Actual rating 3.5 stars.
This was the second of three lunch dates that the No1DP and I had over the course of our last Vegas stay.
Zine Noodles Dim Sum is located inside the Palazzo casino floor. This was rather convenient as we didn't have to get out of the Venetian/Palazzo hotel complex, but as with all Palazzo restaurants a bit of a walk to get to from Sands Expo, the site of many a convention. It also didn't help he only had a little more than an hour for lunch.
Service was really slow that day, even if only half the restaurant was full. It took 30 minutes from when the orders were placed to the appetizer being served. No1DP was a little late to his next class because of this.
Appetizer: Steamed Shrimp Har Gow. $6.95 gets you 4 pieces. The har gow was relatively big compared to other dim sum places and the wrapping was not too thick. The har gow was even better when I dipped it in the chili sauce.
Mains - When the main dishes came we were rather surprised how big our dishes were. Each dish could feed at least 2 people. This was my first meal of the day (dunno how much No1DP ate beforehand) but the No1DP and I were only able to finish half our dishes. Note to self: next time get extra plates for sharing because it seems like these dishes were made to be served a la carte and not in individual portions.
No1DP had the braised E-Fu noodle with crab meat ($18.80). E-fu noodles are used in Cantonese yee mein. In normal preparation these egg noodles are deep fried. These noodles are often eaten on birthdays as the long noodle represents long life. They are normally chewy and eaten with mushrooms. The noodles themselves were chewy and absorbed some of the flavor from the mushrooms but a tad dry and plain. Real crab pieces were used in this dish.
I had the satay oxtail and tendon noodle soup ($19.95). Broth was DELICIOUS. I could taste the peanut in the broth and the soup reminded me of a mix between a panang curry and kare kare (just put bagoong in the meat!). There was a bit more fat in the oxtail but the meat fell off the bone. My only complaint was that the chopsticks were a bit thick and I had a slightly hard time picking off meat from the oxtail.
Should I come back here next time I'll definitely get an appetizer and a dish to share with another person to cut costs or stick to dim sum. Although the dishes here were decent the restaurant's prices reflect typical Vegas pricing for casual restaurants, which isn't cheap by anyone's standards. If that's the case find a dish that you can't find in your hometown or if you're going to spend that amount of money anyway on a restaurant find one that offers a more unique experience.