Local Eats: 595 Craft and Kitchen
595 Craft and Kitchen opened in Spring Valley in the summer of 2017. I specifically remember that I was watching one of the Star Wars movies when I was asked…
Local Eats: Dirty Fork
Last year Dirty Fork opened in the restaurant space on Durango formerly occupied by Norm's Diner. I didn't visit Dirty Fork for a while after they opened as I mourned…
Local Eats: Happy Hour At Hawthorn Grill
Hawthorn Grill is located inside the J.W. Marriott in Summerlin. The hotel is attached to Rampart Casino through a hallway but technically the buildings are separate. This is a relatively…
California Pizza Kitchen At The Park Surprises
California Pizza Kitchen at The Park surprised me in a good way last night. New outlets of chain restaurants aren't always the most exciting restaurants to explore but I was…
Burger Lounge To Open At Aria This March
California's Burger Lounge will replace The Roasted Bean near the poker room and sports book at Aria. The restaurant will open in March. This is another quick-serve burger restaurant that…
Flippin’ Good Burgers? Yup
I love the neon sign. I love burgers so it's surprising that it took me so long to try Flippin' Good Burgers and Shakes which opened earlier this year. I love a good…
Shake Shack Las Vegas Is What You’d Expect
Shake Shack Las Vegas just opened at New York-New York and the burgers are pretty much what you’d expect. The design and layout of the restaurant are very cool and I’ll get to that another day.
I just want to focus on the food today. Specifically the famous ShackBurger.
The buzz on Shake Shack opening in Vegas was heard all around the country. People that have visited Shake Shack in other parts of the country compare the burgers to In and Out Burger. A fair comparison as they’re both fast food burgers and use fresh high quality ingredients.
The Vegas Shake Shack Las Vegas location offers a much larger menu than a In and Out Burger or normal fast food or quick serve restaurant. So it’s important just to focus on the burgers (and shakes, the restaurant is called Shake Shack). Okay, on to the food.
Nothing fancy here. I wanted my first meal to cover the basics so I ordered a ShackBurger, fries and their Shack-Made lemonade to drink. Before discussing the ShackBurger I need to talk about the star of my meal – them fries.
The crinkle cut fries are thicker AND crispier than any fast food fries I’ve had before. After a little googling and I found out that these fries were brought back late last year because of customer demand. I also learned that each batch is double fried and that helps with the crispness. Here’s a close up of the light, crispy french fries. I’m not much of a fry guy but they were gone before the burger. That never happens.
Believe it or not, there is a burger hiding under the lettuce in the photo above. Here’s a better picture of the ShackBurger.
Shake Shack Las Vegas Opens Today
It's been a while since I've been excited about having a burger in Las Vegas. That changes today as the first Shake Shack opens on the west coast. Shake Shack…
2nd Umami Burger Was Even Better Than The First
If you follow me on twitter or facebook you know that I had lunch at Umami Burger at SLS Las Vegas the other day. This was my second visit to…
First Impressions Of SLS Las Vegas
My first impression of SLS Las Vegas is positive but not perfect. Nothing is perfect as far as I’m concerned. I’ve already detailed some of the flaws from the first few days of business in a separate post.
1. The Setup
The pre-opening moniker SLS Las Vegas used to describe the property was “affordable luxury”. That set up for the hotel to be fancy on a budget. For example there’s no way to make Ikea furniture feel luxurious but it can look nice. With that in mind I went in with limited expectations.
2. Casino Layout
I care more about the casino than most of SLS Las Vegas. The floor plan is only 60,000 square feet. If you ever visited Sahara this is 20,000 square feet less. The floor plan is small, which is fine but there are choke points that make it almost impossible to go to certain parts of the casino. The high traffic walkway by table area near the players club and The Griddle is tight and will always be busy. There are similar choke points on the slot floor that will be impossible to walk through because machines are packed so closely. Just scope out areas before sitting down at a table or machine.
Layout aside there are ample 3:2 blackjack games for $5 and $10. Craps has $10 minimums. There is decent video poker and all new slot machines. I dig all of this and wouldn’t mind gambling here. US Poker has a breakdown of most of the games.
Parts of the casino floor seem dark and that can make the tight casino feel almost claustrophobic on busy nights. This feels like a casino I’d visit during the day more than at night.
3. Umami Burger – Sportsbook – Beer Garden
This is the part of the casino I was most looking forward to. A sportsbook that serves good burgers and good beer? This might be heaven. It is and it isn’t. This isn’t a sportsbook.
Umami Burger a sports bar/restaurant with a patio and a place to bet on sports. Burger prices are between $12 and $15. Not too bad for the Vegas Strip. Draft beers are around $9-10 and bottles start at $5. There are no drink tickets from William Hill for sports bets as of opening but I think that will change. If you drink/eat at the video poker bar your drinks will be comp’d while you have money in play.
I really like this as a restaurant. Like I said in Vegas Chatter this is a good sports bar/restaurant but it’s not a traditional sportsbook. It should be packed with sports fans for big events but expect to see kids and families in the mix on other days. Even thought it’s not a traditional sportsbook this is my favorite spot at SLS Las Vegas.
Note, you can still sit and watch games without spending any money. However, if there are paying customers for Umami Burger you’ll politely be asked to leave if you’re not spending money.
4. Dining and High Priced Drinks