| rev:text
| - Now that I have been to both the music venue as well as their restaurant and other conference/"back party room" (for the "May The 4th Be With You CMYE), I feel as if I have a pretty good grasp on this place... As least enough to write a solid review.
I have to commend this place. Most people associate more gimmicky restaurants like this with poor food and service. NOT HERE! You will be amazed with how on point both are. My guest and I were seated promptly, even though they were semi-busy. Our waitress was there with two glasses of water as she greeted us. I thought that was very smart, because as a former server, 99% of people are gonna want water anyway... Saves you an extra trip.
So she gave us plenty of time to look at the menu and decide what we wanted, and made sure the food came out quickly. She checked on us regularly and chatted for a little bit too. Pretty much the perfect server experience!
The night I was there (a Friday), they have karaoke with a live band. Oh. My. Lawd. It was so fun! I didn't sing, but I wanted to! It looked like a blast. Just watching the people get up and sing was fun. You know how most bars that host karaoke, you kinda zone out, it's not really that cool...... This was the complete opposite! Good times.
I ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese, which was very, very good. Super creamy,not too cheesy, light, crispy bread crumbs, with sizable chunks of lobster, all served piping hot. I have a slight lactose/heartburn thing. It is fairly mild, but if I have too much dairy (specifically frozen yogurt. It's the worst) or too much oil, I can get all bubbly in the gullet area. I ate half of the meal then, and the rest later on. No problems at all! That's proof there was a good balance of ingredients. It was pretty expensive ($20), but with all the lobster they loaded it with, I wasn't too surprised.
Moving on to the music venue. I came here to see the band Meshuggah, with Animals As Leaders for the opening band. I have been to many a music venue in my heyday, and let me tell you... House of Blues' venue is one of the really good ones. It's pretty much close to perfection. The way that they built it is that no matter where you are located, you can see the band. It's intimate enough that you feel connected to the performance, but large enough to hold plenty of people. They have two smaller bars and one large one. The large bar is in the back, and had about 3 or 4 bartenders working it at the time, so you never had to wait for a drink. If you did, it was MAYBE two minutes, max. They even had cocktail waitresses, for those hardcore fans who don't want to miss anything by going to the bar!
The drinks are pricey, the they almost always are at these places. The cheapest place I have ever been to for venue drinks was Station 4 in Minneapolis, where you could get a PBR tall boy for around $4. That's as good as it gets. I think my beer at HOB was a full cup o' beer for $7 or $8. I firmly advocate a little pre-game action prior, then anticipate to buy a couple at the show. Everyone wins!! The few times I have ordered a mixed drink here, it has been a little weak, especially for the price you pay for it. I guess that would have to be my only "whine" moment about HOB.
This place has it all: good food, great venue, awesome service, and cool decor. It's pretty much a "must do" in Vegas if you are gonna be at Mandalay Bay.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)