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| - Food on the Vegas Strip is hit or miss, and this one hits more than it misses. We walked in for lunch on a beautiful Saturday and were told it was a one hour wait for a outside terrace table. The hostess told us though that as tables open up, if the next party on the list isn't there, they give the table to the next party - like you have to be present to win. Because of that, we had a seat at the bar and were served by Jimmy V., an old-school bartender who was quick and friendly. The wines by the glass selection is quite good so I had a nice French Chablis and my lunch companion had a S. African Chenin Blanc. Very nice. Well only about 10 minutes had passed when we were told that our table was ready! That was a nice surprise.
There's a reason why the outside terrace area is in high demand and it's because of the waterside view of the spectacular Bellagio fountains. What a beautiful setting. Having a front row seat to that bombastic display is a bit distracting but in a good way.
The food was uneven. A nice bread basket, some tapenade and olives came promptly. I had the soft shelled crab sandwich which was nicely done - pleasantly spiced with Sriracha. It was served with skinny fries - skinny sized not skinny in calories! These were tasty but unfortunately were cold. My companion had the beef carpaccio which was a huge serving of paper thin raw beef served with a small salad, a gorgonzola polenta, cipollini onions, scallion cream, balsamic reduction, garlic aioli and shaved parmesan. That's a lot of stuff! Despite the plethora of accoutrements, I found the dish to be strangely bland. There wasn't even a whiff of blue cheese in that polenta. (In their defense, we were told the blue cheese flavor in the polenta was mild.)
Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgable.
It's hard to do good food at a place with such a nice view. No matter how good the food is, no one ever remembers it. The view however was spectacular!
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