Yep, it's my #1 place for someone-else-is-paying business lunch (and #1 for same kind of dinner, in Beverly Hills). They're moving into the Olive's space at Bellagio.

When I ate solo at Kabuto I was at the end of the bar against the wall. Nobody talked to me, which was perfect (I'm weird).

I’ve seen you mention before that certain places are only good if not paying. I think Scarpetta was the last one. Where else in Vegas would you consider good si king as you’re not paying? Basically wondering what you think is good but not worth the $. Gotta keep those places off the list

My experience with Scarpetta was the Beverly Hills one (which is no more) but it definitely qualified as a "someone else's dime" restaurant, like Spago. Boring but good, nothing too special but definitely expensive, and more of a staid atmosphere which is good for a business dinner. Offhand I can't think of any other restaurants in Vegas that would fall into that. B&B and CarneVino are kind of that. Maybe Milos, for dinner at least.

I've got around 100 in Total Reward comps I'm looking to at a ceasars property. I'm not interested in steak, but I pretty open to anything else. I've looked at various restaurants but nothing sings to me. I guess I can get some sushi at Nobu, but I've been there before and it's fine, but I think it's kinda overrated.

Any suggestions?

I would suggest Mesa Grill at Caesars. Corn tamale and shrimp appetizer and ancho chile-honey glazed salmon are stars.

I might do a mini-TR but I ate at three strip restaurants:

Thursday: Nobu. Sat at the bar. I usually get black cod miso, this time I went with some kind of crab tempura that was amazing. Not sure why I paid $7 for miso soup. Had a few cocktails. One nice thing is that they are open until 11 pm.

Friday: Carnevino. We tried to go to Delmonicos but it was closed for a private event. Service was OK. First bottle of wine we ordered, they didn't have the listed vintage. Three of us shared the Bone-in Ribeye for two. l thought it was incredible. We also split a pasta dish (tagliatelle) which would have been small for ONE person.

Saturday: Michael Mina. Did the pre-theater menu, which is a good value if you don't like huge portions. Ahi Tuna (amazing), Filet (Actually I thought this was not that great--my dad got the filo encrusted sole which was quite good). Root beer float for desert.

Been to Kabuto 4-5 times and it is always great. How does Yui Edomae compare? I know it’s the former chef of Kabuto and I also see the omakase is ~$85, $120, $160 compared to Kabuto ~$58, $85, $120.

What is the higher price getting? I can’t imagine service or food being better. It maybe you all can explain. Or is it just more courses?

I was just surprised by the difference and wondering.

P,

Why can’t you imagine food being better?

Kabuto was incredible and I am unimaginative. ��

Mostly I am curious if folks reply that it’s better quality, taste, presentation, more food, or just more pomp & circumstance.

I think Kabuto is better than Yui both in price and quality. I've been to Yui 4-5 times and Kabuto about 15-20. I really like Gen-san who was the original at Kabuto, but at Yui I think quality suffers a bit because they have very few customers by comparison with Kabuto. Every time I've gone to Yui there have been max 6 people there, all of whom are poker players (Seiver, Dan Smith, Joe Cheong and others). Kabuto is always full for both seatings every night and I think they probably have significantly higher turnover rates for their fish.

The other big issue I've had with Yui the last two visits is the itamae I've had. It's a young guy who speaks completely fluent English and the pieces of fish have consistently been quite small and not of great quality. I feel like I've had better experiences when it was Gen-san serving for sure. Overall Yui costs more and is less good IMO.

Trying Hiroyoshi this weekend on Gobbo's rec because I stupidly didn't book Kabuto far enough out. Also going to hit Zuma because staying at the Cosmo and it's good for the points. Maybe I'll add those to my ongoing TR.

I enjoy blowing comp dollars at Raos.

Heritage steak is almost pointless, but their 800 degree burger and some cocktails is a fun way to dump $100 in comps. Or the Gordon Ramsey Pub so you can get that sticky toffee pudding dessert

thanks for the suggestions.

Old Homestead? Heritage is the pointless restaurant at Mirage.

Lol you’re right my bad. They’re both pointless and start with an H.


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Pretty sure Old Homestead is in the top 5 of least bang for your buck restaurants in Vegas.

I had a girlfriend who was somewhat high up on the Caesars chain and when Old Homestead did a soft open she took me with a bunch of her coworkers and we only paid a tip...but I had the bone in filet and it was one of the best steaks I have ever had. Not sure they could replicate that, but it did happen.

Just flash your Total Rewards card and you'll get like $3 off of that $90 filet.

First time poster here.
Question for the crowd. Heading down for a couple nights and have dinner booked at Mastros and SW. I have been hearing a lot of great stuff in the forum about Carbone. Should I swap out SW for Carbone?

Would you consider swapping SW out for a riserva steak at Carnevino?


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Been to Carnevino before and group has not done SW so was looking for something new to try and heard solid things about SW.

That’s the high-end version of “should I swap out Outback for Olive Garden?” but the answer is the same. Do you want steak or Italian?

Can’t go wrong with any of the two but I don’t think they are very memorable.

i strongly think that you should sub out SW for Carbone. Both are quite expensive, but SW to me is extremely boring and just obviously targeting the business expense crowd. A decade ago I would say that SW was a great choice, but the quality and the originality has really gone down while the prices continue to rise. At Carbone, while extremely expensive, they have some touches that I think makes the dinner more memorable like a number of tableside options as well as some dishes that really remind you of your favorite small italian place back east, just 3x time more expensive.

There's no reason to go to both SW and Mastro's, they're the same restaurant just the latter has more seafood. I'm of the camp that Mastro's is overrated, but I'm basing my opinion on the Beverly Hills location and that it's nothing but a high-end chain steakhouse, and those bore me.

Carbone is good.