Viva Las Vegas!

[SandyM]

Congratulations, CookGirl, and best wishes on your anniversary!!! My favorite restaurant in Vegas is Battista's Hole in the Wall. It's in a little strip mall behind the Flamingo. Awesome Italian food. A charming little man wanders the restaurant playing Dean Martin tunes on his accordion. What's more fun than that??!! Okay, winning a couple thousand on the slots, but this is nice as a consolation!!

[JodiL]

I've heard that the Emeril's restaurant in Las Vegas is good, but personally I've never been...

[cookgirl]

Thanks for the suggestions. What about Emiril's restaurant? I didn't know he had one in Vegas.
I should mention that we like nice restaurants, but character is more important to us sometimes! (a.k.a Dean Martin.)

[Holly S]

Emerils is in MGM Grand. Also there is a House of Blues that serves all cajun in Mandalay Bay. Actually there are several "Nice" restaurants in there.

[JeanneW]

Sandy M - it's funny you should mention Battista's. I go to Vegas twice a year on business (ugh!) and stay at Bally's. My room usually looks right down on Battista's and I've always wondered about it. It looks like a hole-in-the-wall place. I'll be back in February and I'll have to give it a try.

Cookgirl, Vegas has gone so upscale that you'll have no problem finding nice places to eat. I suggest you check out a good Las Vegas website. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has a good one. It's www.lasvegas24hours.com. (http://www.lasvegas24hours.com.) It'll list all the hotels and restaurants. I'll put in a personal plug for Mandalay Bay. I took a hard hat tour of the hotel (I'm a meeting planner) and it's gorgeous! I think they have 14 or so restaurants and lots of great food. I too have heard good things about Rio and the Voodoo Cafe there is incredible.

Paris, which is adjacent to Bally's, also has lots of good restaurants. I will caution you though to make reservations a day or two in advance. It can be difficult to get in to many of these places. I know that doesn't fit with your desire to not have a plan, but that's the reality.

Also, if you plan to stay mostly on the Strip, don't even bother to rent a car. Strip traffic can be murder and it can take twice as long to drive as to walk.

Have a wonderful time! When are you going?

[cookgirl]

Well we were going to leave on September 30th, but I've just been informed my husband has a show that night. Looks like we'll fly out on Sunday, October 1st. Our Anniv. is on the 2nd.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. you guys are so great!

[Nanci]

I stayed at the MGM Grand recently and although I didn't try Emeril's restaurant (it's a New Orleans style of cuisine and features a lot of seafood -- my boyfriends not crazy about seafood)-- the Chinese restaurant also in the MGM was very good.

Paris had good restaurants including a wonderful bakery. It was the perfect breakfast hot bread and coffee.

I highly recommend the Cirque de Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio although pricey. It featured everything from synchronized swimming to incredible feats of strenght and flexibility. Sold out usually -- there is a cancellation line.

Nanci

[TraceyK]

Here's another vote for Battista's! We go there everytime we're in town. The accordian musician may ask you where you're from and then play music accordingly (We're from Colorado, so he played music to honor the Denver Broncos!)

If you do go there, it's best to make a reservation!

[BJennif]

There is a great Italian place called Stefano's I think in the Golden Nugget, which is downtown. It's very small, so make a reservation and it's great, gourmet food. there's also a gourmet chinese rest. in the same hotel. Maybe you could look at the library for a book listing restaurants. We stayed in the MGM Grand and it has the emeril rest, wolfgang puck, and tons more.
have fun!

[KimKelly]

Cook Girl! What perfect timing. I actually just returned yesterday from 3 days in Vegas (minus kids!) for my 7th anniversary. We spent our anniversary dinner at Delmonico's - Emeril's restaurant in the Venetian. I can't rave enough about it! It is a bit pricy, but then many of the really good restaurants there are, but I would say it was well worth it. My husband had "tournedos" - I've probably demolished the spelling on that - it was 3 pieces of the most tender mouth watering filet's we have ever tasted. I had a pasta dish with homemade sausage and pesto... also absolutely wonderful!

I must say that as I love to eat out and don't get to anymore due to a 1 year old girl who would prefer to throw her food, so my main goal in Vegas was to find the best places I could to eat.

Delmonicos was fabulous! There was also another restaurant in the Venetian, just slightly down from Delmonicos off of the Casino - I can't remember the name, but it ended with Cafe. A simple cafe it was not! There were numerous dishes on the menu that we would have both been thrilled with. My husband had the best Jambalya that we have ever had, I had a Maha-Mahi in a mango sauce. Also very good. This place was open 24 hours.... I 'll check with my husband on the exact name.
I ate at the House of Blues at Mandalay (we also stayed at Mandalay) and were fairly disapointed. THe food was definitely average and the service poor.

Also in the Mandalay Bay though, there is a restaurant called Borders. It was Mexican. Excellent Margaritas - we got the "Shaker". The dinner was good. BUT! The dessert! My goodness.... not to be missed! The waiter suggested Pastel Rufina, it was to die for! Puff pastry with chocolate cream and berries... MMMM! We also had the Mexican Chocolate Merangue... Merangue on the bottom with chocolate mousse flavored slightlly with cinnamon and covered in chocolate curls! I actually took pictures of the desserts as there were so beautiful. I would definitaly not miss the dessert there.

We did not find a good breakfast place, ate at the buffet at Mandalay, and it was typical buffet...nothing special, actually, not even very good.

Hmmmm... I'm trying to think of what else to tell you. I don't know if price is no object, but we did see another resteraunt at Mandalay, Aureole, where the waitress actually clime a tower to fetch you the perfect wine. I had heard that it was excellent. Reservations highly recommended.

At the Bellagio, we did have cocktails at a bar overlooking the "lagoon". A must to time right to get a wonderful view of the Bellagio water show - it goes on every 1/2 hour or so, and the cocktail place was an excellent view - Great pictures with the Eiffel tower in the background!

Check out New York New York, they appeared to have wonderful food everywhere, but we ran out of time.

Ah... we saw the Cirque Du Soliel at the Bellagio too. Wonderful! It was all done over and in a pool of water. My husband loved it, and he is not one for shows. Make reservations ahead of time if you are interested. We found the best price was to call the hotel directly, the did not charge a fee for booking.

Also, if you book online keep checking back for the prices. Our Mandaly Price dropped $50 a night from the time we booked and the time we arrived, my husband kept calling back and getting the better price, they were happy to oblige.

And.... one last tip.... the triple diamond quarter slots in the middle section of Mandalay Bay..... I won $200 on my $10 roll of quarters! Wish I had left an identifying mark on it for you!

Best of luck!
Kim

[MaryH]

Since Vegas is the one place I DON'T have to convince my husband to go to we've been a couple of times.

Suggestion about the Rio is right on target. For buffets they are the best.

Jean Louis Palentin (or something like that - I know that's his first name) has a restaurant at the Rio called Napa - we were there New Year's Eve so the prices were a lot higher but the food was pretty good.

Also, if you like wine you HAVE to go to The Cellar which is located downstairs - their selection is awesome and they have all sorts of "flights" (tastings of three to four wines) you can try (with various prices depending on the wine selected).

Paris has the best croissants.

Never tried Emeril's.

Bellagio has good restaurants - but I haven't tried any of them yet.

Bon voyage!!

[andreajackson]

I am also going to Las vegas in October(end of the month)! I am hoping to try several great restaurants also. I have heard that the restaurant at the Stratosphere Hotel is great with a view of the city. I think the little Italian place Battista sounds great, I love Italian.
If anyone knows of any good places for dessert please post!

[cookgirl]

For our first anniversary, my husband and I have (finally) decided to go to Vegas.
I think we'll just go about without a plan for the most part. However, on our anniversary, I'd like to go to a nice restaurant before we got see the Counting Crows in concert (neat!)There's nothing like good food and good music. Any suggestions for dinner hot spots in Vegas?

(P.S. While I'm on music, it wouldn't be fair to not say something about Sting. I saw him in concert last week and he was amazing! My mouth was wide open with surprise for the whole show! Please go see him if you can!)

[Danielle]

I didn't have a chance to eat there, but the Bellagio had some great restaurants inside, including a Wolfgang Puck place. Gorgeous inside...my favorite hotel, next to Paris Las Vegas.

[Holly S]

Cookgirl,

OK, It isn't the poshest place in Vegas, but The Rio has made a point of making their food the best in town since it is off the strip. The food is unbelievable. All I can say is have a good time, Vegas is a great place to go visit, it just never stops!

[KimKelly]

Andrea.... I would have to say you MUST try the Borders Restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Hotel for dessert. I mentioned above that the desserts were so beautiful that I took pictures of them! The restaurant is Mexican, so I wasn't too sure at first about dessert, but they proved me wrong, it was some of the best I've ever had.

Kim