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| - The irony is that I spent more on this meal than any other in my life and enjoyed it the least. I would never order a single thing that I ate here ever again. Some of the most bland, non-descript, unimpressive food that I have eaten anywhere. And before you assume that I simply "do not appreciate good food", let it be known that I just returned from Sonoma where I dined at Thomas Keller's French Laundry and eat regularly at Gary Danko in San Francisco.
Let me start with the four best parts of Joel Robuchon at the Mansion. The bartender in the lounge was cool, knowledgable and professional. The drinks were ridiculous, but the bartender was great. Second, the atmosphere is impressive, albeit a bit outlandish. It's amazing how quiet it is in here, you would never know that you were in loud Las Vegas. Third, the bread cart is outstanding. There are many different types of amazing breads, and you had best load up on them if you dont plan to grab a burger somewhere else before you go to bed. Last was the included sorbets. My favorite part of the meal. As for the 6 course crustacean menu itself, it was not good. One seafood gel in an egg cup with sea urchin roe (tasty, probably the best item), two tiny lobster "raviolis" (not very exciting), one shrimp wrapped in a spider-web like pastry with asparagus and caviar (very basic and unimpressive), a half-ping pong ball sized lump of king crab (blah), another ball of lobster served in a bowl with broth (very blah), and then a raspberry gel desert which was tasty. My friend had the cheaper menu and it looked far better. The Kobe beef dish was amazing, far and away the best thing on the table. In short, this meal was boring, with common -place ingredients, small and very, very expensive ($350). The servers rarely described the food, and were only around to refill the very, very expensive water. Service here should be ridiculously good, and it was just the opposite. The sommelier was annoying and not as knowledgable as you would expect.
Gary Danko and French Laundry are far , far better and, although also expensive, much more worthy of your money.
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