I’m meeting nine of my high school buddies at the end of the month in Vegas for a “boys’ weekend” and I’m still looking for a place to eat on the Thursday night. (We have reservations at Lotus of Siam for Friday night and Bucca di Beppo on Saturday.)
Some limiting factors: 1. We’ll be a fairly large party. 2. A few of my friends are vegans, so wherever we go, we need to be able to order non-meat dishes. 3. I’m the only one in the group who really drinks wine – most will probably drink beer (except for those “on the wagon” of course). So I’d like a place with a reasonably priced wine list since it’s unlikely anybody will be sharing the cost of the wine with me. 4. Since we’re already having Thai and Italian, I’d like something other than Thai or Italian.
I was thinking maybe French – Mon Ami Gabi and Pinot Brasserie seem to get favorable reviews on this and other boards... But if anyone has any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Thanks.

Since it is a "boys" weekend out or whatever, I won't suggest such places as Picasso or Le Cirque.

Maybe steak is an option? If so, there is Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House (originally from Dallas off of Paradise Road, there is Morton's of Chicago off of Flamingo and Paradise. I heard they have an excellent house salad, superb sirloin steak, and if anyone is into seafood, the salmon filet is also a good choice.

If you are into Japenese: Maybe Benihana at the Hilton...great entertainment watching a guy slice and dice a piece of chicken into 50 pieces in 10 seconds

As for French, I would have to say that anything in the Paris hotel should be fine. The Le Village Buffet seems to be a popular choice amongst my acquaintances who look for selection and moderate quality. I think dinner is 24.95.

Hope that helps.

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Well, let's see if my first attempt at posting a link works. I asked a similar question a few months back and those are the responses I got.

One place that we did go and had a nice, not too pricey meal was Postrio at the Venetian. The vegetarian had a couple of options to choose from and the wine list, while a bit on the high side, had some decent selections (heavily CA). I'm pretty sure they could accommodate your party - I thought I saw some tables of 8.

Oh and it was pretty much American fare with some twists.

I'm confused...you said it was all guys...and then you said there were some vegetarians??...
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The modest water, awed by power divine, beheld its God and blushed into wine. - John Dryden

fishr -
I'll be out there next week for three days with the wife. I'll try to make it a point to look at the vegetarian selections wherever we eat and post it here when I return.

Griffin: That's great! Thanks.

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Originally posted by merris:
I'm confused...you said it was all guys...and then you said there were some vegetarians??...
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The modest water, awed by power divine, beheld its God and blushed into wine. - John Dryden

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Hilarious!!!!



Four "Big Grins"!

If you have not been to Lotus Of Siam before, don't let the surrounding area scare you off

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"From wine what sudden friendship springs!"

The current issue of WS has extensive coverage on where to dine in Las Vegas-- Lots to consider

Second the reco for Lotus of Siam. Should satisfy both carnivores and vegans (who btw shouldn't get any flak for their beliefs/ways imo). The LOS owner, Bill, is a bigtime German riesling fan and has a very large collection.

Valentino in the Venetian is very good and a great wine list. Hubert Keller's new place the burger bar in the Mandalay Bay is good also with gourmet burgers. Like your burger with foie gras or truffles?

If you want a unique experience away from tourists and off the Strip, you might see if the 'Garlic Cafe' is still in business.

Maybe a Bellagio restaurant wouldn't be a good idea. They can't even keep the power on:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=19&u=/ap/20040413/ap_on_re_us/bellagio_blackout

i saw that article, i feel sorry for the poor sap dishing out $350+ a night...

bottom -

don't forget the Crazy Horse Too

does it matter if the restaraunt is close to ur hotel, if so where r u staying?

Fishr -
Got back from LV on Thursday night. The blackout at Bellagio wreaked havoc on my dining plans. I had reservations at Circo for Tuesday night and Aqua on Wednesday night. I was extremely disappointed and had to look elsewhere. Thank God I chose to stay at the Venetian instead. I really felt for the people who were supposed to stay there.

In any case, we ate at Mon Ami Gabi in Paris on Tuesday night. I was very pleased with this restaurant. Unfortunately, if you don't like steaks and frites, you're going to be disappointed with the menu selection here. There were a couple of fish dishes, but not many. Thus, I wouldn't recommend it for a party with vegetarians.

The second night we ate at Postrio in the Venetian. Again, the menu was weighted toward meat and poultry dishes. The wine list here was actually pretty good with decent prices by Vegas standards. Again, though, I probably would look elsewhere with a vegetarian crowd.

Sorry I didn't really provide you with any options. One thing I can say, however, is to bring a few bottles with you for non-dining consumption at the tables or while walking around (unless you find a retailer off-strip). The prices were outrageous (I saw $34 for a bottle of Mouton Cadet at more than one place)!

Restaurant idea: Ferraro's which is a bit off the Strip. A bit "Soprano's" in style but superb Pastas (for the Vegetarians), Lamb, and Osso Buco with a great, fair wine list. Spago also usually has some decent, creative Vegetarian options.

Wine: Vegas prices are insane. Las Vegas Wine Co. located in a low key industrial park near the Airport is quite good and fairly priced.

OMAROAK --

Thanks for the tip on the wine shop!

I was thinking about carrying in a few bottles of wine, but I hate to lug wine cross-country.... especially when most of buddies are not big wine-ohs and probably won't apppreciate it anyway...

For a guys weekend, try the Foundation Room if you can get in. It's a private club but for dinner they've frequently let me in anyhow if it's not too busy. It's the top floor of the Four Seasons/Mandalay Bay, has the greatest view in Vegas from their outdoor porch, a funky bar area with equally appealing views (of other partying patrons) and Tuesdays, "locals night" lets in a younger local crowd.
Food is good but overpriced, decent wine availability, but the setting is unique for Vegas and well worthwhile.

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Originally posted by davidandrose:
For a guys weekend, try the Foundation Room if you can get in. It's a private club but for dinner they've frequently let me in anyhow if it's not too busy

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really, what r u slippin the doorman/woman? just kidding... its just i've gone to Mandalay since it opened and am actually a Foundation Room member, i've never seen what u described. maybe if a host/hostess arranged for u to go up, but just walking up and being let in because they're not busy? in fact i've seen the opposite - a nice couple will do what u said and ask to be let up and they get a response such that it's busy tonight, "im sorry"... i get upstairs and its completely empty... and i've always felt, for a nice Vegas restaurant, the food $$$ aren't bad at all!

I just got back from Vegas last night and had a great time. It was just me and 8 of my friends from High School. No wives/girlfriends. Boys weekend.
We stayed at Treasure Island ("TI"), which was fine -- centrally located and decent, clean rooms. The free pirates/Sirens of TI in the man- made lagoon out front was awful, but worth seeing because it's so bad. They could do more with their pool area.
On Thursday night, we ate on the patio at Paris at their pan-Asian restaurant, Ah Sin. It was really a great location, right across from the fountains at the Bellagio … great people watching spot. The food was acceptable and relatively well-priced (that is, I think that given the location they could have charged more). I had roasted duck crepes, which were fine. Wine list was really bad, though… no thought went into it at all. I had a MGD. That night we drank at the Nine Fine Irishman pub in NY/NY. Excellent Irish band with a woman who did Irish dancing to some of the tunes; I was only disappointed that they didn't know the Pogue’s “Fairytale of NY.” Gambled at TI, Mirage, NY/NY, Mandalay Bay, MGM, and Paris.
Friday afternoon, we went to the Neon Boneyard on North Las Vegas Blvd and saw the rusted hulks of old Vegas casino, hotel, bar and restaurant signs that are awaiting restoration. Great place to take photos. That night, we ate at Lotus of Siam. I was a little surprised by the neighborhood… it’s in a depressingly industrial, run down strip mall a few blocks off the Strip. But the food was excellent and we had a great time. With dinner, I drank a 2001 Bassermann Jordan Deidesheimer Paradiesgarten Kabinett (with the fish cakes and spicy peanut sauce) and a 2002 Wegeler Rudesheimer Berg Rottland Spatlese (with the barbecued beef). Food and wine were both great. After that we went to the Palms and met up with a friend of a friend who’s a “freelance concierge” in Vegas. We gambles for a few hours and then he brought us right upstairs to the ghost bar around 12:30/1 am when there was at least a 2 hour wait on the casino floor to get in. We had a blast – stayed until around 4. Gambled at The Palms and TI.
Saturday morning we went to the Pepper Mill (on the strip, across from Westward Ho) for a late brunch. I had eggs with a NY strip steak ($13.49) and about 6 mugs of coffee. But the real draw here is the lounge in the back. It’s worth a visit just to see the purple and red neon décor and the flaming fountain pit. That night, we ate at Bucca di Beppo, a chain Italian place off the strip. Huge portions, average (at best) quality. We had meatballs that were each as large as a grown man’s fist, some Veal Marsala (which was sugary sweet and is not recommended), ravioli, broiled shrimp with prosciutto, and something else… For wine, we got the 1.5 litre fiasco of private-labeled Chianti, which was just passable. Anyway – would not go back, even though it came to something like $20 pp including tip. That night we gambled at Sahara, TI, Venetian, Casino Royale ($2 carps up to 1000X odds -- best odds on the strip), the Alladin, and Bellagio. I got in around 1 am though my friends stayed out until 4 again. My car picked me up at 6:30 the next morning, though, for the airport and I wanted to get a few hours sleep.
Special Note: The nastiest food I saw consumed over the weekend was the limp and unappealing $1.99 shrimp cocktail my friend Joe ate at the Boardwalk casino. I’m surprised he survived the experience.
Anyway -- great weekend, though I'm now totally WIPED.

heading to Vegas this weekend for a lil R&R, a Hostess's party & the Roy Jones fight...

will post if i eat somewhere new...

tried Conrad's SteakHouse in the Flamingo last night. ordered the crab cake, bone-in Ribeye, garlic mashed potato's & asparagus.

the crab cake was actually really good, on a bed of cole-slaw & a spicy marinara type sauce that, mixed with the fried cake, turned into a creamy pink sauce. the steak was a good size, cooked to order, though tasted relatively bland - i like my steaks with loads of black pepper & salt, and this piece of meat was lacking the latter. the mashed potato's were tasty, the asparagus as well... the wine list was actually very sorry, so i stuck to cocktails. overall pleasant, but there's much better out there... i'd go to Charlie Palmer's, 3950, Del Frisco's or even S&W before this establishment...

great weekend though, gotta love Tarver @ +400

*bump*

and straight forward dining---have you been to the Grand Lux at the Venetian?....I don't think anyone could be unhappy with that menu!!

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ancora imparo

i'll take a look at the menu!

any idea how far/long a walk it is to the Venetian? there'll be 8 of us, i suppose we can take a few taxi's or drive, but i'd rather have something that's really close... usually when i come to Vegas, i go to Mandalay & never leave