The Venetian
First visit: Feb 2023
They have a second location in Miami Beach, Florida.
I did not expect my first dinner to be at a place we visited last year. Primarily because this year's conference is at the Wynn rather than the Venetian. As the crow flies, the resorts are next door to each other. But as anyone who's been to Vegas knows, that means at least a 30 minute walk between them. No matter, as we all can use the exercise. This was a limited team dinner before the conference starts. So the good news meant we can order from the menu! Yaay. I did get to try their chicken parm on this visit, and it was quite good. Huge portion with fettucine noodles. I was hungry so I had no problem devouring the meal. Thick and tasty red sauce. The chicken wasn't as crispy as I prefer, but not unexpected. We also ordered a few bottles of the The Prisoner red blend. At $105 a bottle, it was indeed great, though way beyond my personal budget. I don't think I enjoy these higher end wines any more than the $20 to $30 ones. Probably that's on me, but my palate has gone all in for beer these days. As an appetizer I enjoyed the meatballs, but wasn't as excited for the calamari, which seemed a bit underdone. Overall, Mercato della Pescheria makes for a fine resort dining experience, though I have to think my best options are off the Strip. Who knows if I'll ever visit here without a conference or show being the reason.
---original 3/5/23 review
Our breakfasts and lunches are served buffet style, which is the only way one can mass feed 4,000 people (yes, that many). I think the hotel did a splendid job of crowd control and making sure we all got something decent to eat. A lot of planning and execution go into this, and I don't think many appreciate that. But I do. I imagine myself being in charge - it would be tough.
After a full day of ra-ra meetings, it's time to unwind. We first had a happy hour at yet another jam packed loud place with no craft beers. Ugh. Then it was time for dinner at "The Fish Market". Again, they did a masterful job of ensuring a great many folks were fed at this restaurant (a much smaller subset than the conference of course). As with Bouchon, a set menu was applied. This one was more like a cruise ship where they just brought out everything and you pick out what you want. In the end it was way too much food. It is hard to judge a restaurant like this, because I would have wanted to apply my test dish. Which would be chicken parm and pasta, and that is on their regular menu. But that wasn't on offer this evening. But what they did bring out, I enjoyed quite a bit. The Caesar salad, appetizers, steak, and in particular the salmon were excellent. The latter had a crispy breading which was a nice twist. Excellent desserts and good conversation at our table. This is for sure one place I would seek out on my own if given the chance.
2/28/23 (new entry); 3/3/24
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