Restaurants

This thread is to be used to discuss restaurants and dining available at Venetian/Palazzo.

My favorite restaurant at these casinos was Sushi Samba. I've eaten there twice and the food was great both times. There regular sushi is nothing special, but they have some fusion sushi dishes which you won't find any where else. Also their Sea Bass was very fresh and perfectly prepared.

Wife and I stayed at Venetian/Palazzo 12-20 thru 12-25 '09. Ate at Grand Lux Cafe several times: its run by The Cheesecake Factory so it was decent, albeit a bit loud. We had a pre-theatre meal (prix fix, limited choices) at Morels at Palazzo 12/24 that was excellent (wife had steak, I had chicken, both were prepared perfectly). Service was attentive but unobtrusive. We'd go back.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, we also ate lunch at Emeril's "Table 10" at Palazzo. We both had the "Crawish Mufuletta Pasta" - Italian Deli Meats, Creole Olive Salad & Parmesan Cream tossed with Linguini Pasta with bits of crawfish. It was off the "starters" menu but the serving was more than enough for a main dish. It was good but you would have to be a fan of mufuletta's to really enjoy it: the strong taste of the deli meats tended to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the crawfish.

Wife and I stayed at Palazzo Aug. 8-13. One meal was lunch at First Food & Bar. We shared orders of fish tacos, honey shrimp, tomato salad, and grits. We thought the fish tacos were just "OK" (nice crunchy texture with cole slaw inside but not very flavorful) but the rest was outstanding. The combination of the shrimp and the tomatoes made an excellent flavor pairing. My wife doesn't particularly care for grits but loved the smooth, cheesy, First Food version (I thought it had a touch too much butter but it really was excellent).

With my office over at Hughes Center, about 1/2 block east of the Sands Convention Center, I like to go to restaurants at Secretion/Palazzo for lunch. Force-ranking the restaurants where I've had LUNCH. I always sit at the bar, so I don't know the table service. I know this is about 1/3 of the places you can get lunch but these are most of the "fine" places where you can get lunch.

1A. Morels. Very cool bartender, great BS. Had soft shell crab sandwich and summer greens. Delish! Great aioli, fall-apart bread.
1A. Carnevino. Yes, also 1A. Had the steak sandwich with side salad. Great bread, very tender beef. Usually, you have to tear a steak sandwich. Not here. Nice.
1B. Lagasse's Stadium. Came in by accident when looking to watch a soccer game. Very nice! Had the etouffe and some onion rings. Rings were oh-so-slightly bread-y, otherwise it would get a 1A, but I miss good cajun food (no, Lola's doesn't cut it, although Rhythm Kitchen does). GREAT venue to watch sports, but you should get there early-early. Women were nice looking but that may have been due to the soccer.
2. Canaletto. Had the tagliatelle and some tea. A little non-descript and the service was slow, but with women walking between the pool and the hotel as well as the carnival side-shows, definitely some interesting side shows.
3. Grimaldi's. This is a chain and not a "fine" place, but I included it so I could rank Table 10 below it.
10. Table 10. Urgh. Staff was nice and location was fun for people-watching. And it seems to be an industry favorite for nice looking industry women. I had the pork sandwich and summer green salad. The salad was sweet, which is fine, but the bartender peppered it without asking ... strike one ... and it was a sweet salad ... strike two. Bread was inedible. Tea could've been Lipton.

EDIT: Zeffirino. Like. Kind of a hobbit-hole-in-the-wall feel as it's on a beaten path, but still feels like a "find." Had the veg pasta and tea, better pasta than Canaletto, best so far at this resort (with still a couple to try). Smidge more expensive but not too expensive, will definitely go back for client lunch and/or date night. Recommended.