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| - Great gastropub with a lot of good beers on tap, a diverse menu of delicious food, and excellent and informed waitstaff.
First the precursor: drinks.
Even my super picky dad was able to find more interesting-sounding beers on tap that he could consume in one evening. After deliberating over a few and settling on one to start, our waiter gave him a taste of one of the others he was considering without any prompting - very thoughtful of him.
I tried a couple of their specialty cocktails - both were sweeter than I generally prefer but still delicious, and dang, are they strong! I'm not complaining, but you can't say you weren't warned.
On to the main event: food.
We started by ordering the chicken drumsticks - their spin on wings. They were huge, smothered in a sweet barbecue sauce, and terribly good. They give you handiwipes so don't be afraid to dig in.
My dad had the chili and a wedge salad and seemed pleased. My mom and I went a little off the wall and split the carne asada taco salad and the beef brisket. The salad was incredible, and they even separated it into two dishes for us so we didn't have to make a mess of it. The steak comes out VERY rare, and mine even more than my mom's - it was more than edible and very tender, but if you can't deal with truly red meat, you might want to ask them to cook it a little longer.
I was slightly disappointed with how dry the beef brisket was, but my mom thought it was cooked fine and really enjoyed it, so I think it's just a personal preference thing. We also got a side of mac & cheese and it was excellent - not so overly cheesy that you feel like you're eating a heart attack, like so many fancy chefs seem to favor, and with a little broccoli mixed in.
We were more than sated so we passed on dessert but they sounded adorable - cake & shake combos.
Michael Mina definitely delivers a great dining experience in a casual environment with a classy and tasty take on bar food, while remaining affordable (considering it's in a hotel on the strip). We'll certainly be back.
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