Vegas Fine Dining

 

Highest rated restaurants

 

• Joel Robuchon
• Alex (closed 1/15/11)
  
• Picasso
• Guy Savoy

 

Michelin has a 3 star highest rating system but skipped Vegas (and LA) for 2010, so 2009’s ratings are shown. Forbes (formerly Mobil) uses a 5 star system, AAA’s highest rating is 5 Diamonds. The Forbes and AAA 2010 ratings were released in the fall of 2009. The Gault-Millot 20 point scale is used by website Gayot.com with all 16 point or higher listed. Some Gayot ratings seem a few years old.

 

We think Guy Savoy is very close to Robuchon and Picasso is not as strong as the other 3 but most ratings are accurate. At the Palazzo, Charlie Trotter is somewhat underrated. Here are our top restaurants.

Robuchon (MGM) is our top choice for fine dining due to a consistently strong and varied menu. Robuchon is a blend of modern French with more Asian influences than you would expect. The wine list is very strong but not quite up to Guy Savoy’s. There are 6 tasting menus available topping out at 14 courses for the Degustation.

Service starts out and ends very strongly with the best bread offerings and finishing mignardises. Dishes tends to have 3-4 major flavors. Sometimes he has interesting combinations such as La Fraise (popcorn) or Les Crustaces (uni on mashed potatoes and coffee beans) but he is more focused on flavor than experimentation in contrast to someone like Pierre Gagnair (Twist at Mandarin Oriental).

Prices are very high. With wine, tabs can reach 4 figures per person. Our meal timed out at 3 hours and 21 minutes with reports of 5 hours or more including wines. The least expensive way to dine here is with their 2 course that includes the mignardises which some might consider an extra dessert course on top of the regular dessert. See comparisons below.

To sample his cuisine for less money, L’Atelier is his separate casual bar/restaurant with a $39 L’Unique menu with appetizer, entrée and dessert. It is quite good although not the same as the full blown restaurant experience. It is served up to 6:45 pm everyday. L’Atelier is open every day from 5:30 to 10 pm and stays open an extra half hour on Saturday and Sunday.

Robuchon is closed on Wednesday and Thursday. It is open 5:30 to 10:30 pm Friday and Saturday and closes half an hour earlier on Sundays to Tuesdays.

Guy Savoy (Caesars) is a close second to Robuchon with an even stronger wine list (although 4-7X markup is a bit higher than most). His cuisine is not as varied and tends more to signature dishes that include artichoke truffle soup and crispy sea bass. Turbot is usually not offered, but if available, is well executed.

The approach is purer modern French, fewer surprises and very flavor focused. Service is equal if not a tiny bit better than Robuchon. The 10 course Menu Prestige is the top tasting menu and includes signature dishes. A TGV (high speed rail in France) menu has 4 courses for $140 and you can finish it in 1 1/2 hours. The pre-Theatre is 3 courses for $98 from 5:30 to 6:15 pm.

Guy Savoy’s Bubble Bar serves Small Bites (1/4 size or roughly an Amuse Bouche) as well as 1/2 to 3/4 portions called Big Bites. You can get 2, 3 and 4 Small Bites for $25, $30 and $40 respectively or get Big Bites for lower price points than in the restaurant.

Ala carte, the artichoke soup is $68 in Guy Savoy. The smaller Big Bite version is $28. Veal sweetbreads are $75 in the restaurant but can be sampled for $35 as a Big Bite in the Bubble Bar.

Guy Savoy is open Wednesday to Sunday from 5:30 to 9:30 pm. The Bubble Bar opens a half hour earlier than the restaurant. The bar also serves wine and champagne by the glass from $16-$65.

 

Alex (Wynn--closed 1/15/11) is just behind Robuchon and Guy Savoy for overall quality but has better value for the money. The $185 Tasting Menu (7 courses) can be augmented with wine for an extra $110. Even with tax and tip, wine added, a meal for 2 will be easily under $800.

Cuisine is Modern American (which is Nouvelle French derived) but with some Mediterranean touches such as risotto, cannelloni, etc and some classic French influence. Alex is very flavor focused, roughly similar complexity as Robuchon and not as signature dish driven as Le Cirque. The wine list is good but not equal to Savoy’s.

There is a cheaper way to try Alex with a Taste of Wynn menu that is not on the website but is still being offered. You must order this at 6 pm (some sources state up to 6:30 but this is incorrect) and you will get a choice from 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts. The lobster, short ribs and peach choices are very good.

Hours are 6 to 10 pm, closed on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.

Restaurant Charlie (Closed March 2010) (Palazzo) and Bar Charlie (Closed March 2010) are our 4th highest rated restaurant experience. Value for money is not as high as others but the food is probably the top choice if you prefer more of an Asian influence. Cuisine is Modern American with a strong Japanese influence, especially pronounced at Bar Charlie.

Bar Charlie is a separate menu from the main restaurant and bar with a heavy emphasis on seafood, Japense Kaiseki style. Although both are excellent we slightly favor Bar Charlie although there is a major drawback with availability.

Flavors are more a little more complex and the menu changes are the most varied among the top Vegas fine dining places. It is possible to dine here twice and not repeat dishes if they remember you from the first visit. Restaurant Charlie is the least signature dish driven.

Restaurant Charlie has a Degustation Menu for $250 for 14 courses. The $175 Grand Menu has 8 courses. Bar Charlie is a flat $175 and the courses will run from 8 to 10 depending on what is available, much like Omakase. The 5 course Kaiseki for $100 is no longer offered and there are no bargain tasting strategies.

Restaurant Charlie is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Their hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays are 5:30 to 9:30. They stay open an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Bar Charlie is only open on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 10 pm.

Picasso (Bellagio) is still one of the best in Vegas. Even though Julian Serrano has opened in Aria at CityCenter, executive chef Serrano still maintains a hand here by spending time at Julian Serrano at noon and returning to Picasso at around 4 pm.

French cuisine is well executed with both seared and Torchon Foie Gras and a very good butternut squash soup. The menu varies seasonally but not as much as some other fine dining spots in Vegas. The tasting menus are not as elaborate as some others topping out at 5 courses for $123 although one can add more courses optionally.

The wine list is very close to Guy Savoy’s and the ambience and décor are probably the best if you are a fan of Picasso art work or the Bellagio Fountains. If you judge strictly by the plate, it is still outstanding but no longer the leading Vegas dining destination it was.

$113 for 4 courses is the least expensive way to sample Picasso. The 3 course $83 meal is no longer offered.

Hours are 6 to 9:30 everyday except closed on Tuesdays.

Le Cirque (Bellagio) is easily the most classical French and signature dish driven of all the top fine dining in Vegas. The Lobster salad, Sea Bass, and Rabbit are some of their top dishes.

Like Picasso, Le Cirque has a view of the Bellagio Fountains but the smaller room puts more a premium on the particular table for the best view. A 5 course Degustation runs $125.

There is a Pre-Theatre available from 5:30 to 6:30 that offers 3 courses not including an Amuse Bouche for $68. Le Cirque is closed Sunday to Tuesday but open 6-10 pm all other days.

Here is a comparison of the tasting menus for the top rated fine dining in Vegas. The tasting menus are an indication of expense although you can usually get ala carte for less. We also added a column for expense adding in tax and tip with tip based on the taxed amount. If you don't base tip on the taxed amount it only changes the overall amount by a small amount such as less than $11 for the Guy Savoy Krug.

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the less expensive tasting menus.

 

 

It takes a few months for a new restaurant to peak so CityCenter could add several to the list. American Fish (Michael Mina) has come out of the gate quickly but Sage (Shawn McClain), Twist at the Mandarin Oriental (Pierre Gagnaire) and Bar Masa (Shaboo) might make more an impact over time. Here are the CityCenter restaurants.

 

Shawn McClain is a well-regarded Chicago transplant who is living in Vegas for a half year to make sure Sage gets off to a good start. Pierre Gagnaire (3 Michelin stars in France) brought over Pascal Sanchez (his chef at Gagnaire’s London Sketch) to run Twist. Sketch has a Michelin star.

Masa in NYC is a Michelin 3 star but the early reviews for the Bar Masa and Bar Masa Shaboo (part of Bar Masa) in Vegas are not as strong as one would expect. When the dust settles about 3-6 months from now, Sage and Twist are likely to be well regarded with Bar Masa Shaboo a possibility perhaps further down the road.

Vegas is very strong for French and Seafood (much flown in daily and Bar Masa from Japan's Tsukiji) with Steak also quite strong. Here are the top rated restaurants arranged by cuisine.

 

 

The top restaurants by hotel are:

 

 

The James Beard Organization awards journalists, cookbook, etc. but we only show the restaurant and chef awards. So far over 40 James Beard nominees and or winners have Vegas locales or are opening one.

 

Here are restaurants with some notoriety.