An Easter Parade…To Atrocious Food
You see some mighty strange things when you decide to walk three miles to lunch along Las Vegas Boulevard on a cool, breezy Easter Sunday: gargantuan, unfinished hotels, cheap (and we mean cheap) tourist t-shirt shops, bums drinking warm beer from bottles cadged from the gutter, discount (and we mean discount) tour kiosks, and, occasionally, a cool car or Crazy Girl butt to buttress your spirits.
But all of that seemed worth it when we started out…and we kept telling ourselves the sordidness would subside once we got to Society and chowed down on some of their top flight bar fare.
Wrong again, buffalo breath.
What we got were stale buns, sweet chili, greasy, overbreaded fish and okay chips…and a vegetarian flatbread that looked and tasted like it was thrown together by a mediocre home cook who bought the ingredients from Trader Joe’s, and then scattered some veggies and a few blobs of mediocre cheese on top of the store bought starch.
All of these indignities were heaped upon us for the low, low price of $80.
That’s right, eighty bucks for glorified bar food in a swanky setting that, as The Food Gal® so aptly put it: “…is twice (3x’s?) as expensive and half as satisfying as the junk food it’s trying to upgrade.”
Truth be told, The Food Gal® always has had a problem with these odes to plebeian eats, and ELV has often argued with her about the fun and frolicky stuff being put out by chefs like Kim Canteenwalla, Brian Massie and Kerry Simon — attempting as they do to put a gourmet/innovative spin on classics like chili dogs, sliders and such. Up until Sunday’s meal, we’d actually convinced her some of these caloric. booze-soaking dishes/meals were worth it. But when you leave a $16 chili dog craving a Der Weinerschnitzel, something is seriously wrong.
Whatever else is going on at the Wynn/Not Wynning these days, it seems increasingly obvious that the retreat from quality in their F&B program is in full swing. Charging almost a Benjamin for food this careless is the ultimate insult to customers who, we imagine, the management thinks won’t mind the tariff.
We minded, and unfortunately, there wasn’t a Long John Silver’s or hot dog joint on the way home to repair the damage.
ELV’s lunch for two came to $97 ($80+$17 tip) with no booze.
SOCIETY CAFÉ
In the Encore Hotel and Casino
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702.770.5300
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
May 2nd, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Not a comment about Society Cafe (although thanks for the warning!) but about another Wynn eatery, The Pizza Place. When The Pizza Place used to be Sugar and Ice, it had what I thought was the best ice cream in all of Las Vegas — creamy amazing deliciousness for which I all too gladly shelled out more than 8 bucks for two scoops ($6.75 + tax + $1 tip = $8.29). I went back recently, paid my hard-earned $8.29, and got pedestrian crap, ice cream no better than bleepin’ Dreyers. The Wynn has the unmitigated gall to charge $6.75 for two scoops of bleepin’ Dreyers?!?!? BTW, no knock on Dreyers, but I ain’t payin’ 8 bucks for it.
I used to love Sugar & Ice, with its best-in-town ice cream, beautiful terrace with waterfalls, and free WiFi. But the green-visored beancounters came in and ruined everything. I’m a cabdriver, and I used to recommend Sugar & Ice to all my passengers. Although not cheap, it was a terrific value. And on a hot summer day, the terrace with its natural air conditioning and beautiful landscaping was a hidden jewel in Las Vegas. Now I warn passengers to stay away. If anyone wants good ice cream on the Strip, I recommend Jean Philippe at Bellagio or Aria.