Decent Tapas, Bad Tapas, the KGB and More

Max Jacobson takes on the fourth third location of Vegas tapas staple Firefly. The food critic for Vegas Seven found “the best neighborhood-joint paella in the city,” even though it took an hour to come out instead of the 40 minutes suggested on the menu.

But is all well there? He says the house chicken salad “has too much of what I’m told is mayonnaise.” His hot tapas “are reasonably good, except for the bland Padrón peppers, which need seasoning.” He describes the Thai beef salad as “especially good and—not Thai in the least ?and tasting Korean, if anything.” And dessert? “So what if the vanilla ice cream topping has freezer burn?”

Despite all this, Jacobson declares, “Three’s the charm, if you don’t count that one downtown.”

Al Mancini at CityLife does tapas, too, only he goes to Marbella Tapas & Bar, what he describes as ”one of the most troubled restaurants I’ve ever seen.” He says he “was served some of the worst food I’ve ever tasted.” Of the five dishes he ordered, “Two were bad. Two were extraordinarily bad. The fifth was completely inedible.” [CityLife]

Jim Begley at Las Vegas Weekly heads to Island Malaysian Cuisine in Chinatown to try out this hard-to-find cuisine. He tries the roti tissue, “a marvel of modern architecture that arrives towering above its plate. In contrast to the standard roti canai, this version is dusted with a bit of sugar and rolled about half as thick.” He suggests trying both. [LVW]

Is it time to call it a day when you chief complaint about a restaurant is that “their website needs work,” something Heidi Knapp Rinella at the Las Vegas Review Journal mentions nowhere in the article but adds to her aside comments? HKR visits The Griddle to find “the link sausage had more flavor than fat, which is always a good thing.” Couldn’t resist. Should you care, and you shouldn’t, she gave the service and atmosphere an A, the food a B+ for an overall A-. [LVRJ]

Vegas Chatter hits up KGB: Kerry’s Gourmet Burgers at Harrah’s Las Vegas to check out the monthly burger and milkshake special. There they tried the Shogun burger, “one messy burger, you'll need a knife and fork” to eat, and the mocha coconut shake. “We are big fans.” [VC]