é by José Andrés — Restaurant in Paradise

é in Las Vegas was probably the most intimate dining experience I’ve had. You share a chef’s table with eight total diners in a private room tucked inside Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan. We shared our seating with five guys at a bachelor party and a solo diner. For a bachelor party, our dinner mates were ironically quiet!

When we arrived, we were initially seated at a high top in Jaleo with our fellow diners. They presented the first course at this time – edible branches made from liquified kalamata olives, presented like a centerpiece.

My husband took the liberty to also order a plate of the best jamon – jamón ibérico de bellota fermín and some pan de cristal con tomate. Excessive I know, but I indulged in it as well!

After we finished our snack, we were led inside the é private dining room. The first thing I noticed was the interesting decor – one chef said it was like a snapshot inside Chef José Andrés mind. See my photos for the creepy doll and some heels going up a ladder!

Upon seating, we were given a hot towel in the mold of José’s hand. We kicked off the meal with some wine by the glass and watched the 22 course performance unfold over the next two hours.

My highlights:

Wonder Bread - This looked like a simple mini sandwich, but the bread was actually apple meringue with foie and pear filling.

Uni & Lardo - This was one of my favorite small bites, as I love anything uni. Though the thick, crunchy base was a tad overwhelming to the delicate uni.

Asparragos Escabeche - Such an intricate and memorable dish to watch them make. It was also one of my favorite tasting - I loved the bright flavors and texture contrast.

Txangurro a la Donostiarra - The simple crab meat was enhanced with a rich vial of crab broth and some crunchy bread crumbs for contrast.

Platija - The fluke over a bed of chicken course was pretty to look at but uncomfortably salty for my taste.

Fricando - wagyu beef cheek, gnocchi, chanterelles, pine nut. This was my favorite of the savory dishes. The gnocchi had a surprising texture that reminded me of popping boba! The chanterelles were so delightful, and the beef cheek was nicely tender.

Desserts - The three plated desserts satisfied my tooth nicely - great presentation, layers of flavor, and texture contrast. The modern take on Intxaursaltsa (walnut, raspberry, hazelnut) was especially enjoyable.

Overall, I thought the chef’s table at é was a good experience but quite robotic with no real standout dishes. Perhaps the presentation was so intricate that the chefs had to focus on plating at the cost of diner interaction. It was missing the level of engagement that we experienced at the modern chef’s counter at The Bazaar by José Andrés in LA. My favorite chef's table service to date was at Playground 2.0 in Orange County - a winning combination of exceptional approachability, enthusiasm, and education.

After our 22 bite-sized dishes, we weren’t hungry, but we were craving something more hearty, like the paella from Jaleo. We put ourselves in the server’s hands, and she surprised us with the Paella Mixta on the house. As we sat at the Jaleo bar and dug into the paella, this hit the spot unlike anything else from é. As intricate and fun as é was to watch, it was missing soul, which the paella had. Sometimes...

So I went here for my Birthday which was July 24th but now with that out of the way me and my family/close family friends decided to come here after some very "interesting staff choices" at PRIME which isn't too far from this location in Bellagio. Since my eldest brother had dined here before so we all decided to come here. Probably the best decision we could've made. I will admit the Food was most certainly great as I've never had Spanish food and it was delicious but I think the best part here was the service I'm actually so sad I didn't get his name cause my goodness he did fantastic service as our waiter. He constantly kept going around the table (since it was I believe in hour and a half before closing sorry if we kept making people think it was open) asking if everything was fine since they had to actually see how much of the specific meat they had for one of the menu items which most of our group ordered. Also like how the Chef tried to look for more meat even though he could've just said they're out or they have a small portion but actually took the time to look for more meat which we managed to split perfectly thanks to the chef. (Waiter) He also kept asking questions about certain dishes and drinks cause he's never actually had them which surprised us but we gave our opinions on our dishes and drinks. The atmosphere he made after our problems with PRIME was amazing felt like eating what felt like an exotic dinner right at home. He'd later start talking to our group and eventually found things we had in common so it made the moment that much better since we could actually have a laugh with the waiter. If ever get the chance to go to Vegas again I will most certainly be...

Note: You will get paired with random strangers, wait a while at the beginning, and risk having to deal with drunkards at dinner. However, we got lucky and had an amazing group of 6!

My review: Probably one of the best restaurants I've eaten at. I've tried multiple 1, 2, and 3 star Michelin restaurants and this one gets 4 stars! Better than Alinea, Per Se, etc.

The exclusivity of the room in the back is just outstanding. The staff are very courteous and make the food in front of you. They're quite attentive, considering the room only fits 8!

As for the food, I recommend you just look at my pictures. I cannot describe each and every piece of outstanding food I ate. It was not only visually pleasing, but delicious.

You leave the meal very full - which is amazing since most high end restaurants want you slightly hungry so everything tasted good. The wine pairing (Tier 1) worked really well with the meal. There were stronger/weaker wines, unlike most wine pairings at fancy restaurants where they all taste roughly the same.

The golden ticket is a nice touch, and created a truly memorable experience.

I'd love to come back next time I'm in Vegas... if I can get another golden ticket!

Areas of Improvement: If you come early, you're forced to sit with the group at a table looking at each other. It created weird conversation for 30 minutes where we really did not care to talk to each other. They try to upsell you on the wine pairing through group pressure, and the $55 truffle upgrade. Since they ask it in a big group, if you don't move forward with it, you may seem like the "poor" one out. We were going to get it anyways, but we could sense unease with...