YUSHO is the best restaurant in town that nobody goes to.
There I said it. Twice.
I blame the concept. And the location.
Not that the concept isn’t any good. It’s great. It’s just that pitching elevated Japanese/Asian street food to the throngs who stream past the Monte Carlo hotel everyday (from a practically hidden location) is like facing the nastiest curve ball in MLB with two strikes already against you.
Those slack-jawed hordes are looking for shitty Mexican food, bad pizza and cheap beer, not the beauteous bao pictured above, righteous ramen, house-made pickles and kimchi fried rice:
….each of which is worth a trip all by themselves.
Matthias Merges’ gem deserves to be in our 50 Essential Restaurants because it does this type of food better than anyone. It’s a bloody shame it gets ignored by locals too timid to brave the craziness of the Strip to find it.
A bloody shame.
YUSHO
In the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino
702.730.6888
I just stayed at Hotel 32 at the Monte Carlo and had no idea it was there. The location must be horrible.
I’ve been wanting to try Yusho for over a year but like you said, I’m unwilling to fight strip traffic and potentially pay for parking a mile away. Especially when you’re giving us such golden nuggets as Soyo Barstaurant and that whole new Asian scene on South Rainbow. We tried Soyo on Saturday, barely looked at the menu, simply pointed at other (almost all Asian) people’s tables and said bring us one of those. It was all amazing and we had continual food envy watching new dishes come out, “Oooh, we should’ve got that. Oh well, next time”
One of the few times I have felt steered wrong. Fought the construction and Strip traffic, and the beginning of the end of Vegas civilization manifested in the first automated rumblings of the pay-to-park valet setting in; all to try this joint with family. Music so loud you could barely hear your table-mate. I asked if they could turn it down and the response was “I’ll ask the manager but she’ll probably say ‘no.'” The pork and chicken in the buns was tough, the lamb and pork belly seemed over-spiced and similar in taste, the dumplings were greasy and their sauce had an odd flavor we avoided. Chicken wings were OK but if the ones at Inyo are a 10 these are a 5. Tempura about the same as what you find at any decent lunch spot pushing asian cuisine. Chocolate covered bacon on the ice cream desert should have been a treat, but the waiter warned “most people think it tastes like beef jerky” and it did – and it doesn’t have to and shouldn’t. Boy, this was a miss. Won’t do it again.
Oh John, say it ain’t so. Nobody goes to this restaurant because it’s wildly mediocre and dramatically overpriced. I’ve never understood the adv-itorial gushing of local scribes and forced myself to make several visits trying to experience the same so-called Best New Restaurant that they have. In all those visits I’ve never witnessed even a hint of excellence. Add the impending arrival of paid parking and your readers should instead be racing to the izakaya’s of Chinatown like Inyo for a meal twice as good for half the price!
Let’s just chalk this up to a lingering Tokyo hangover and move on.
While we did enjoy our first visit to Yusho our second visit was a shocking disappointment. The Logan Poser Ramen is well named since it’s made by posers for posers. Why anyone would eat here over Chinatown is a mystery to me far greater than the desire to purchase a Kia.
You lost some serious credibility with this article. I urge you to visit this mediocre tourist trap again for another look see.