RESTAURANT CHARLIE

If you love seafood, or sushi, or great, artisanal hand-made inventive cocktails made with booze you can’t find anywhere else, Restaurant Charlie (as in Trotter) in the Palazzo should be on your permanent rotation of luxurious drinking and dining spots. It’s expensive to be sure – some of those cocktails run $20+ – but the care that goes into everything from your drink garnish to perfectly fried sea bream (with the most compelling citrus/cilantro/chile sauce we have had in some time), is palpable with every bite. Plus, everything’s a la carte (unlike Trotter’s last foray here), so if you want to nibble on a terrine of Maine skate wing, while your date devours some steamed Casco Bay cod, the tariff will be much easier to swallow.

Hiroo Nagana’s knifework is as pristine as ever, and even if you can’t afford one of his over-the-top tasting menus at Bar Charlie, the sleek, modern bar will do nicely for a round of apps and mixed drinks whipped up by Jeremy Merritt and his crew with ingredients like Square One Vodka, Kubler Absinthe, Stirrings Fleur de Sel Infused Soda, or Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum.

They also pickle their own cocktail onions here (along with other tasty/exotic garnishes), and if there’s a better whisky cocktail than their Sazerac (Bulleit Bourbon, Kubler Absinthe, Hine Triomphe Cognac, organic simple syrup and both Peychauds and Angostura bitters, ELV has yet to try it.

The kitchen here just seems to be getting better and better, and the quality of our last meal (our fourth since it opened), puts RC firmly in ELV’s Top 5 dining spots for all of Sin City.

RESTAURANT CHARLIE

In the Palazzo Hotel and Resort

3325 South Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.607.6336

www.charlietrotters.com

2 thoughts on “RESTAURANT CHARLIE

  1. I took my boyfriend here for his birthday last month, and was pretty let down. We were both excited to eat here, especially my boyfriend, who is an asst. executive chef for a major strip hotel.
    The initial room you walk into, their ‘lounge’ reminded me of my veterinarians office. Slate floors, steel, and glass. Very cold and sterile.
    We chose not to do a tasting menu of any sort, and we proceeded to order two courses of apps and two entrees with a bunch of side dishes.
    We started with a watered down sake crab salad and smoked salmon that was decent. Then we proceeded to have dumpling soup that came out room temperature and a Lobster tart that had very little lobster, but decent flavor.
    Our entrees were Big eye tuna over wilted greens (and they came out wilted, believe me) and the Rib Eye that the server raved about. The presentations were good, but that is about it.
    The milk chocolate cheesecake was the best part of the meal by far.
    The wine list was decent, but for a Trotter restaurant, pretty small. We paid $120 for a decent bottle of Pinot, but nothing special in that price range.
    Service was good, but a little stiff and over-bearing.
    The dining room was very boring, and the location of the restaurant is hideous. The furnishings are slightly uncomfortable as well.

    We have eaten in almost every restaurant in Vegas, and this was a definite no-return for us. We could have gone to Alex or Guy Savoy for almost the same amount (we paid over $500 with tip), and those experiences were truly amazing. French laundry cost us under $700, and that is probably the best restaurant in the country!

    p.s.
    I responded to a customer survey on his website detailing everything, and didn’t even get a courtesy e mail back.

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