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| - Food, service, ambiance... if you add them up, the barrymore comes out to a perfect 5.
My wedding hairstylist recommended the Barrymore to me. Her husband is a chef, as is mine. We were getting married in Vegas and wanted the night after the wedding to be an intimate date, away from the 100 loved ones who flew out to celebrate our nuptials.... so the barrymore it was!
Initially, it was going to be just my fussy chef of a groom and me... alas, one of his chef friends and his girlfriend were still in town, and looked longfully at us as we described our plans of eating things I don't normally eat... so a party of five it was.
The place is amazing. I don't understand why people have negative things to say about the Royal Resort. Sure, it's not the Four Seasons or the Wynn, but it's the height of re-done art deco miami coziness. I loved the lobby, the lighting and the mirrors strung artfully on the wall. What a great space! I would totally stay there.
The restaurant is as folks described - classy, sexy, a beautiful version of what we dream old Vegas was.
Our waiter was nice and helpful. We ordered cocktails. We all enjoyed them. And then.... the food! We ordered so much... Octopus (the first time I enjoyed octopus!) was tender not chewy, perfectly seasoned... yum. Watermelon and heirloom tomato salad was a hit - we loved the candied rind. Veal sweetbreads? I will ignore what they are and savor each delicious bite. The pastry with the foie gras was a bit sweet for me, but as a combination, it was amazing! the vegetarian pasta dish was delicate and understated. The clams were a bit chewy, but the pepper sauce was great. The vegetable cous cous dish was probably the only dish that we didn't like too much - it was a bit boring. While everything else was special and unique, this was ordinary. Next up were the two entrees that we shared.... were we still hungry? Not at all. Does that stop chefs from tasting everything? Not at all. We shared the duck two ways and the short rib. The duck was good, the short rib was EXCELLENT. Perhaps the best I've ever eaten. I want another one!
We were too full for dessert, but our fabulous waiter brought us a celebratory creme brulee. Tasty.
While we like to try different restaurants when in Vegas, we have found one that we'll be back to again and again.
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