After one visit, Blue Ribbon has my vote for best sushi in Vegas (with the caveat that I haven't been to Bar Masa).

Sat at the sushi bar and ordered omakase. The meal consisted almost exclusively of raw seafood, more sashimi than sushi. Highlights included:

Tiny Japanese sweet shrimps (about an inch and a half long and not much bigger around than a pencil lead) served raw and plain in a little pile. Very mild and sweet, delicious by themselves or with a touch of soy sauce. I had never seen these before, but if I notice them on menus elsewhere I'm definitely going to start ordering them.

The best abalone I've ever had. Served sashimi style, it had a brininess and depth of flavor I usually associate more with oysters. In the past, I've found abalone to be pretty bland and I don't really love the texture. This abalone changed my mind.

Uni, also served raw and unadorned. Again, nothing particularly unusual about the preparation, just some of the freshest, mildest, sweetest uni I've ever had.

Beef (probably Wagyu?) nigiri. The beef was very lightly seared, still pretty much raw inside. Served cold over sushi rice. Incredibly beefy and rich. A beefiness experience on par with the best steaks I've had.

Did the sweet shrimp look something like this?



In that picture, its multiple shrimps.

or in non nigiri form



If so, I am very excited for Blue Ribbon the next time I am in Vegas. I also noticed that they have Uni in the shell.

Probably the only benefit of mad cow disease was the banishing of bone marrow. At least that was the case in Germany. Fortunately it never made a comeback.

Note to myself: Add Omakase @ Blue Ribbon to "want to have" list.

My BR omakase highlights have been monkfish liver and giant clam.

Went to Blue Ribbon finally. Overall I really enjoyed it, but had a few complaints.

Edamame: Perfectly salted, and almost perfectly cooked.

Miso Soup: Interesting presentation with the miso paste served on the side and you had to mix it in. I enjoy my food heavily seasoned / salted, so I used all of it, and it gave the soup a very strong taste that I really enjoyed. Very good.

Wagyu Tataki: Decent, but overpriced, and not anywhere close to as good as Nobu's. It was a little bland, and the texture of the steak was not enough to carry the dish.

Oxtail Fried Rice: One of the best fried rice dishes I've ever had. The oxtail was great, and the bone marrow was amazing. Unfortunately, fried rice can never be "omfg amazing", but this was very good as far as fried rice goes.

Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken: The outside crust/skin had a salty/spicy flavorful spice on it that was great. Inside the chicken was very juicy and the perfect texture. Even the breast wasn't the least bit dry. Very good.


For sushi we ordered an order of yellowtail sashimi, and unagi nigiri. The waiter clarified they are 2 pieces per order. We sad that's fine. He brought 2 pieces of yellowtail, and 1 piece unagi, so we ordered another unagi. We were charged for 2 orders of each. The Yellowtail was pretty good, but not great, and even more expensive than the already overpriced Nobu. The eel on the other hand was outstanding.

We got a Tako Sumiso whiich was just ok. Soaking the octopus in the miso vinegar sauce made it overly watery, and still tough.

Finally we got a couple hand rolls. I got an eel and avacado hand roll which was pretty good (nothing special), but at $23 wtf?! They charge extra for hand rolls, which is normally the opposite approach. Looking at Nobu's menus, hand rolls are ~ 40-50% less than cut rolls on average.

For 2 people our bill came to ~ $240-$250 pre tax and tip.

Overall the meal was very good, but Nobu is cheaper and better IMO (and I already consider Nobu to be overpriced for what it is).

From reading everything posted, I think it heavily depends on what you order in terms of where you should go, Blue Ribbon or Nobu.

Okada

Honestly, I didn't consider Blue Ribbon in the class of Nobu (which I concur is overpriced).

Ya. The fried chicken was so good, I might go back to Blue Ribbon and get 2 orders of that and nothing else ;p

I will also give the omakase a try at some point. Only reason I didn't get it is because I ate there with Mastr who had literally gotten the omakase the previous night.

Ya, it was in non-nigiri form and looked a lot like the second picture.

oh cool then, I've been in search of shiro-ebi for a long time.

I had thought that I would have to go to Urasawa for them but if Blue Ribbon gets them during their season then I'm pretty excited.

You should be excited. They were extremely delicious.

Ate there for lunch. Place was very good.

Sorry that this is slightly OT because it probably doesn't qualify as "fine dining" but with all the foodies (and foodies into Japanese food) I figured this was the right place to ask.

Are there any good Izakaya restaurants (or any at all) in Vegas? We love pounding Kirin/Asahi and eating lots of different dishes.

Ichiza on Spring Mountain is pretty good. Make sure to order plenty of the dishes written on the walls.

Raku isn't technically Izakaya, but it probably fits what you want (it's aburiyaki I think?) It's a bit more expensive / upscale, but super super awesome and also open late.

ELV agrees that the fish at Blue Ribbon is drastically overpriced.

That's the 2nd post in a row where he's posted my exact thoughts.

Had a discussion a while back about Morel's in LA, and how it was the best Caesar I've had in a long time (since every Caesar I've had in Vegas has been mediocre at best). I still haven't been to Morel's Vegas, but am definitely planning on going now.

You can get Caesar's in the states? Every time I try to order one i get a funny look and they have no idea what i'm talking about. Have to get a Bloody Mary, and end up extremely disappointed.

Just talking about caesar salads

Too bad. You had my hopes up for a minute there.

Anyone been to Rosemary's on Sahara? Was thinking about taking my gf there for V-Day. Any reviews or experiences good or bad?

a lot of people have been there and many of them like it!

Whats a nice place to eat steak with a view of the strip for around $50 a person?

It's up there with Vintner Grill and Todd's Unique Dining. Those are probably the top 3, off-strip, American restaurants in Vegas.

not really belonging to this thread but your best bet is probably mon ami gabi.

thanks