Letter of the Week

Dear ELV,

My husband and I love Turkish food. So we were highly disappointed to go to IBO Turkish and Mediterranean Restaurant and Bar for Valentine’s Day and find out that they have eliminated almost all of the Turkish item from their menu to focus on steak and seafood.

My husband had a rainbow trout that was horrible and had already had the skin removed prior to serving. I had a chicken dish that was mediocre at best. The hummus was alright and I enjoyed the lentil soup.

However, the service was terrible. We sat there with empty and dirty appetizer plates and soup bowls in front of us until our entree arrived over an hour after ordering it. I don’t think they would have cleared them away at that time except I said something about them. Our server took our order and then never came back until we were done eating.

We eat out extensively and this was only the second time in my husband’s life that he left absolutely no tip. I expect this restaurant to be out of business before the end of the year. Which will be no loss to the Las Vegas dining community.

Signed,

Plenty Peeved at Paltry Provisions Pam

Dear Quadruple P,

ELV takes no pleasure in anyone’s bad meal, or the demise of any eatery.* However, some potential failures can be sensed — especially when a place is too big, overdecorated, understaffed and way too ambitious for the clientele they’re seeking to reach. God bless Al Mancini and Slapsie Maxie Jacobson for giving such places exposure, even when it is clear to us that they’re headed for the restaurant dustbin. A steak and seafood restaurant in that neck of the woods has a much chance of succeeding as we do of beating this guy on skates.

Turkishly yours,

ELV

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* Although no tears will be shed, nor obituaries written, when Andre Rochat slings his last plate of hackneyed, overpriced French food at some unsuspecting tourist in the near future.

6 thoughts on “Letter of the Week

  1. Wow, who broke out the haterade? lol
    While I might agree that the food at Alize doesn’t quite compete with the view (nor justify prices–it’s enjoyable, but not excessively original), I think Rochat’s Chef de C Gary LaMorte at Andre’s Monte Carlo is certainly giving it the ol’ college try, and his som Claudio at both spots knows the juice. Could he do better? Probably, if he were allowed to. But as I’ve observed at some recent forays (which will for the time remain nameless), he could also do much much worse.

    And I know you better, John. Oddsmakers at Crazy Leroy’s say you will in fact write a delicious and detailed obit when Rochat’s tenure closes.

  2. I haven’t been to IBO yet. I can’t eat in that shopping center anymore – too many sad memories of Saporro inexplicably closing. I loved that place and it was always packed. What happened?

    I am surprised IBO has lasted as long as it has.

  3. Oh gosh, another shot fired in the “Andre Wars”! It’s like a foodie love story gone all wrong. ;-)

    So anyway, back to Ibo. This just sucks. We need more good Middle Eastern restaurants here… But it seems they’ve just given up on that. Take a look at the “new” menu:

    http://www.ibovegas.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=262

    At least 80% of the menu looks just like just about every other generic “steakhouse” in town. I don’t know if I’d even want to go back with a menu like that (that I can find all around me in Henderson).

  4. More good Middle Eastern restaurants?? Try Khourys on Patrick and Ft Apache…just a hop skip and a jump from IBO…

    plus there is a new one about to open on Tropicana just west of Ft Apache (at the in-n-out center)

  5. I was at IBO, when it had just opened. The place was huge and exuded ambience. The food was Turkish-with the Meditarranean flair. Chef Ibo, whom I met seemed to have had very high aspirations for this place, may be so, since this was the only Turkish Restaurant in Las Vegas. The advertisement in the magazines in part, read “I want to blow the socks off hospitality here in Las Vegas.” I should say the food was excellent but i noticed the place was crowded more with cocktail crowd (from a once a week Mixers) than diners. I wanted to go back but I found out that the place had closed. My observation is-this place would have done well if it opened in 2006 or 2007 but 2009 was the worst year for any place unless it was a take out or no frill-good food joints. Other thing I notice is they spend so much money on the ambience that they fall short of money for advertising and marketing.

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