Review - Jasmine @ Bellagio 5/13

14 years now Bellagio has been open - but still I'd never been to Jasmine once. So finally this trip, since the wife & I would be staying next door at Aria & had already done Blossom there on our last trip, we figured we'd finally give the old girl a shot.

Much like Aria [contemporary] is the alter ego of Bellagio [classic], so too is Jasmine the alter-ego of Blossom - whereas the food at Blossom had been much more adventurous and exotic, the food at Jasmine was much more traditional upscale "Americanized" Chinese - And I don't mean that to be a negative comment in any way - because, even though the choices on the menu didn't deviate too far from the classics - which had me wondering if I'd regret not having just gone to Blossom again - everything we ordered was pretty much the best version of the classic dish that you ever had.

For starters, I got the Lobster dumplings - plump, perfectly prepared & bursting with beautiful chunks of fresh lobster meat - while the wife got the salt & pepper shrimp - I know "jumbo shrimp" is supposed to be an oxymoron - but indeed, jumbo shrimp is what they were.

For the soup course, I went with the hot & sour while the wife went with the won-ton - wherever we are, I almost always go with the hot & sour and she always goes with the won-ton - and we both agreed these were some of the best bowls of each we'd ever had.

Since Jasmine's menu didn't seem to stray too far from the classics, for the main course we decided to stick with a classic and opted for the two-course Peking duck service. Now let me tell you - I've had Peking duck all over the world - and this was some pretty damn good Peking duck - at the very least, on par with - if not better than - the Peking duck at Wing Lei used to be back before they dumped the original chef and the place started going downhill. The tableside preparation was a nice added touch, and definitely had many other diners staring at our table as the duck was brought out, carved and put into the pancakes for the first course. They only give you some of the duck in the pancakes, though - then they take the rest of the meat, dice it up with some chinese vegetables and then give it a quick sautee in a wok, serving it to you wrapped in some terrific butter lettuce cups [similar to a Soong if you've ever had one]

We also ordered a side of the Ma-Po Tofu - I'd only recently started ordering the Ma-Po Tofu instead of fried rice at home, so I don't have nearly as much Ma-Po under my belt to compare to as I did with the other dishes - but let me tell you, this Ma-Po was so good that I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy the Ma-Po I get from my local Chinese restaurant at home any more after having had Jasmine's version.

On top of the food being great, what really made Jasmine stand out was the grace and grandeur of the setting - the decor might have been a little formal & grandma-esque for my taste, but the view of Bellagio's fountains - our table had a very good one - and the formal, flawless service when paired with the perfectly executed food made for a top-notch overall experience.

If you have a hankering for upscale Chinese on your next Vegas trip, I highly recommend giving Jasmine a slot on your itinerary.

 

Thanks, I've been waiting for this report since I read your TR. Sounds good, I'm adding it to my list!

 

Jasmine is one of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas. It is probably the best Chinese food I have ever had too - and the view of the fountains is the icing on the cake!

 

I've never had an upscale Chinese food dinner. In Chicago I mostly go to Chinatown, which is cool, but a totally different experience. Your report has convinced me to give Jasmine a whirl.

 

Love your food reports, thanks very much and I'll now be pushing my group into dinner here on the back of it!!

 

We did the Sunday Brunch Buffet there. Had always done the Sterling, but DH wanted to try this. Beautiful room...butterfly theme decor and china. Large luscious raw bar... spectacular cold salmon, lots of little finger apps. They had a peking duck area served as you described it and that was well received. Had the usual omelet, Benedict, roast stations. Several hot Chinese trays.....dumplngs, sausages, starches.

There was also a station that custom made a soup for each person...that seemed very popular.

A room of dessert..all of which were wonderful.

 

I love peking duck and tend to get my fill out of town since I've had trouble finding a well prepared Daffy locally. I've overlooked Jasmine. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Thanks Jilly

I was in Vegas same week as you , stayed at Bellagio May 16/17 , as I had two comp'd nights ....... we ate at Jasmine the evening of the 16th

Loved the ambience of the restaurant .........and thoroughly enjoyed the meal also, and the exceptional wait staff..... and yes the view of the fountains were outstanding from this perspective

I posted a TR also with our review of Jasmine ...was the first time I've eaten there also ..... and I would again

 

hmmm, may have to give this a try on the upcoming trip, sounds really good.

 

whoops added to wrong thread