And the idea I have to spend $200 to be allowed to spend $200 next time to get what I'm looking for. Idk man - pisses me off because I have a bunch of friends who are regs there and rave about the food.

Sen is my place, but I think this is a very valid review. If it is the first time, you minimum will experience 4 or 5 of these dishes and I definitely think your idea of Sen fixed menu is much better. Also agree that especially in Vegas, the idea that you need to treat people with kids gloves on an omakase is pretty ridiculous. Sorry it wasn't a great birthday meal, but I personally would not give up on the place.

Ok so going to Vegas for 2 weeks with wife. We are both huge foodies. I am thinking of hitting up some of these places for first time but budget only allows for 5-6 max. Pick 5 out of Picasso, L'Atelier, Guy Savoy, Alize, Kabuto, E', Twist, Bazaar meat, Sage, Nobu, Sake Rok. Feel free to add any if I am missing some of the top ones. Have already been to Cut (not impressed), Carnevino (not impressed), Sage (awesome, but not sure how it stacks up with other places I havent been yet), Delmonico (Ok, wife loves lobster bisque), Nobu (amazing salmon belly roll is all I remember, think I ordered 4 in row last time), Olives (Enjoy it for lunch but not amazing), also like Morels, Lavo and Bouchon for brunch but never tried dinners. Feel free to recommend some good brunch spots too.

Thanks in advance

quick bump on this...

A couple of friends have suggested Javier's. Not a steak obviously but would this be a fun but decent-food place to go?

I'm from Australia, so we have loads of decent steak places but no decent Mexican joints

Otherwise we'll be doing Stk

I can't speak to the food at Javier's, but the jalapeno margarita is amazing.

I have never been to Javier's, but any high end Mexican restaurant that bills itself as serving 'authentic Mexican cuisine' and includes nachos on the menu gets a raised eyebrow from me.

It's fine. I enjoyed my meal there awhile back. Mostly enjoyed the cabernet as I recall...

It's way overpriced Mexican food, but you don't have to leave Aria.

I'd go to STK.

My votes would be:

Picasso - best meal I've ever had in Vegas.
é - highly recommended if with wife
Bazaar Meats
Kabuto - best sushi I've had in Vegas, won't measure up to best of the coasts, but best in the desert. Original sushi chef opened a new place called Yui Edomae but I've not been there.
Chada - off strip Thai. Not fine dining per se, but worth a trip every time I'm in town

Had a horrible experience at L'Atelier last month, can not recommend. Mon Ami Gabi in Paris is my go to breakfast/brunch place and has my favorite steak frites in town.

At Bouchon this morning. Holy **** the blueberry compote on the French toast is to die for. Benedict perfect velvet texture as well. Jesus they just get better.

which menu did u get at picasso? Do you know of more places with great non crazy expensive food like Chada, preferably not far from strip?

Yes, there are a bunch of really good places. Just google hottest places to eat in vegas right now and look at the off-strip ones.

I realize that it's a lot to ask (with literally thousands of posts), but you should read this thread and the casual dining thread for recs. It's also too much to ask for everyone to keep posting all the good places in town every time someone is coming for vacation. If there were an obvious list of "if you're going to go off strip, you should go to X, Y, and Z," this would be a very boring thread.

"Where should I go" really needs to become "where should I go for X or Y cuisine at Z price point, including drinks and an Uber from Mandalay Bay"

went back to L'Atelier tonight. It was slammed. And our experience wasn't as good as the last few times. That said, it wasn't the food's fault. And Eric, the server who had us primarily, was solid. Unfortunately there were some serious delays between courses in the full seasonal. It was an hour from sit down until we had the carpaccio which, we weren't delaying. An apertif and amuse shouldn't take an hour. And then there was another 20 minute delay between 4 and 5.

They seemed understaffed for the first time in my half dozen visits there. There was a bit of harried behavior, especially from the service staff. They were also training a new server who seemed in over his head. Again, this is just some schmuck talking here. Chef Benjamin was prepping apps for like an hour in front of us, which, while cool to watch, kind of spoke that they needed more staff. The food though was awesome again. So, yeah, wouldn't give it a star on a night like tonight. But I've had better than this at this place too.

Chef also stopped by for a few minutes to talk about the menu. He was all over the place tonight. I think he worked every station, took some orders, greeted a few guests, basically everything but clean the ****ter.

If you saw the episode of Chopped on food network with Benjamin, youd be aware that the dude can multi task like a boss. I bet he did clean the ****ter

While something like a bad course always can happen and is not the end of the world, I feel totally different about the things you described. If the crew is understaffed to a degree that customers take notice and their dinner experience suffers, that's something that can't happen at a place like L'Atelier with that price point.

I wonder if there was some change in management recently?

Just hope he ****ing washed his hands.

had my best CUT meal ever tonight. Was originally gonna do Savoy but really took a pounding in the pits and cancelled it. Kinda glad we did. Andrew the Irish bartender was ****ing phenomenal. Got the kitchen tour too that others have had and I never did even though I've been there a dozen times. They are aware of us here I do believe.

What did you eat and drink there?

Too much. Champagne cocktail aperitif, bread (pretzel roll is the personal favorite) tuna tartare, Nebraska ribeye, Washington filet, Mac n cheese, shi****o peppers, Sangiovese glass, berry crumble dessert with pairing, two plates of mignardises. Espresso. A Purgatory.

That was the two person consumption tonight. Pours were Irish too.

Does purgatory refer to you rolling around moaning from eating all of that?

I had purgatory after my meal too.

Hahaha, no it's some aged rye-based drink that showed up in front of me during mignardises. Benefits of having an Irish bartender who you talk soccer with methinks.

Going to LV for two days with a lady friend later this week, any suggestions for Thurs dinner or Fri brunch/lunch? Currently have Chada for Friday dinner and planned on getting reservations at Kabuto for Thurs but had no luck. Thinking of grabbing steak (Cut? Delmonico? Jean Georges?) on Thursday but does anybody have suggestions? Won't be bringing suit/dressy clothes so no Guy Savoy/Robuchon type of affair but budget is no issue. Also, thoughts on Raku?

Bouchon for brunch. CUT vs Delmonico's is style/atmosphere. CUT is LA. Delmonico's is New Orleans.

Jimmy,
I know your site is having issues, but if you've been can you post a Yui review on this thread.

Thank you

Here's the quick one.

Yui is in no way worse than Kabuto which means that it is phenomenal. Gen-san's second restaurant being done the exact way that he wants to and Kabuto was always his brainchild as well. I've heard that the chef at Kabuto has been very good at maintaining quality and I have to admit they're so close I really can't tell the difference. That being said, if the menu is ever going to change then I think Yui is going to be the one to maintain quality while doing it.

That being said, the menu I had was the exact same at Yui as it was at Kabuto and Yui was slightly more expensive. So to me, both places were exactly similar. As time goes on, however, I expect Yui to surpass Kabuto.

Just don't do what i did and play with the jalapeño garnish and then rub your eyes...