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My SW TR

Discussion in 'Restaurants & Buffets' started by chekraze, May 10, 2013.

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  1. chekraze

    chekraze Tourist

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    This is actually an excerpt form my TR but thought I'd throw it in here:

    " We descend the dazzling curved escalator from Parasol Up to Parasol Down and move left towards SW where we are promptly seated at an interior table that is right next to window such that it has a great view of the Lake of Dreams. We let the ladies take the window view and I let Mitch choose from the wine tome. He chooses a $68 Barbera and my wife gets a glass of white. Restaurant isn't terribly busy and service is just right. Our waiter, Ryan, seems to be a pro and handles any question with aplomb yet never speaks or gestures condescendingly.

    I've decided ahead of time to order the 16oz NY Strip that is prime corn fed Nebraskan beef. But I waffle a bit and consider the Colorado double cut lamb chops ($51). I've never had lamb from CO. and have heard ti's great. I can always get a great steak at a few places in Dallas, notably Pappas Bros or Bob's. But this is a steakhouse and I want to see how they do a steak. I also didn't care for the sides that came with lamb On the daily specials I see there is also a grass fed NY Strip and Ryan says it is leaner and slightly gamier. I decide on the more full flavored cut and order it medium. Mitch orders same but medium rare. Mitch and I are paying our own way while girls are on expense account however my wife's boss tries to be conservative when spending the company's $$ (even though it's a Fortune 100 co. whose share price just hit 52 week high) and we forgo hot appetizers in favor of a salad. Fine with me as I'm not starving after eating half a protein bar earlier. However we order 2 salads to be split among 5 adults and I wonder what this is going to look like. I was happy there was enough seafood on menu bc my wife doesn't eat steak/red meat. She orders the nicely described Sauteed Black sea bass with spinach, citrus salad, blood orange reduction ($44) and Ryan produces an interesting factoid that I was not aware of. The Patagonian Toothfish is more commonly marketed as Chilean Sea Bass and that is what we would have expected. The sea bass here is flown in from Italy I believe he said.

    For sides I keep quiet and girls are considering ordering whipped potatoes and scalloped potatoes. Huh? I finally ask if anyone like brussels sprouts (with carrots and pancetta) and there is a silence as though everyone farted and didn't want to make eye contact with anyone else. I took that as a no and shut up again. Some sense finally prevailed and sides were yukon gold whipped potatoes, black truffle creamed corn and jumbo roasted asparagus. I wanted the sauteed wild mushrooms personally. I don't like the way pee smells after asparagus consumption.

    The barbera is not bad but feels like ti has opened up I guess an dI'm hoping it gets better. Just not enough explosiveness for me. But I don' tknow much about barberras.

    While I didn't pay much attention to the vegan menu it didn't look bad and I have to ask myself if I was given choice of eating free off that menu vs. paying for my own non-vegan meal I think I could only say it would depend on how hungry I was and how net worth was fluctuating on that day. It looked more creative than the regular menu.

    The salad (baby iceberg, grilled black pepper bacon, tomato, buttermilk blue dressing) arrives and is substantial enough portion for us. It is quality through and through meaning the lettuce is fresh the dressing seems house made and tomato was probably heirloom. So good it tasted like fruit. However the real kicker here was the bacon. It was one small thick chunk of pork belly that was a flavor bomb. Delish.

    Next up was the mains and sides. creamed corn was great. I didn't appreciate any flavor from the truffle but I thought I tasted horseradish in there. Mitch didn't care for it but I thought it added something to a ho-hum type of dish. Whipped potatoes were well....just whipped potatoes. I've heard the pomme puree at L Atelier is incredible if not a bit too rich and I'm sure better than these. Asparagus were truly jumbo and well prepared with just right amount of seasoning and enough crunch and enough tenderness to enjoy.

    Next up to try are the stars of the night. The reason we are here. The servers seem confused as to who gets what main dish and I double check that I am given the medium cooked steak vs. Mitch's medium rare. I take a bite and find there's a lot more chew to it than I expect. Fine, it's just some connective tissue/fat that is usually around edge of a strip. I spit out piece and try again. Ditto. This really just goes on and on. As I get into center of steak I see it's medium rare and compare to Mitch's steak. His looks same. Ryan does check in with us and I don't say anything as I'm with unfamiliar dinner companions and well, I just don't like making what I think of as a "scene". Near end of meal I see Mitch has eaten only half his steak and I ask him how it was. He rates it comparable to Outback. Ouch. But I have to agree. I've eaten at enough steakhouses that serve prime beef and have cooked just enough steaks to know what's what. As a matter of fact there is a thread Gobbo started in OOT called Cooking a Good Steak that I read before my last home-made steak dinnerand it was just a flat out revelation to me. If you are into this stuff here's my post with pics utilizing the reverse sear method with pics.


    I don't finish my steak either but I don't leave as much on my plate as Mitch did. My guess is that they cooked the steak from a pretty cold starting temperature which never allowed the inside to do what it supposed to do.

    I like the fact that my wife usually orders fish or some seafood dishes which allows me a chance to try something else other than what I ordered that she usually doesn't finish birthday. But I Notice she hasn't quite eaten as much of her main dish as she normally would. She offers me a bite and it's a slight bit more fishy then I would've expected but more than that the texture is just not that impressive. Somewhat mushy. Normally at fine dining restaurants the fish is usually impeccable and when pan roasted it will usually come out with a crispy skin and this one was far from that. I have to wonder if SW is getting Bartolotta's seconds or leftovers that it doesn't want to serve it's patrons? Or perhaps Alitalia had some flight delays?

    By now the dining room is much busier and we don't see Ryan quite as often however when we do we don't bring up anything and looking back on the whole meal more than not not having had a top-notch steak and seafood dish I regret not letting Ryan know about it. If nothing else just to see what the Wynn service experience is really all about which in the past I've found to be very good even though this is the first time I'm eating at one of their restaurants. Maybe the A-Team wasn't manning the broiler and sauté station that night? I don't like casting judgments on restaurants based on one visit but this was my experience that night.

    For dessert we all agreed on the chocolate soufflé and we order three of them. Is not your typical soufflé that might have some height to it. It was in a rather shallow pan and was not terribly impressive. I would've expected it to be like a molten chocolate cake where when you dig into it it oozes a nice warm chocolate stream but this one was just kind of sticky inside and had an amateurish quality to it. But this may not have been their signature dessert or maybe they don't have their own pastry chef.

    On another note we noticed a table next to ours occupied by 2 young women who brought their own wine in. Ryan said you can do that for a $50 corkage fee. I think this isn't a bad idea but only if you are buying a decent bottle that fairly retails for about the $35-$40 range and up? Like a Stags Leap Artemis? And it has to be a bottle they don't carry."
     
  2. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the detailed review. Tallies with my recent experience. Now that Alex and Daniel Boulud are gone, sadly the restaurants at Wynncore are different versions of the same mediocre steakhouse with beautiful decor, good service, high prices, and middlebrow food. A far cry from what Wynn opened with. Only Bartolotta and Wing Lei are even trying now.
     
  3. Universal

    Universal High-Roller

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    I had a similar experience. I would venture to say SW was the most disappointing meal we've ever had in Vegas relative to expectations. Terrible service and waited forever for an overcooked, terrible piece of meat (filet). It was so bad that I wouldn't even consider returning.
     
  4. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

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    My last dining experience at SW (first week of April) was its usual impeccable self. We eat there every time we go...6 or 7 times a year. I ordered the small filet and it was cooked to perfection and excellent tasting. DH had a chicken dish that he thought was also great. I had the crab cake for an appetizer and he had the King crab soup. We closed the meal with a half order of funnel cakes. :licklips:

    Sorry to hear that many of you didn't have a good experience, but ours was completely the opposite. And, we had a rail view of the lake, so that made it even better.
     
  5. ICallHimGamblor

    ICallHimGamblor Low-Roller

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    Last time I went to SW, I ordered the ribeye medium rare. When I got it it was pretty firm and seemed overcooked. I got a couple bites into it and could tell it was at least medium well. Not at all what I ordered. I flagged down the waitress and explained the issue. She looks at the steak with a flashlight and says "that's medium rare... slightly pink center" and walks away.

    First, that is NO ONE'S definition of medium rare, and second, there wasn't any pink within two feet of that steak. And like that, she was gone.

    I was pretty annoyed that I was paying those prices for a steak and couldn't get what I wanted or ordered, but I ate part of it and just paid and left. Probably won't be back.
     
  6. andog

    andog Tourist

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    this could be a nice little surprise for the missus as:

    a) she loves steak
    b) she loves lake of dreams

    :D

    do they let you specify tables when you reserve? Ie. could I ask for a table similar to what you had OP? :)
     
  7. johnvic

    johnvic VIP Whale

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    This concerns me because I was planning on going to SW this trip.
     
  8. Junkyard Hog

    Junkyard Hog High-Roller

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    SW is one of our favorites. The double chile rubbed ribeye is awesome.
     
  9. Nick Carroway

    Nick Carroway Tourist

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    I spit out piece and try again

    No matter my level of satisfaction with any restaurant, if I saw such a rude act and bad manners from another patron, the restaurant's problems become irrelevant. Plus, knowing that the reviewer would exhibit such behavior undermines the credibility of the review.
     
  10. Max2589

    Max2589 Low-Roller

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    The chile rubbed ribeye is one of the best steaks around as I've said before in other threads. SW is actually on top of my favorites list right now and I've made my rounds. While a steak house of this caliber should absolutely be consistent, the wide array of trip reports would suggest even the top spots are often hit or miss.
     
  11. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    The review was very detailed, balanced, and credible.

    Let's assume the OP discreetly deposited the offending gristle in a manner which was inoffensive and undetected by other diners.
     
  12. Marky147

    Marky147 VIP Whale

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    Good report OP, but you had me feeling very strange as I was reading it... Well, until I saw you mention the thread in OOT on cooking a steak, and I remember reading it on 2p2 :evillaugh
     
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