Saturday, April 19, 2014

BAM!!!

That is what Emeril Lagasse says while he cooks, isn't it? That and, "Let's kick it up a notch". Well, our visit to his Emeril Lagesse's Stadium Restaurant was not all that spectacular. I found it by Googling, Best Affordable Places To Eat in Las Vegas. I had to add "affordable" after discovering all the places you can't get out of for under $100 per person. Two sites I found raved about their Happy Hours where beer is $3 and appy's, $5. This would be a good deal and we would be able to get out of there for $30 or so.

We drove down, parked (more on that later) and went to the "Please Wait To Be Seated" desk and told them we were there for Happy Hour. We were informed they did not have one. I told them I saw it on the Internet. "Let me ask someone else", she said and off she went. "No, we have never heard of a Happy Hour here". Well, we had already valeted the car so we asked for a table on the outside patio. I ordered an India Pale Ale for $7 and Norma the cheapest chardonnay on the wine list for $15 per glass. I stupidly said, "She just wants a glass, not the bottle" She laughed like she had heard that joke before and told me the whole bottle was $65. The beer was ice cold and good but the wine was way too sweet for a chardonnay, not as good as our "Two Buck Chuck". She drank it but did not enjoy it.

We ordered one appy (raw tuna) for $15 and fish and chips for $17. Norma had watched Emeril make his fish and chips on TV and wanted to try them. They were very good The fish was grouper and the portion large. The tuna appy on the other hand was pretty bland. I am spoiled by my son's seared raw tuna dish. Raw tuna should be served room temperature but this was fresh out of the fridge, ice cold,. I asked for some wasabi and she had never heard of it, she thought it was a drink. I asked her to check with the chef and she actually returned with some which helped "kick the tuna up a notch" by at least giving it some flavor, albeit the wrong flavor.

The bill was $68 before the $10 tip. We paid, walked around the casino for a while and then retrieved the Honda.

When we arrived for dinner there were two parking lanes, one for "Valet" and one for "Self Park". The last time we did self park in one of these huge casinos we lost the car. This time we went to the valet lane. The kid opened the door for me, handed me the slip and stared at the dash. "Any special instructions for driving this?" he asked. I suddenly realized the car was at least five years older than him and laughed. "It is just a Honda but be careful, it is an antique!. The valet service was free, the tip, $5.

So, that was our adventure at Emeril's. It could have been "kicked up a notch".

10 comments:

  1. Man….how disappointing! You sure had a, well, interesting Server ….. I'm a bit surprised that she didn't know what wasabi was but guess it isn't an Emeril thing … kinda surprised they found some in the kitchen. I got a laugh out of the image of the valet kid looking at your car! Better luck with meals in Vegas or I guess you'll forgo!

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  2. We wandered Vegas for a couple of days a few years ago, but never did stop anywhere to eat or drink for that matter, just enjoyed the sights and sounds, best part being the Freemont St Experience.

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  3. Las Vegas being our home town when in the States is kept super clean and there are NO bugs and NO state income taxes - the cost of restaurant food is a cultural shock each time we visit - but we LOVE the thrift stores - in Mexico they use everything until NO ONE would want it. ;-) We almost corss paths but you are there a tad early for us - I am sure hanging out with you and Norma would be great fun.

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  4. Staff turnover must be high. We've had similar experiences with servers who know little to nothing about the foods the restaurant offers. Poor training! An iPad or cell phone showing their WEB page could have proven your point.

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    1. Their response to my telling them that their Happy Hour was on the Internet was, "They don't update the site often".

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  5. Only costs a little more to go first class... not at Emeril's sounds like.

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  6. $15.00 for one glass of sweet chardonnay! Bam indeed!

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    1. We could have had seven bottles of "Rolled Back" Walmart wine for that!

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  7. Croft, they should have been paying you to eat raw tuna! Las Vegas is not for the faint of heart or wallet. We found it extremely expensive but we were just looky-loos mostly.

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  8. Fun place to walk around, drop a few coins and take some pictures! Thanks for the review!

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