This is our fifth year anniversary, so I'm not worried about impressing my s/o early in our relationship. My wife just wants to dress up nice and have a semi-formal atmosphere. Right now I'm leaning towards Picasso, but she really likes those outdoor cabanas at Costa di Mare.

I've also had Beauty and Essex recommended to me. Any thoughts on that place?

If you like Picasso and she likes Costa da mare then you should probably compromise and have an outside cabana at Costa da mare

Heading to Vegas in 3 weeks. Have a reservation for Picasso on Saturday night and plans to go to Bouchon Brunch and Lotus of Siam during the trip.

Any new-ish recommendations (can be on or off strip) that someone feels strongly about?

FWIW, I loved Picasso. (I am a woman, if that matters.)

Wife and I are doing 3 nights at the Cosmo in a few months. We're belatedly celebrating a landmark anniversary and it'll be the first vacation sans kids in 13 years. Wife's preference is to spend of the time in/around the Cosmo resort and to eat there if possible - we've got a Fountain View suite so we'll do some pre gaming on our balcony and then want somewhere to walk to

One night we'll do a pre show dinner and that'll likely be away from Cosmo but I'm looking for recommendations on two restaurants within the Cosmo resort for the other two evenings....one will be an 'anniversary' dinner.

We can afford pretty much anything reasonable, albeit I take no pleasure in spending more than I have to and I'm just not gonna be spending $180 on a steak or whatever. So...if it was a guideline of $200ish per head for one night and maybe $150 per head for the other (albeit with the ability to spend more if there's a good reason to)..what would be the recommendations?


guidelines...

- we're not mega foodies, so don't need degustation.
- the atmosphere is important... we like nice places with a good vibe vs super pretentious places that are purely about the food experience
- wife's preferences are 'not too heavy/sauce based stuff' so French/Italian is out and I'm not a huge fish/seafood guy so prefer not a seafood specialist.
- I'm asking for Cosmo recommendations, but Aria and the B are so close that we'll definitely consider those as well

thanks

Julian Serrano at Aria probably doesn't completely fit the bill atmosphere-wise since it's open and casino-adjacent, but the tapas concept is good, it's adventurous, the food is good+, and it doesn't break the bank. It's perfect for a nice lunch if you're looking for something in your complex.

Jaleo and Momofuku are probably the two "best" options in Cosmo itself but the latter seems too dangerous. Like, I'm afraid one of you wouldn't like it at minimum judging on your preferences.

I ate at Jaleo once and it was fine. It may sound odd but the vibe was really red. It made me feel like I was in some shady area of Amsterdam while I was eating there. Food was good though.

By virtue of elimination I’d say steakhouse one night and Spanish/Asian/fusion or Sage the other night?

FWIW, French/Italian fine dining is usually not very heavy and sauces are certainly not used to overpower the main ingredients. Exception might be Primi which is pasta or gnocchi most of the time in a 4-course Italian meal, but even that shouldn’t be too heavy on the sauce and is a course you can skip anyway if you don’t want it.

Good French food should never be sauce-heavy (unless it's a dish that calls for a heavy sauce)

My husband hates most sauces, especially the American restaurants with all the mayo, cream, etc., but he loves French restaurants.

Yeah, if you’re ruling out French and Italian because they’re too sauce-based/heavy, you’ve been doing French and Italian wrong. At the higher end neither will be too heavy.

I’m thinking Sage fits your criteria. Can’t think of a restaurant at Cosmo that does.

Thanks guys and yep, Jaleo looks like the best bet from my POV in Cosmo and wife loves Asian/fusion. We live in Sydney and there’s a ton of great places here tho, so I’m ok with trying something else.

Have been to most of the best steak restaurants over the years but haven’t been to STK yet. What’s the atmosphere like?

Wife jumped on Rose Rabbit Lie. Doesn’t look like fine dining but has anyone eaten there? Thoughts?

This might not be fine dining, but for a nice brunch, ill do Terrace point, anywhere else that is on par?

Bouchon at Venetian or Bardot at Aria on Sat/Sun.

Certainly not fine dining but also a good experience is Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. They do a pretty good job at replicating the atmosphere of a street cafe in Paris where you are surrounded by other tourists to watch a funny mix of tourists and locals pass by on the sidewalk. At least on weekdays, on the weekend the Strip is full of drunken idiots by 10AM.

Can always do the Sterling Brunch at Bally's

Parasol UP at the Wynn is a great place for overpriced cocktails for people watching. Great service though.

The BEST people watching place used to be the Ghost Bar at the Palms - my wife and I went for the views early on a Friday night and the average age of the men was about 65, women 25. I told the bartender I thought it was heartwarming to seen so many grandfathers showing their granddaughters a nice evening out. He gave me a quick "no" shake of the head....
MM MD

Madlex is right. It's Bouchon imo. The best part about it is that it's so hard to get to that they get very little traffic that isn't specifically trying to eat there which makes the clientele very adult. Tough to get a table outside in my experience.

Herringbone brunch buffet is A+++, inexplicably empty when I went

Friends went there and told me it was almost impossible to find, maybe that’s a reason? They also raved about a French Toast Panettone they had there, so I decided to try making that at home since I had one leftover from the holidays anyway. Very pleased with the result, easy to make and ridiculously good.

Agreed. It’s basically the whole menu as AYCE

I recommend Bouchon at Venetian for brunch as well.

Picasso was great when I went there last year during wsop.

I don’t see it getting mentioned here much but I had a great ribeye at Bavette’s at Park MGM.

also, can i please have suggestions for a nice sushi spot, and how is raku?

What exactly do you mean when you say “nice”? High quality food or ambience? For Japanese restaurants that often are kinda sparse on purpose, those two don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

Are you looking for something on the Strip or are you willing to drive/Uber somewhere? With sushi, quality of ingredients is obviously extremely important and if you mix expensive ingredients with expensive Strip properties, you end up with a very expensive meal.

first thing is good food, then atmosphere, also willing to uber, I heard great things about Raku, just wondered if there is anything else.

Yui Edomae, Kabuto, not strictly sushi but Kame (haven't been, but have only heard amazing things).

Raku is great, and you will definitely enjoy your meal, but not a sushi place (although they do some sushi). Plenty of TRs ITT i believe.

For all of these, make a reservation ASAP.

The Kabuto experience is maybe a little sterile and reverent (especially if you are in Vegas for a short time and looking to keep that vibe going). But the food is absolutely top notch, and you will most likely have at least one thing for the first time.

So i made a reso at rose rabbit lie. The food lools awesome