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| - In sum -- good food overall, but a bit inconsistent. Some dishes were absolute standouts (the lobster au curry is one of the best things I've ever eaten), but some big misses as well. Service was excellent, and the view (from the top floor of the Delano, formerly THEhotel at Mandalay Bay) is beautiful.
I did the signature tasting menu ($120), which has four courses, and my husband did the Taste of Mix tasting menu ($90) which has five. They have completely different dishes, so we got to share and try a lot of stuff. I also really wanted the chocolate souffle for dessert and they were kind enough to sub this in for the dessert on my tasting menu at no extra charge. Great service!
The portions on the tasting menu are huge for a tasting, so come hungry and pace yourself.
The bread basket had 4 different kinds of bread, and we were given two of each. It was good but not great. Their homemade peanut butter was the most memorable part of the bread & butter.
The amuse of smoked salmon-infused cheese & potato chip was yummy.
My first course was the gnocchi with peas and mushrooms. This course was a big miss for me. The gnocchi were mushy and the sauce did nothing for the dish.
Fortunately my second course was the lobster au curry, which was absolutely amazing. Big chunks of tender lobster meat served atop an absolutely delicious curry sauce and the creamiest coconut rice I've ever had, all topped with little crunchy things (super helpful description, I know, I'm just not sure what they were) that gave the dish great texture. This was so, so, so good.
My third course was the filet mignon topped with foie and black truffles. Oof, it was so rich I could hardly eat it but it was also so good. Obviously the foie and black truffles were fantastic additions, but the filet itself was perfection and just melted in my mouth.
There's a "palate cleanser" before the dessert course, but it's not the tiny shot you normally get, it's a full-size pina colada served in a normal martini glass.
The chocolate souffle was not great, but also not the worst one I had this weekend (that "honor" goes to Joel Robuchon). The flavor of the souffle itself was lacking, but it had a ribbon of chocolate sauce near the bottom that provided some much-needed chocolate flavor. The pistachio ice cream that came with it tasted homemade and was great.
My husband did the other tasting menu which had five courses: 1) dungeness crab salad, 2) foie gras, 3) seared scallops, 4) lamb loin and 5) Mix candy bar (homemade candy bar with chocolate, peanut butter and graham cracker) for dessert. I sampled most of these and they were all pretty good but I didn't like them as much as my dishes overall (admittedly, my menu was more to my particular tastes). We both thought it was strange that the foie was served just by itself and not on top of bread as it is normally. It's a little too rich without the bread.
We were both stuffed by the dessert course and asked for most of our desserts to go. Shockingly (sarcasm in case you can't tell), they agreed to box it up for us like a normal restaurant and didn't refuse like another fancypants place. Our waiter saw the busboy taking away our mostly untouched desserts and asked with great concern if there was something wrong and if he could bring us something else on the house. We explained that we were just full, but I very much appreciated the attentive service. We didn't get mignardises, probably because we hardly touched our desserts (which is fair, I understand they don't want to waste food), but it would have been a nice touch if they'd boxed these up to go too.
The view from the restaurant is really nice, with a great view of both the strip and the mountains in the distance. After dinner, they invite you to go to the lounge if you'd like, which I understand would otherwise have a cover charge. The dining room is really pretty (nice decorations inside, and a lovely outdoor area as well), but it felt a little weird eating there because it was almost totally empty at peak dinner time of 7-9 pm. It was Sunday though, which is probably their slowest night.
This doesn't compare to Picasso (my favorite fine dining in Vegas), but it was definitely a good meal and I'm glad we came. If you come here, you MUST order the lobster curry.
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