Vegas restaurant help, please!
 

Hi all, next month my husband and I are going to Vegas with another couple, and I am in charge of figuring out our dinner plans. Everyone is super laid back, but the one rule is to do something specific to Vegas because the others live in NYC (i.e. not Tao). I live in Dallas, so I'd prefer to avoid steakhouses since we have tons of good ones here. We have 3 nights, and want to do one pricey dinner and keep the others "reasonable" (maybe $150ish per couple?). Since I love wine, this will be hard to do, but I appreciate any suggestions or critiques.

Night 1 (splurge): We'd like to plan on keeping this under $250 per couple. The 2 places I'm leaning towards (which I realize are totally different) are Social House or Eiffel Tower. I've read good reviews of the ET, and we'll have a Vegas first-timer, so I thought the view would be fun.

Night 2: we plan to go downtown one night for cheaper gambling, light show, etc. I've read decent things about the Second Street Grill...is anyone familiar with it?

Night 3: possibly take taxi off strip to Firefly Tapas on Paradise Rd. This gets good reviews and sounds like a fun scene.

We're staying at the Mandalay Bay, which seems to have some great restaurant choices as well. I was considering Mix for night 1, with the hope that dining there would mean free entry to Mix lounge. However, being the first night we'll likely want to leave the hotel. Ugh, if only others in my group had opinions. :)

Thanks in advance for your help!

ttt

Love Daniel Boulud's at the Wynn..
Lots of great dining choices at the Wynn..
Bouchon at the Venetian for breakfast or mussels and champagne for dinner.
Downtown LV, I would go to Hugo's Cellar at the Four Queens..
Best breakfast at Binion's for the huge ham steak and eggs for $4.99.
Noodle House at the Golden Nugget was really good too.

wynnlasvegas.com

Thanks TT! I will look into those options as well. Does anyone have comments on the places I mentioned in my original post? Or good non-chain places that do not cost an arm and a leg? :)

Haven't been myself, but reviews of the food at Mix haven't been good. Like a lot of places, the food doesn't live up to the view.

I hear Alize at the Palms has good food and a great view, but it's definitely a splurge.

2nd the recommendation for Bouchon for breakfast. Great food. I love the beignets.

Hugo's Cellar, as a previous poster mentioned, is great for dinner. The service and food are excellent.

My husband and I had dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. The service and the food were excellent.
If you like cajun/creole food, I'd recommend Commander's Palace in Desert Passage at Aladdin right across from the Bellagio. We did the jazz brunch on a Saturday. Excellent food also.

I had dinner at Social House a few months ago and thought it was wonderful! It has great food (not the most 'realistic' Asian food, I'm sure, but still very good) and great ambiance. You can also sit outside on the balcony and look out over the Strip and T.I.'s Sirens show.

Here's a third vote for breakfast at Venetian's Bouchon!

I agree that the Eiffel Tower would be a good choice. The food, service, and view are all great.

However, the best meal we had in Las Vegas was by far Alex at the Wynn. It is expensive, but you can buy the 3-course pris fix for $150pp. It sounds expensive, but the food is just amazing, and the service and atmosphere are really top notch and special occasion. Just FYI, it's not really 3 courses, there are little complimentary courses after each main course, so it turns out to be a decent "value" for such an experience.

Daniel Boulud is great, but much more casual. And his signature restaurant is in NYC. Actually, he has a 3-course prix fix available until 8:pm for around $50 - that might work as one of your more "reasonable" places.

Maybe for one night you want to do one of the nicer buffets - can't get more Vegas than that!

Other places that often get recommended at this site (but not by my personal experince) are Mon Ami Gabi, Circo, and Red Square.

Please review whatever you end up doing. Have fun!

The last 2 times we were in Vegas we went to Rosemarys Restaurant. It was so good we will go the next time we are in Vegas. The food was delicious, the service extremely competent and the atmosphere comfortable. It is a long way from the strip but I would rent a car for the day just to eat there. The website is Rosemarysrestaurant.com

Great suggestions! Thank you so much! I will post a report once we're back and let you know where we ended up.