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| - Michelin Stars #20, 21, and 22
Let me start by answering your questions;
"No" and "No."
For my 30th birthday present, my wife treated me (us) to our first 3 star dining experience. My hopes were sky-high as we rode in our complimentary limo ride into the back of the MGM. We were escorted through the private baller area of the casino to the main entrance of the restaurant. Once inside, we were greeted with what might happen if you filled Barney the Dinosaur with gold and velvet and then blew him up, a purple pantheon of out-of-placeness.
Of course, when having a once in a lifetime meal, you never order a la carte, you go all out with the 16 course degustation menu. Which leads me to some of my major gripes of the meal; the amuse was counted as a course, there were no intermezzos, apéritifs and digestifs to break up the heavy French food, and the amazing cheese cart was not part of the tasting!
I lack the energy to describe each course in detail as I often do, but most of it was really really good. A couple were jaw droppingly good, yet others were only okay, and only okay for any place. For the price and the reputation, I expected so much more. I expected the foie gras to shed new light on the start of the universe and for the veloute to show me god, but no epiphanies were had that night.
Service was spot on, never smothering or pretentious, and the wine guy guided us well. The pre-dinner bread and separate butter carts were equally amazing.
For the money though, we both agreed that we would choose Urasawa, Spago, or Providence in a heartbeat for another meal.
So now for your questions;
Was it worth it? NO
Would we go back? NO
PS - No good pictures because my old cybershot took a shit that day, so I bought a Sony Nex-3 and had no idea how to use it for dinner =[
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