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| - Intrigued by the Japanese/South American fusion going on here and the rather good Yelp reviews, I ended up here with a group for a late dinner one Sunday night during a recent trip to Vegas. We were seated promptly at our reserved time.
The service was immediately kind of odd. Our waiter did not give us menus (other than for drinks), but instead started talking about how if we had a particular budget in mind, they could send us enough food to fill that budget. Butbutbut...I saw the menu online! I knew there was a menu. I wanted to be in CONTROL! Would the waiter let us be in control?
After awhile yes, yes he did. We were able to secure some menus, and he then proceeded to go through the different sections of the menu with us as if we were eight years old and/or eating dinner by ourselves at a restaurant for the first time. Is fusion really that scary for people?
So we ordered a couple of rounds, tapas style, like we do. There were hits and misses along the way. The best stuff was in the robata area of the menu. The pork belly with the butterscotch miso about slayed me with its awesomeness. The duck breast dish we got was also killer, with a fantastic sauce and lots of meaty, meaty mushrooms. The Shishito peppers were solid, as was the sea eel we got nigiri style. It's hard to mess those two up. The yamato rolls, in all their decadence, were worth every penny.
The seared wagyu beef was probably the biggest miss of the evening. The menu does not list truffle oil in the dish's ingredients, but that's about all I could taste. And for me, truffle oil makes everything taste and smell rancid. Not appealing. The El Topo, while quite good, was also a bit of a disappointment. I love fried onions, but they seemed to overpower here. The yellowtail sashimi also seemed a bit off, as the lemongrass sauce wasn't particularly complimentary.
The service was alright but stayed a little odd during our visit. Sometimes our waiter would be absent for long periods of time, and then suddenly would be around almost too often. The place was loud, almost too loud. Prices are about what you'd expect for a sushi spot on the Strip. Overall, I enjoyed this place, but it is easily overshadowed by the plethora of better options nearby.
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