[firstyearclay]

Here is a cliff notes background on my experience. I graduated Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I have ordered food from purveyors, prepped, cooked, expedited, served, tended bar, bounced and cleaned at crappy bars up to 5 star restaurants. In no way do I consider myself a Chef, Writer, or expert in the restaurant field; however I do consider my taste and experiences to be unique.

I have been using Zagat for a long time as a base for finding restaurants in new cities. Although, I believe they are politically backed, I do think they are a good resource for learning about restaurants in most cities.

For this review, I will be talking about a restaurant in the Palms called, N9ne Steakhouse in Las Vegas.

My first experience at N9ne was actually in early 2006. It was a part of a week long birthday experience for me and a few friends. One of my good friends, Geno Bernardo, who is the Executive Chef @ Nove in the Fantasy Tower in the Palms, was the #2 at N9ne for about a year. He encouraged me to check it out as he thought I would like the food as well as experience.

I arrived at the restaurant with 2 of my close friends and proceeded over to the table. You are IMMEDIATELY taken in by the experience of N9ne. Its not uncommon to hear techno or rock n’ roll playing at a moderate level throughout the restaurant along with voices of 20-40 somethings’ talking up the evening. My first thought was wow, we are going to a club for dinner?

I was taken over to my seat which was placed right in the middle of the restaurant facing the center bar. The place is very well designed. When you come into N9ne late, you have to fight off the club crowd over at Rain (sometimes asking for bouncer assistance to get through the lines), then proceed to the left to the hostess stand. The hostess’ are all stunning! Proceed through into the restaurant and you have a long bar on the right that is jam packed with over-dressed movie star wanna-be’s. I mean this is Vegas folks and you know you are in Vegas within 20 feet of being in here!

The restaurant seats a conservative 150 people. It was jam-packed. Joe Montana was with friends in the private room, Paris Hilton was 30 minutes departed, and this place was just getting busy. Geno comes right out to greet us and tell us he is SLAMMED, but will get us some appetizers soon. He also basically recommends our entire meal so we try everything. I put my menu down and have him send over the Sommelier. The waiter is basically point and clicking our experience and just making sure we have strong drinks before the food comes out.

Typical of good restaurants, there is a bunch of people providing different functions. One person is filling your glass with water (tap, sparkling), one person is making sure your table is cleaned, one person is scouting for problems (manager), one is taking your order, and a few are delivering. Pretty typical here, but busy and efficient to say the least.

After about 3 GG’s and soda’s the appetizers arrive. I cannot remember specifics, but I do know the food was all outstanding. Geno tends to go off menu (for friends) which in essence changes the experience for the casual diner. We had Fried Rock shrimp (served in a Chinese box with 3 different sauces), an assortment of sushi, and the stand-by calamari. Food was all great and the sauces made the experience. I absolutely adored the Rock Shrimp.

Where I am a true noob, is wines. I have taken a few wine classes when I was in college and even had a private lesson when I was working in a 5 star, but never paid attention. I really didn’t care about wines then. Only later in my 20’s did I begin to appreciate, love-then-hate white wine and now am learning about the reds. The sommelier determined with our meal that a Washington Merlot was in order. It was one of the best Merlo's I have ever had. Nice and dry and flavorful. It was Ecole No. 41.

Geno then brought out some more sushi. I am a huge sushi fan, and he tends to try and kill us every meal. The dinners came out next. If I remember correctly, we had three courses. Short-Ribs, a New York Steak (cooked to perfection), and a whole lobster (2.5 lbs.). The food was outstanding. The plates rotated til’ clean.

The drinks flowed hard, and the food slipped down our alcohol greased throats with perfection. The service was above and beyond. The atmosphere was YOUNG and HAPPY! I left wanting more, feeling like I just met a hot girl that wanted more time.

This meal SCREAMS Vegas. If you are looking for above average food and service before you go out, N9ne Steakhouse is a great place to start.

Overall:
Food: 10
Service: 9
Décor: 8

Experience: 9


FYC