Restaurants

This thread is to be used to discuss restaurants and dining available at Mandalay Bay.

A great selection of places to eat, some operated by the property and several by independent operators that allow you to charge back your meals to your room. A quick summary:

Bayside Buffet: 1 of the top 5 in Vegas

Raffles Cafe: Everything from a hamburger to NY strip steak

Strip Steak: Great Steak but very noisy. For something equally as good but with more ambience, try Tenders steakhouse at the Luxor. You can charge your meal there back to your room at the Mandalay Bay

RM Seafood: Voted top seafood restaurant in Vegas in 2009. Recommend the downstairs dining room. The upsatirs room is more formal with a narrower selection

Red, White & Blue: Everything from a corned beef sandwhich to lobster tail. Great oysters. You can order a lobster tail as an add to any dish on the menu or all by itself.

Wolfgang puck's Trattoria: Solid, creative italian food.

We went to the Bayside buffet last year on our last day for breakfast. By far the nicest breakfast buffet I have ever been to. I actually felt sorry for the chef at the omelette station because there were too many other fantastic dishes to try. I even had some fruits I had never heard of before!

We plan on taking part in this breakfast buffet more than once this year.

I ate at Red Square a few years back. I forget what I ate, but I remember enjoying the food and the atmosphere. I remember having a couple of their specialty vodka drinks, which could only have added to my enjoyment, but subtracted from my memory.

Quote: dk

I ate at Red Square a few years back. I forget what I ate, but I remember enjoying the food and the atmosphere. I remember having a couple of their specialty vodka drinks, which could only have added to my enjoyment, but subtracted from my memory.

Red Square was really worth it! We partook years ago, is it still there?

Be aware: Red Square meals will not be comped by the casino. I'm not sure if some of the other restaurants fall in the same category. I've played at Mandalay Bay with ~$250 avg bet x 4 hrs/night, and despite everything else being covered (including spa + massage), the single Red Square dinner was not comped.

Still, damn good meal.

They don't comp the beauty salon on the lower level either.

The buffet gets an A from me too. The Burger Bar in the Mandalay shops is a sinful treat, which I have indulged many times. Red, White, and Blue I think is below par. Of the high end restaurants, I like Red Square the best.

Hey Folks ~~

Of the following high-end MB restaurants, which one would you recommend to visit first and how would you rank the others?:
-Aureole
-Stripsteak
-Fleur de Lys
-Shanghai Lilly
-Rick Moonen's RM Seafood
-Mix

I'm also interested in your opinion on some of the more casual places including:
-The Noodle Shop
-Mizyua Sushi
-Raffles Cafe
-THECafe (located in THEHotel, of course)

Thanks.

Quote: teddys

Hey Folks ~~

Of the following high-end MB restaurants, which one would you recommend to visit first and how would you rank the others?:
-Aureole
-Stripsteak
-Fleur de Lys
-Shanghai Lilly
-Rick Moonen's RM Seafood
-Mix

I'm also interested in your opinion on some of the more casual places including:
-The Noodle Shop
-Mizyua Sushi
-Raffles Cafe
-THECafe (located in THEHotel, of course)

Of those high-end restaurants, I've only been to Stripsteak and Shanghai Lilly. Of the two, I prefer Stripsteak, by far. I don't think the food at Shanghai Lilly is much better than the Noodle Shop, but is about four times the price. Raffles Cafe is just basic American food. I only eat there at odd hours, when restaurants I like better are closed.

Not on your list is Charlie Palmer's at the Four Seasons, which is outstanding. Definitely above Stripsteak. There may be an easier way, but there is a door to the Four Seasons by the Mandalay Bay VIP check in. I just wait for somebody with a key to go through it in either direction. It never takes long.

Just got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Vegas and wanted to share some thoughts on Mandalay Bay restaurants.

Stripsteak -- I'll start by saying I have traveled on business for years with a boss that loves his steaks, so I've eaten at my share of very good steak houses. I would agree with the other comments here that it is a little too bright and noisy for a steak house. The music and noise level was so high that it was almost hard to talk. And the views of people walking around in the casino hallways spoiled a little of the ambiance. But what about the food...We had three steak eaters and my wife (who I'll leave out because she just didn't seem to enjoy any of it.) I had the aged bone-in rib eye (medium), and the others had the angus filet (medium rare) and the kansas city strip (medium plus). All three were excellent and were prepared perfectly. I would put mine as one of the top 4 steaks I have ever had (behind Chamberlain's in Dallas, Del Friscos in Ft. Worth and about even with Red's Steakhouse in Phoenix) We had sides of the creamed spinach with bacon, truffled mac and cheese and onion rings. Spinach was a hit, everyone loved the mac and cheese except me (something odd in the flavor didn't sit with me) and we all agreed the onions rings were salty and a little greasy. We were served complimentary fries with dipping sauce upon being seating (excellent) and the house bread is a little pan-served focacia bread that had a little of the Pizza Hut pan pizza crust flavor (we had two pans before our steaks arrived.) Over-all a great meal, with wonderful service. Total bill was about $300 without drinks.

Trattoria Del Lupo -- This is one of our new great finds. The pizza here is fabulous. We had four; the sausage, pepperoni, meatball and margherita (not the real names, but these were the basic styles.) We each picked one, and we each thought ours was one of the best pizzas we ever had. None of us could finish one, and at $13 they were a bargain. We even ordered a few more to go one evening for a lighter meal.

Burger Bar (in Mandalay Place) -- Great burgers. Your choice of meat, bun, cheese, toppings (including a lobster tail!) and fries. About $13 for a well-adorned burger and fries. We went for the angus burgers and were not diappointed. They also have a great selection of beers on tap and more in bottles.

Mandalay buffet -- Already raved about the breakfast in a previous post. Went twice this year and we still rave. The two times we went, we skipped lunch and had to eat light dinners! Went for dinner and eh...we'll go back to Planet Hollywood next year.

Red, White and Blue -- went for breakfast on Thanksgiving because the buffet was a brunch buffet. Very much a diner atmosphere, with coffee always flowing and lots of egg, meat and bread choices. We had three nice breakfasts with coffee and juice, and the food was very good. The only down side it that it wound up being around a $70 bill (very un-diner-like.)

I agree Stripsteak, Burger Bar, Rum Jungle, and the Buffet are excellent ... can anyone tell me why most casino deli's no longer carry cold roast beef? The only place I can find an excellent RB is at the Luxor deli, the only other option is Capriotti's (sp)

According to Las Vegas Advisor, Shanghai Lilly closed today. Nothing has been announced to replace it. They may have been best known for a very hyped opening targeting Asian whales with $15,000 woks. I never went, and the Wizard said it was overpriced, but I heard good things. Always wanted to try their shabu shabu set menu. Apparently their reputation has slipped. This follows Fleur Di Lys transitioning its menu to tapas and small plates. MB couldn't support two high end French restaurants (Aureole being the other one).