Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Sinatra-Not Italian and not good, January 12, 2009
By inthesun

"The service stinks and so does the food at Sinatra.

I made sure I had reservations as CES was in town. Got seated within minutes of arriving at a very good table overlooking the garden with neatly manicured plants and flowers. The waiter came over and asked us if we wanted still water or bottled. Since we wanted to drink wine, we opted for the still water. A sommelier came over a little later and I asked for a couple of recommendation and the guy knew his wines and we went his recommendations. Ordered a single appetizer of meatballs to share, as I had a late lunch at Wazuzu. I could see the breadboy serving bread to other tables but ours was nowhere to be found. The appetizer came and still no bread. So I send the appetizer back and told the waiter to bring it after the bread was served.

My wife ordered the Cod on lentils and I, the Osso Bucco. The cod was dry and oversalted -my wife could actually taste the grains of salt sprinkled on top of the overcooked fish and the lentils were undercooked enough to give you a stomach ache. What a difference from the Black cod at Wazuzu. My Osso bucco was nicely cooked but the meat was stringy and dry and the sauce that went with was also too salty-probably the same one that came with the tasteless meatballs. My wife remarked that the meatballs at Zinc Bistro were so much tastier and that even Trader Joe's frozen meatballs tasted better. The canneloni (filled with Risotto) that came with the Osso Bucco was dripping in oil, though the risotto was good.

Onward to the dessert. We decided to share a dessert and the choice was between two desserts. After the waiter could not explain one of the desserts-(he did find out the ingredients from the pastry chef though) we decided on the other one-a ricotta cheescake with pumpkin and Gelato that the waiter also highly recommended. The dessert comes and it's the one that we did not order. We eventually had the dessert replaced with the cheescake. All this and nary an apology from the waiter. At least the cheesecake was the best part of whole dinning experience so we ended on a positive note.

All I can say it was a major disappointment -Oversalted mediocre food that I would be embarrassed to call Italian combined with lousy service- makes Sinatra the worst restaurant that Steve Wynn has been involved in. Even my wife can cook better Italian and she is not even Italian. I have eaten at other Steve Wynn's eateries like-The Prime, Circo, Le Cirque, Olives, Boulud , Alex, Wazuzu, Red 8 etc. and they are generally a step or two above other restaurants. But this one is a disaster. Dinner for two came at under $200 so it was less than what I had expected to pay when I made the reservations.

While on the other side, Wazuzu was excellent. The service was excellent. Their Sushi was way above par and the Black Cod was yummy and moist.

And the hotel -Encore itself had great rooms/decor and as usual, the excellent "Steve Wynn staff" and service to go along. Simply outstanding."

13 of 19 people found this review helpful.

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