Jun 15

Tournament of Kings – Las Vegas, NV

3850 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Located inside the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, the Tournament of Kings show is a dinner and show combo. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography, so I could not take a picture of the meal. The meal started out with a mug of soda, which is refilled at least once throughout the show. Next, tomato bisque is served onto a bowl. The soup resembled the tomato soup that comes with the canned ravioli, but without anything hearty. The soup was served hot, and tasted alright. The main entrée was then provided on a metal medieval plate, which included a biscuit, two potatoes, a large piece of broccoli, and a small roasted hen. The biscuit was tasty and fluffy. The potatoes were delicious and cooked perfectly. The broccoli had some cheese on it for flavor. The hen did have some seasoning on the outside, but the meat was actually pretty dry and hard to eat. Due to the theme of the show, you are not given any utensils, so you will need to eat with your hands. You are given a moist wipe you can use after you finish your meal. As you get close to finishing your meal, a small dessert plate with a flaky apple pastry is provided. The pastry was extremely flaky, but the filling resembled McDonald’s apple pie. Overall, eating the meal while watching the show was pretty fun. Unfortunately, the main course failed on its main protein due to how dry it was. I also found myself without a filled soda cup for extended amounts of time because the servers do not seem to check on everyone enough. If you are in the mood for a fun show where you can eat, then Tournament of Kings would actually be a good idea, but just don’t have high hopes for the food quality.

Jun 12

Viet Noodle Bar – Las Vegas, NV

5288 Spring Mountain Rd #106

Las Vegas, NV 89146

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located in Las Vegas’ Chinatown, Viet Noodle Bar serves up traditional Vietnamese dishes at reasonable prices. As we entered the renovated restaurant, we were greeted by staff and were brought to a table. Menus and water were provided. The restaurant has multiple televisions mounted to the walls, so there is always an angle to watch whatever they have on. The restaurant was about half full for an early weekend, so there was plenty of seating.

Today, we decided to order the spring rolls, grilled pork rice plate, and the large rare steak pho with no onions. The spring rolls tasted very fresh and tasty. They use an adequate amount of pork and shrimp and even have mint inside. The grilled pork rice plate came overly salty and accompanied with fairly dry rice. You will find yourself drinking a lot of water as you eat this dish. The pork is flavorful, but salty. The pho came with cilantro, which added a fresh flavor to the soup as well as minimal oil. The soup itself is very light, but you can taste the beef base. There was an adequate amount of beef included with the pho, but was not as tender as other pho restaurants I have been to.

Overall, Viet Noodle House serves up good tasting pho, but not so good rice plates. The spring rolls are a must if you visit here. Prices are reasonable as with any Vietnamese restaurant. Service was OK, but it would have been nice if servers came by more often for water refills. Food did come out fairly quickly. If you are looking for quality Vietnamese food off the strip, then Viet Noodle House will do the job.

Jun 08

Ginseng Korean BBQ – Part 2 – Las Vegas, NV

3765 S Las Vegas Blvd Suite 3

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located right on the strip and open 24/7, Ginseng Korean BBQ serves up Korean food to tourists on the strip. Unlike our first visit back in 2012, we ordered food that was much more appetizing. The restaurant was not busy at all as we entered late at night. A server quickly seated us to an available table. We opted not to order the expensive all you can eat option with very limited choices.

Today, we decided to order the pork cutlet and the dol sot bibimbap. We received 6 side dishes, but we had them take two back because we did not want to eat them. The sides tasted OK, but were not amazing and also lacked flavor. We were also given two bowls of seaweed soup. The soup had a strong chicken base, but did not taste like bullion. The pork cutlet came with a side salad and rice. The salad was a simple lettuce with thousand island, but tasted fresh. The pork was crispy, but not juicy at all. The meat was quite hard and was not as tender as expected from the menu. The sauce was overly vinegary and was not appetizing. The dol sot bibimbap only came with four vegetables and ground beef. The bowl was also fairly small. The bibimbap did taste good, but lacked a variety of ingredients.

Overall, Ginseng Korean BBQ does serve up fairly authentic Korean food in the middle of the strip, but the quality is still not all there. Service was definitely great on this visit, but prices are definitely on the high-end. You will probably find better tasting Korean food at better prices in Chinatown. If you do not have a car or do not feel like driving off the strip, then Ginseng Korean BBQ may do the job.

Jun 05

Wicked Spoon – Las Vegas, NV

3708 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located inside the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Wicked Spoon has become known as one of the best buffets in the strip having opened in 2010. Since the buffet is no longer new, the lines have died down dramatically. We decided to give the restaurant a try since many people still put it in their top five Vegas buffets. The lines going into the restaurant are a bit confusing because the line to pay was empty and a second line was seen to the left. You are supposed to go into the first line, pay, and then move to the second line to wait for a table. Today’s weekend dinner costed $50 per person, which is very steep, so you go in having certain expectations. Having already tried the newer Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace a few years ago, Wicket Spoon has a lot to live up to.

During our rounds through the buffet, we noticed that many of the offered food items remained empty for a while, so that makes me feel like they were unprepared to serve customers, while we also noticed other food items that just didn’t seem to turn over. From the food items we actually tried, we had some insights: The taco el pastor had some tasty marinated pork inside, but the taco overall was greasy. The shrimp with grits had some flavorful seasoning, but the grits were pretty plain. The angry mac and cheese was actually very delicious with mild hints of spiciness. The duck wings were fairly large and included drumsticks as well. The duck was tender and delicious. The freshly cut prime rib came overly bloody, and it was not tender at all. The meat was chewy and had no flavor. The addition of au jus did not help either. The hand-made Italian sausage had way too much black pepper. The fried chicken was not juicy and the meat was tough. The chicken carbonara tasted flavorful and delicious. The five-spice roasted pork was overly salty and the skin was too hard to chew. The Spanish corn tasted refreshing with hints of lime. The beef drunken noodles had rubbery noodles and was not spicy at all, but the flavor was decent. The spinach artichoke dip was delicious, but it only came with two chips, which was not enough. The cooked salmon atop a bed of spiralized zucchini was a bit dry and flavorless, but the zucchini was delicious. The quality of desserts varied. The cheesecake was too mushy, but had a strong base with tasty top. The raspberry macaron was OK, but the shell was too fragile. The chocolate-Oreo dipped strawberry tasted fresh. The carrot cake was delicious and moist. The lemon cake had very strong lemon flavors and its cake was moist. The pistachio cake and blueberry cake both had denser, drier cakes and their flavors were not as evident or were unflattering. The mango passion fruit cake was very sour and unappetizing. The chocolate tart was very hard and unappetizing. The chocolate mousse cone was OK, but I did not like the dark chocolate much.The Thai tea ice cream tasted just like Thai Tea. The Tiramisu ice cream tasted more like coffee ice cream with minimal Tiramisu ingredients inside.

Overall, Wicked Spoon has some delicious food to offer, but there was a whole lot of food that we did not like or we had no interest in. I took pictures of all the food stations as well, and you can really see a lot of food that we skipped. Service was OK at first, but got better when the servers had a shift change. We liked how each table has their own fancy bottle of water, but you can still order juice, soda, tea, or coffee. The pineapple juice was actually really good. For $50 a person, I cannot say that Wicked Spoon was worth it. If there were more better prepared items or more tender prime rib, I would say that Wicked Spoon is worth a shot. At this point, I would say your money is better spent at Bacchanal Buffet.

Jun 01

Shake Shack – Las Vegas, NV

New York New York

3790 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Located right outside New York New York Casino right on the strip, Shake Shack brings their East Cost favorites to the West in a proper Las Vegas location. As you enter the restaurant, you will find a large menu board with many different options. Prices seem to be on the higher side for burgers in comparison to their West Coast fast food rival In-N-Out. Unlike fast food, Shake Shack at this location is more of a restaurant because you order and are given a buzzer while waiting for your order. We were able to find plenty of available seating inside, but there is some outdoor seating as well.

Today, we decided to order the double ShackBurger, the Shack Stack, crinkle cut fries, and a caramel shake, The burgers themselves were not very big, but the meat patties were definitely larger than In-N-Out. The meat was dense, but not juicy. There is a tasty char on both sides and tasted fresh. There was an ample amount of creamy American cheese in both burgers. The double ShackBurger tasted OK with its potato-like bun with Shack Sauce. I could not taste much of the sauce in the burger when you taste a full bite, but it did resemble a more tangy thousand island dressing. The Shack Stack actually looked larger than the double ShackBurger due to its deep-fried mushroom center and came a whole lot hotter too. Like the ShackBurger, the beef was not amazing,but went well with the “healthier” mushroom center. The added pickles in the burger tasted very fresh and were cut fairly thick. The Shack Stack did come together well in terms of size, but did not taste as much as it costed. The fries came fresh and crispy while being lightly salted. Other than its shape, the fries were no different from any other standard fried potato product. The caramel shake did have hints of caramel, but resembled more like vanilla. The shake also did not taste as much like real ice cream in comparison to In-N-Out.

Overall, Shake Shack serves up a large variety of food options at expensive prices. The burgers came together well, but I cannot allocate the price spent to the product received. Although I have not tried many of their other menu items like frozen custard, I do not see myself coming back to Shake Shack anytime soon. If you really want to have a taste of an expensive New York favorite, then give Shake Shack a try. Otherwise, just go to In-N-Out.

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