Why Is Ember's So Dead When the Food Is So Good?

A half-empty dining room at Ember’s in Boca Park could spell trouble, right? Heidi Knapp Rinella at the Las Vegas Review-Journal walked in the restaurant on a weeknight and wondered the same when she found a packed parking lot and people milling about in front of the chains.

Instead she found “some of the best” bacon-wrapped dates, “the bacon cooked perfectly, the dates sweet and yielding to the melty blue cheese and toasted almond within.” She calls the miso salmon, “a triumph of contrasts.”

She quibbles with the description of the chocolate lava cake, “what the receipt called chocolate cake didn't have anything in the way of lava, but whether the fault lay in the description or the execution, I'm not certain.”

She gave the atmosphere and food an A and the service a B for an overall A-.

Poor Al Mancini at CityLife had to go to Boulder City, and he says he wasn’t looking forward to the trek. He reviews The Dillinger Food & Drinkery, a sandwich shop and finds The Dillinger, a half-pound patty topped with cheddar cheese, applewood-smoked bacon and a large portion of beef brisket “was a big sloppy mess, but delicious,” and the Firehouse chicken sandwich, made with a grilled chicken breast, jalapeno bacon, habanero jack cheese and chipotle mayo, “was equally good.” [CL]

Jim Begley at Las Vegas Weekly checks out Kabuto, “unlike any other sushi outing you’ve ever experienced.” Much like Max Jacobson at Vegas Seven and John Curtas of Eating Las Vegas , he says if you can land a reservation, you can “consider yourself part of the in-crowd now.” [LVW]

John Curtas says the only thing wrong with Michael Mina at the Bellagio is that it’s taken for granted. As part of his due diligence for the next edition of Eating Las Vegas, the book, not the site, he stopped by to find, “Nothing has changed in the perfection department: the caviar parfait is still as creamy, crisp and salty as ever, the tuna tartare puts all others to shame, and the rest of the menu — be it a gorgeous, flaky Steelhead trout with English peas, or a lobster tortellini napped with a tangy, citrus brown butter — shows a deep, abiding respect for the character of its main ingredients without ever overwhelming them.” [ELV]
Ember's [Photo: Courtesy]