying to keep everyone happy, at least from Friday evening thru Sunday brunch.

I love Ichiza but there's no way it's what you want for this group:

http://www.foodspotting.com/places/5...s-vegas/latest

Omg that looks fantastic.

Oh, just in case anyone's wondering...Aria's buffet is ****. On a stick.

Agreed.

Can anyone recommend some places with happy hour specials? I would like to sample some of the better restaurants without paying the outrageous prices

when i'm there...particularly in the fall and winter months I like to hit the PJ Clarke's happy hour which is like from 2:45-6 for their $1 oyster special. Pretty good oysters on the half shell for a buck apiece. They also have a few other things on the happy hour that are good, my wife likes the prime rib sliders (she doesn't like raw oysters).

+1 on PJ Clarke's, and American Fish has a great happy hour too.

yonaka happy hour 5pm-6:30 11pm-2am. it's like 3m from rio so kind of out of the way, but cant be beaten for value late at night

had like 10 things + amuse and off happy hour menu dessert for $45...

the happy hour menu is more expansive than what they have listed on their site

I like the following for beer.

Sin city brewery at flamingo has buy one get one on all beer during happy hour.

Todd English pub at aria had a pretty good happy hour, half off all pints, and oysters for I think $2 a pop

Debating trying a Fri lunch buffet.

In the thread, the consensus appears
#1. Baccahanai @ Caesar's
#2. Bellagio
3rd seems like a tossup. Always open for your opinions.

Also is Hopfields the best burger on strip? I had that & Burger Bar a while back. Doesn't have to be fancy, just quality flavor. Always like to compare around.

The best burgers I've had on the strip actually haven't been at burger places. I'd recommend Carnevino and Mozen. I've also heard the Delmonico's burger from the lunch menu is great. None of these are really casual dining, but they're not actually significantly more expensive than places like Burger Bar.

If you want a "burger place," my favorite is Holstein's. I've never heard of Hopfields and can't find it on google. Where is that?

Where is hopfields?

I assume Hopfield's = Holsteins, which is pretty funny.

You guys haven't been to Hopfield's? GTFO. Best burger on the strip.

Hopfields is decent, I prefer Holsteins.

Feel free to answer where it is then