Anima by EDO — Restaurant in Spring Valley

This place was phenomenal. Jannae, our server, and Paolo, our sommelier, were top-notch. Not to mention that every server knew what to do where. Pour the water, wipe the table, change the plates, change the silverware, bring a drink, check on the experience, food, etc. The restaurant was just awarded a James Beard award for best restaurant, I must agree. The fusion between Asian, Spanish, and Italian has an amazing effect on the palate. Paolo, the somm was able to accommodate the fact that I can not drink anything with carbonation. He was able to pivot the first round of the wine pairings to the tasting menu and took his time to explain every bit of where the wine came from, how old the vines were, and why the grapes had a certain flavor. Incredible knowledge, and he has a massive passion for wine and the background of each pairing plus why it pairs with each dish. Onto the food. The tasting menu is a necessity for anyone wanting to explore outside of their normal ordering patterns. We received milk bread buns with carbonara butter. The buns had sticky honey on the outside and were flavorful and fluffy. The butter was rich and salty, which offset the sweetness of the coating on the bread. Next was the Fig Salad with pine nuts, straciatella cheese, and a black currant vinaigrette. The salad was a mixture of microgreen salad. The cheese was creamy, and the sourness of the vinaigrette shines through the richness of the cheese. He shining star of this dish were the crispy pepperoni. The saltiness enhances the flavors of the cheese, greens, and vinaigrette. Very nice first dish. Second was the Smoked Hamachi. This is served in a domed glass dish with smoke. The Hamachi has foie gras rolled inside and served alone is tasty, fresh, and delicate. The apple jam is more of sliced green apple plus a light marinade. It's beautiful and fresh, with the smoke it's rich and decadent. Third, we received the Egg Bon Bon. This was my favorite dish of the evening. A sever dropped this off and pulled out two torches to crisp the meat on the outside of this. The texture of the inside was rich and creamy, crisp, and had an amazing mouth feel. Personally, this was my favorite in terms of texture and richness. After the bon bon, we were served the Croquettes. On top of this was Jamon liberico. Inside, the croquettes had a bechammel, and it was great! I grew up in Miami and was raised on ham croquettes & Cafe Cubano. Honestly, these were rich and coated your mouth with the amazing Bechamel, and the outside was crispy. The richness of the iberico put it over the top. On to the Ricotta gnocchi. These were served with the sachetti... so, these are a star on their own. The sauce and pillowiness of the gnocchi was superb. The sauce was perfectly balanced... not too acidic or sweet. The texture of the gnocchi was definitely above expectations. Most. Gnocchi is a gummy mess, but this chefs kiss was fantastic. As for the Sachetti, they are little pockets of love. Expertly filled, seasoned, and sauced with a Thai basil pesto. I would eat these daily if I could. Next is the add-on for the Scallop. Definitely partake in this. Perfectly seared and served. I can not say enough about the texture and flavor of this. It's definitely a huge value as an addition. The last of the tasting menu was the Tomahawk short rib. The flavor of the beef and texture of the potatoes.. blew me away. The somm paired an amazingly rich red, I've posted the list in the pictures. But OMG. Just divine! For desert, we had a Huckleberry polenta with berries and alleppo sugar. There was some sort of spice on this that kicked it up a notch. I'd assume calabrian Chile's, but I may be incorrect. Either way. Fantastic dessert and display of range. All in all, get off the strip and go here for an upscale Michelin style restaurant....

The atmosphere is pretty good, with a decently spacious dining area and space between tables. Although I had observed another server whom was very welcoming and enthusiastic when serving other diners, our server seemed to overly push the chef’s tasting menu. Also, he had continued to try to add food items to what we had ordered, making it appear as an attempt to avoid a smaller bill in the end. On the side of drinks, a decently extensive wine menu is available along with specialty cocktails. As I have previously had many of the fine Italian wines, I decided to have something made in the restaurant. I had ordered the Gray Whale, the presentation was nice with the lemon rind, mint leaf a large square block of ice, however the flavor was such that I did not want to order a second round. The Italian & Spanish Board was decent with the assorted meats and cheeses to prepare for the other, forthcoming courses, however the cheeses were a bit bland (I am familiar with the cheeses served on this dish, but I have had better tasting versions). The Green Tartare was excellent! The ingredients balanced so well in this dish, making me think to order a second serving, and the Market Oysters were less than average as the flavor of the oyster was not very present, despite the accents of tomato & piparra relish, lemon-parsley water. The server neglected to bring my order of the Atlantic Octopus, it had later arrived and had come well over-cooked and slightly burned, in addition to being VERY salty. After mentioning this to the server his response was that this is how the dish is supposed to be prepared, and he had even presented somewhat of an ego. I have had many octopus dishes at some of the finest Greek and Italian restaurants in the US and abroad, and octopus is not prepared and served in the way the server described. The server eventually agreed to fire a second round and its replacement was not blackened as was the first, the saltiness level was also less but its flavor missed the mark, it was bland and the other components of the dish, although typically complementary, did not make up for what seemed to be flavors that were just off of what they should be. The Truffle Cavatelli was very good. The dish was flavorful and balanced really well, one of the very few not overwhelmed by salt.

The general manager (in a very disingenuous manner) had sent a complimentary dish of the Eggplant Parmigiana. The presentation of this dish is good, accented by the tomato powder. Overall, I found this dish to be only okay. The flavor of the eggplant itself was decent, but it seemed overwhelmed by the parmigiano.

I did not have any appetite for the desert menu. The service (attitudes) of the server and general manager were disappointing. I felt that I was being talked down to, as if these people are to inform me and other diners on how good food is supposed to be prepared, seasoned and taste. Also, I seem to need advice on how much food I should order. This is then made worse by the expectation of servers and general managers to charge for dishes that are prepared in a substandard manner with flavors that are either incorrect or undesirable. If the diner finds and explains good reason for not liking a dish, it is just unfortunate and the diner must simply come to terms and accept it. All restaurants have tables that just don’t go well, however the attitudes of staff and management with little desire to accept faults and address diner feedback is a line crossed. I will not be going back to Anima for this reason, and I feel that I will not be missing a lot relative to dishes that are properly...

Excellent service, great food, wonderful experience. If you are looking for a more approachable alternative to the more expensive fine dining options in Las Vegas, Anima is a great choice.

Anima is a tapas restaurant with a Spanish Italian fusion-ish menu. The service here is excellent. They made sure we were taken care of, checked up on us often and that we understood everything on the menu. We ended up getting the tasting menu which has some items on the regular menu but also some exclusives. Unlike a regular tasting, some dishes are served "family style". You can customize your menu and our server made sure we were able to practically try everything.

It started off with the Tomato Hummus. The tomato adds more flavor to a regular hummus and it is served with won-ton pieces which is a great texture contrast and you don't get filled up with bread.

Next was the Duo of Bites. Was instructed to take the gazpacho like a shot. It's a little a mild tasting but it balances out the salty guanciale that serves with it. Nice pairing.

The Seada and Lamb Merguez was served together. We added guanciale to the Seada and it resulted in a what I would describe as an "upscale McDonalds McGriddle". It's sweet, savory and salty. The Lamb Merguez had lovely spices mixed in it, although the eggplant made this dish a little heavy. Still good none the less.

Moving on to the pasta. There was the Pumpkin Triangoli and the Rigatoni. The balance of sweet and savory continued with the Triangoli and it's topped with pecan crumble to add texture. One of my favorites from this tasting. Only problem was, there was so little of this dish and it's not on the regular menu. The Rigatoni goes the savory salty route with a seafood profile to it. Like a tomato clam chowder. Although tasty, I prefer the Triangoli.

We had the Branzino, Short Ribs and Hanger Steak next. The branzino was cooked perfectly. Crispy skin, moist and tender meat. One small gripe here though and it is with the baby bok choy side. I hate it when restaurants prepare and serve the baby bok choy whole because it means they didn't clean out the dirt that accumulates at the stem/bulb area (it's impossible to get this dirt out unless you pull apart the stalks). No matter, still good. The short ribs were fall apart tender. Very savory with deep umami flavors. This continued on with the Hanger Steak, which honestly, was out shined by the mashed potatoes it was served with. The steak was good but, it gets lost in the sauce, in this case, potatoes. While it was tender, the tempura onion rings would have provided a good contrast, unfortunately, the batter was slightly soggy/gummy. It's coated in rice flour unlike regular tempura which may have absorbed too much moisture.

And lastly dessert which was a crème brûlée. It was a good crème brûlée, but it just seemed a bit lackluster comparing it to everything else we had. No frills here. The kitchen did let us try their rendition of a Key Lime Pie. This should be the default way to end the meal. It's got the balance of flavors like the rest of the courses and is presented in a modern pseudo deconstructed way. Not too sweet, tangy, and full of flavor.

Dinner at Anima rivals the best that Las Vegas has to offer. From their excellent service to modern takes on food, you'd be hard pressed to find a similar experience for what you'd pay here. While not perfect, they provide a top tier experience for a...