Nobu Restaurant Las Vegas — Restaurant in Paradise

I've read many reviews on various websites regarding those who've experienced the Omakase (Prix Fixe) tasting menu at Nobu (Hard Rock in Las Vegas). Most of the negative reviews indicated that people felt portion sizes were too small and they left hungry, and/or it was overpriced. In my opinion, neither is accurate for MY experience. I stress "my" because I went in with the expectation of paying a premium for my meal and am okay with that. I didn't just go to have dinner, I went to have an experience/be entertained and in my eyes the cost is reflective of that.

Below is my review of the experience overall. A quick tip: go to the bathroom before your meal as you will not know when the next course is being presented. Also, the closest bathroom is across the casino floor to your right when exiting the restaurant. Plan on 2hrs of dining.

Initial Impression: The entrance was relatively easy to find off the casino floor. Upon entering I was surprised at the size of the restaurant. It is much smaller than I expected. Lighting was warm and inviting. Our host was very pleasant and despite our 20min early arrival she immediately sat us (we planned on waiting at the bar).

Omakase: Nobu offers 3-tiers of their Omakase, priced per person ($125, $150 or $200). Our server indicated that all guests at the table would be required to participate (they won't serve it to only one person for example). They did indicate that the tier chosen did not have to be identical, so I could have gotten the $150 while my dining partners could have gotten the tier of their choice. When inquiring about the difference in tiers we were told that they had an identical number of courses (8 including soup and dessert) and that the difference was in "higher premium ingredients) as you increased in tier. We all chose the $125 tier. Note that I counted 9 courses total at the end of the meal.

Staff: All of the staff that served us were friendly, knowledgeable and seemed genuinely happy to be there. We had our primary waiter, two food runners and two busers. Early in the meal they seemed very quick to turn our table over for the next course. Once we got to the "entrees" we had additional time and it did not feel as rushed. Each time they asked if it was okay to remove my dish (which was greatly appreciated!). It was hard to hear them explain the dish (they could have spoken louder and slower) but each time we asked them to reiterate or elaborate they were happy to do so. Additionally they asked if there were any food allergies, restrictions or meat temperature preferences prior to the meal.

Amount of Food: This is where most of the negative reviews state that "they left hungry". It really is difficult to say how much is enough food as everyone eats differently! My dining partner can put a meal down and he left satisfied. I can hold my own and felt quite full. My wife gets full quickly and likely would have not eaten every bite of the entrees as she would have been getting full and would have wanted to save room for dessert (she has a bit of a sweet tooth). In my opinion, to each their own. You may leave hungry and wanting for more, but overall I think most will leave full or satisfied.

Quality: Overall I cannot stress how pleased we were with our meal. The attention to detail and the expertise shown by the chef was out of this world. The only rub through the whole meal was in the meat course in which we ordered the temperature based on the chef preference and our identical dishes were not cooked the same. Mine was more medium than med-rare and my dinner partner had a more rare to med-rare cook. I would have preferred the latter temperature, however, my dish was still very tasty. This by no means makes me regret the decision of ordering the Omakase. Letting the chef decide the journey of my meal was an experience I've never had and is one I'm glad I did.

Thank you Nobu for an amazing experience and meal. It is one I personally will never forget and would recommend to anyone...

I took my girlfriend to Vegas for her birthday. I had asked her where she wanted to go for her birthday dinner while we were there, and she picked Nobu. We were both very excited as we love Japanese food and fine dining. I booked our reservation months in advance, and we both couldn't stop talking about it as we were excited!

The evening of her birthday I also had us booked to take a helicopter tour of The Strip. I noticed that our timing was going to be tighter than anticipated (there was a last minute update from the tour) and so I called Nobu to see if we could bump our reservation back 30 minutes. Our reservation was at 9pm, March 24th. I was told that 9pm was the latest they took reservations so I advised them that we may be a little late but that we'd do our best.

Fast forward to after the tour. Things were actually almost on schedule and after a very quick stop at our Hotel (The Cosmopolitan), we eventually arrived at Nobu 10 minutes late. That's right, we arrived at 9:10pm! We were seated immediately and we began looking over the menus. After a few minutes my girlfriend needed to go to the restroom. She was back a few minutes later and in that time no one had come to our table. By this time I also needed to use the restroom. After I returned a couple minutes later, still no one had been by, not even glasses of water.

Eventually our "server" came over and the first words out of her mouth were "Alright folks you're running late so we need to get your orders in quickly.". No hello. No "Welcome to Nobu". Nothing. She asked if we were ready to order which we were because we didn't have too much to do while waiting for her to greet us but read the menus. We told her we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted, but asked what was popular. I have never seen someone rattle off 4 items so quickly in my life. We placed our order including a couple cocktails, and she went to punch it in. When she delivered our drinks she put them in front of us silently (like it was awkward) and then said "Do you want anything else? The kitchen is closing." We said we were probably good for food but would likely order another round of drinks with our food. She responded "Well the bar is closing too, so you need to decide now.". We reluctantly agreed, and they were delivered with our meals. We were about half way through our food when she came back to our table with the bill which she dropped, DROPPED onto the table with the customary "whenever you're ready" and walked away. I put my card in the billfold which was quickly retrieved, processed, and returned. She left it on the table, didn't say a word, and walked away. That was the last time either of us saw our "server". I reluctantly left a $50 tip on a $300 meal.

Now I understand that the hospitality industry can be high stress with tight timings, especially for nicer restaurants on The Strip; but the key word is "hospitable" in hospitality. I admit, we were 10 minutes late. I acknowledge that our server could have been watching our table and waiting for both of us to be seated before commencing service, and that our bathroom breaks may have delayed that. That all being said, this one server was the absolute worst experience we had during our entire 4 day trip to Vegas. What makes it even worse is that it was for my girlfriend's birthday dinner (which I had indicated when we made the reservation). We did our best to put it our of our minds and enjoy her birthday, but honestly were had a hard time not talking about it for the rest...

Going to Nobu made me so sad because it was probably the best dinner of my life and I will probably never have another dinner as good haha. They spoiled me and set the bar very high for everyone else. Every bite was an adventure and the omakase danced across every flavor profile that exists. It was really well thought out. If I were to complain or change anything I probably would nix the jalapeno yellowtail (or was it amberjack but either way I mean that is a very common dish switching out the fish didn't really elevate it very much) and also the tempura (it was nice that they put high quality ingredients in the tempura but it's still just tempura). It was also strange that it came near the end of the omakase because it is typically an appetizer perhaps they intended it to be an appetizer for the final dish. But hey those are small complaints and they just come from personal preference. Every bite was still delicious and enjoyable. And I read that everyone at the table has to participate in the omakase so I was really proud of my daughter because she probably has a little bit more simplistic taste when it comes to Japanese food. But she did really well and we all enjoyed the meal so much. Our server Moana was the best, she is such a sweetheart. And all of the food runners were on point with their descriptions. And even the bartenders were supporting the experience with delicious drinks. There wasn't a single element that was lacking. Sometimes when I go out to spend a lot of money at dinner I become a little bit anxious because it can be a waste of money and it can feel like a scam. There are times I have gone out to a very expensive restaurants and have felt regret. But not so at Nobu. It was worth every penny. Also sometimes I go to restaurants that have a big name and I feel like they are just riding on the coattails of the name and you are paying because you recognize the name on the restaurant. But at Nobu the quality matched the hype. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Japanese food. Just a little forewarning it is kind of buried deep in the casino of Caesars' Palace amongst a bunch of other restaurants. You might want to ask someone if you're looking for it. I'm glad I did because I was about to wander off the wrong way. And I should mention my favorite dish from the Omakase was the toro with black truffle and microgreens. It really took it to a new place. I always love toro it's probably the best cut of fish period. But the black truffle and microgreens gave it such an earthiness it made it taste different than I've ever tasted toro before. I closed my eyes and let my senses fully absorb the dish because it was divine. You know it's amazing when you tell someone to be quiet so that you can taste it better lol. Shhh I'm eating Nobu's...