Category Archives: Forking Restaurant Reviews

Honest unbiased reviews based on actual experiences

$15. Salmon from Las Pupusas was Cooked better than the $38. Salmon from MRKT North Las Vegas NV this week

Las Pupusas is a casual Salvadorian/Mexican restaurant with a few locations in Las Vegas Nevada. I went to the North Las Vegas Location on Craig Road and had the grilled salmon there.

It’s not a fancy plate of food and is very basic but is a large portion and the salmon was prepared nicely with a soft moist center.

I was surprised that this $15. meal was prepared this nicely.

On another night we went to MRKT. It’s the nicest restaurant at Aliante Casino Hotel. It’s a steak and seafood restaurant. I’ve previously enjoyed steak here. I thought tonight I’d try the salmon.

It came out with a great sear on it and shattering crisp skin but was terribly over cooked and very dry. Incase you don’t know…salmon doesn’t taste good when it is over cooked.

What a shame…….the quality of this fish means nothing when it’s over cooked like that.

I send it back since it was $38.00. (without sides)

Then I get this……

It’s raw in the middle and like seared sushi…….

This got sent back too…..

Was waiting for a third one but it took so long we left.

Incase you don’t know what a quality perfectly cooked salmon is like …….here is what you should expect to be at a nice restaurant.

The salmon should have a nice sear. When it’s cooked like this you get that special silkiness in your mouth and the salmon flavor is its best. Also at better restaurants the blood line is removed (that is the dark meat on the bottom of filet).

The $15. Salmon from Las Pupusas was prepared better than the $38. salmon from MRKT.

Las Papusas

945 W Craig Rd North Las Vegas NV

702-648-6200

I have not found a working website for Las Papusas.

MRKT Sea & Land at Aliante Casino/Hotel

7300 Ailante Pkwy North Las Vegas NV

702-692-7320

www.Aliante.BoydGaming.com

Every THING is subject to change. (maybe the chef at MRKT will learn how to cook salmon?)

Umami Sushi Restaurant Las Vegas NV – GREAT Neighborhood Type Sushi – A-Y-C-E $29.95 – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Umami Sushi is located in the Centennial Area of Las Vegas Nevada. This is a really Great “Neighborhood Type” sushi restaurant …………Not a Morimoto Type Sushi Restaurant where you spend like $500.00 a couple for sushi….instead you get a sushi fix for only $29.95 per person for all you can eat sushi. You can order a la carte or take out at Umami Sushi but most people do the All You Can Eat Here and it’s very popular. BE PREPARED TO WAIT FOR A TABLE…….We came extra crazy early for dinner (4:30) and they were already on an hour wait. We left and tried lunch instead. We came 15 minutes before opening and were #3 in line…About 15 minutes later a whole dining room of people were waiting outside for them to open.

We got to try many things………We had a great feast.

Tender and delicious Kalbi (beef short rib)

Nigiri Sushi – Yuzu Yellowtail, Yellowtail, Salmon, Tuna

(Best part of fish the collar) Hamachi Kama (these are limit one a person)

One of their specialty spicy rolls called , “A Little Tease” WOW! This was maybe the tastiest sushi roll I ever had anywhere……..Spicy tuna, cucumber, cajun tuna, fried onions, jalapeño, spicy mayo garlic ponzu, eel sauce. I’ll be sure to get this again!

Tuna Belly and Ocean Trout (limit one a person on Ocean Trout)

Tempura Vegetables

Fried sausages that look like octopus (my husband said that these were very good and he ate TWO plates of them.

Korean Fried Chicken…..Tasty but this ran a little sweet for me.

Some sort of pork dumplings that look like tater tots.

Crispy Rice with tuna, jalapeño, and spicy mayo

Bulgogi Beef – Tender and tasty!

They even finish you off with a sweet ending.

The A.Y.C.E. from Umami Sushi is Worth a Fork!

Umami Sushi – 702-776-8627

6640 N Durango Dr Las Vegas NV

www.UmamiSushiLV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

El Nopal Mexican Grill – Neighborhood Type Mexican Restaurant NORTH LAS VEGAS NV

1 Reply

El Nopal Mexican Grill is a neighborhood type Mexican Restaurant located on the NORTH LAS VEGAS Restaurant row (Craig Road) Nevada. They offer much of your usual Mexican foods like soups, nachos, enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, burritos, salads, burgers and more. Soft beverages, beer, and margaritas are offered. They have festive seating inside and a small patio outside.

They start you off with complimentary chips and salsa.

The salsa is good but VERY SPICY HOT!!!!!!!!!! The chips are average. We tried margaritas. They were made with fresh squeezed juice and do taste good but are light with alcohol.

They also give you fideo soup before your entrees.

It’s a chicken-tomato based broth with thin noodles in it.

For my main I tried a chicken fajita.

It’s a very large portion of food that can be two meals for some people. The chicken is tender and came on a sizzling skillet with beef peppers, tomatoes, onions, a jalapeño and this sauce…(that I can’t stomach) that brought it down for me. If this sauce was removed this could be great. This also came with rice, beans, guacamole, and chile of tortillas.

My husband tried the Asada Alambres (sizzling skillet with beef, ham, tomatoes, peppers, chorizo, onion, bacon, and cheese).

He thought that it was also made with the sauce that I didn’t like but he was able to eat this whole thing.

El Nopal Mexican Grill

955 W Craig Rd – 702-629-5610

You can find El Nopal Mexican Grill on Facebook.

The menu can be found on www.UberEats.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant North Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

1 Reply

Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant is located in North Las Vegas Nevada. They offer a variety of Pho Soups, Vermicelli Plates, Vegetarian foods, a few sandwiches, and they also are Tea House.

Here’s the tea menu. There is a lot to pick from.

It’s small but cozy inside.

We started off by trying the chicken potstickers.

The potstickers here are crispy all over and seem like deep fried. The jalapeño is a nice touch but soy-like sauce seems extra salty to me……..

I tried the Vermicelli with spicy chicken sautéed.

They gave me an extra generous serving. I got a big bowl of lettuce, vermicelli (rice noodles), fine shredded pickled radish, carrots, cilantro, scallions, and this tasty, not too spicy, tender as from a sous vide, sliced chicken. It’s tender like butter…….On the side are peanuts and nuoc cham. It’s different but is good…..Even the vermicelli is different to me….maybe a little softer and thicker?

My husband tried the Beef Combination Pho (rare steak, brisket, beef balls in beef broth).

This one is also a generous serving size. I only tried one spoonful of the broth…it’s different….beefy but not rich beefy…..more like summer broth beefy like the way a good steak sandwich taste……..I did try a small bite of the steak…..it didn’t have a lot of flavor to it. I thought that the chicken from the vermicelli bowl was much better. My husband did say that the brisket had a better flavor but was slightly chewy.

Those were my thoughts on Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant.

Worth a Try!

Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant

4210 W Craig Road North Las Vegas NV

702-224-2708

I haven’t found a website for Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant.

I have found their menu on www.Seemless.com and www.UberEats.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Aroma Latin American Cocina Henderson NV – WORTH A FORK! – EXCEPTIONAL Hidden Gem!

1 Reply

Aroma Latin American Cocina is a small full service Modern Latin American Restaurant located in Henderson Nevada that is not far from some parts of Las Vegas. This is NOT A FANCY PLACE but does serve a mix of familiar cuisine mixed with something amazing and unexpected. Soft beverages, some Spanish beverages, and limited alcohol is served here.

Some of the appetizers might be things like watermelon salads, guacamole, Peruvian Ceviche, and beef empanadas. A few of the mains are things like enchiladas, short ribs, and pork chops…..They sound familiar but you probably never had them quite like this before.

We started out with the watermelon salad called Sandiada Salad.

This was PACKED with all kinds of surprises. The greens are dressed with chamoy vinaigrette. There’s spiced cashews, watermelon balls, grapes, and these FORKING MAGICAL tomatoes nixtamal………..(it’s that process that you do to corn that makes corn taste like a taco shell but on tomatoes it does something deliciously different!!!!!!!! and truly amazing!)

This was a salad like no other.

We also shared one of the most incredible Ceviches that I have ever tried. Here’s the Peruvian Ceviche.

This was made with sweet potato, corn nuts cancha, leche de Tigre, cilantro, and yellowtail…….You can’t see it but under the green leaf were these unusually delicious pepper rings…..(that might have been Fresnos?…..They had something done to them that made them extra special. Everything was just delicious together and the fish seemed fresh as can be.

Everything was so top notch……But we were blown away yet again with the Gaucho Sandwich.

This was even way more amazing than it looks…….The grilled piachna (Latin Cut beef) was off the charts melt-in-your-mouth tender and also darn so flavorful…It truly was amazing. It also was embellished with chimichurri, house dressing, lettuce, tomatoes, caramelized onions and was served on a hoagie roll with Chimi Baby Dutch Fried potatoes on the side. This was one of the most spectacular sandwiches ever!

It was such a home run that we had to try one of the desserts and tried the White Chocolate Roasted Corn with Popcorn Cream and Chicha Morada.

It was different with interesting flavors and textures. It was like it came from the finest restaurant.

Aroma Latin American Cocina is a Exceptional Hidden Gem!

Worth a Fork!

Aroma Latin American Cocina

2877 North Green Valley Parkway Henderson NV

702-930-8190

www.AromaLatinAmericanCocinaNV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

My Trip For The Lunch Menu at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill at Red Rock Casino/Hotel Las Vegas NV

Leave a reply

Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill has a location in the Red Rock Casino/Hotel in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer your usual Japanese Cuisine and beverages that include wine, beer, saki, and cocktails. They offer seating at the sushi counter, dining area of tables, booths and partial booths. They also have an indoor-outdoor bar, and an outside dining area.

The lunch specials come with miso soup and wakame.

Taste similar to what other places serve……..

We shared the Chirashi (sashimi rice bowl). ($34. at the time of my visit)

This has a good amount of fish in here to share. Some of what’s in here are: white fish, salmon, tuna, shrimp, octopus, egg, sushi rice. tiny noodles, Japanese pickle, ginger, fish roe………Some things are better than other things……..What I liked best was the salmon, tuna and the rice. The white fish had a strange hard exterior??????? I don’t know what it was. My husband said that the octopus was chewy and the shrimp was very average.

This 8 oz Prime ground-in-house Wagyu Smash Burger with fries is also a nice large platter to share……But today was kinda dry and not very beefy tasting….On the bright side the fries were very good. ($26. at the time of my visit)

I was expecting the food here to be a home run. I only heard very positive things about this place.

I felt that the food tasted more like neighborhood quality type sushi that is much lower in price. To me the burger didn’t taste up to it’s price point either.

That was my experience with the lunch menu from –

Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill at Red Rock Resort (your experience and opinion may differ)

11011 W Charleston Blvd Las Vegas NV – 702-797-7444

www.BlueRibbonSushiRedRock.com

Every THING is subject to change.

BBQ Mexicana Las Vegas NV – Quality Burritos, Bowls, Tacos, Salads, and More! – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

BBQ Mexicana is a casual but quality restaurant by Award Winning Celebrity Chefs, Restauranteurs, Cookbook Authors Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken (pictured below).

Some of the items you can try here are burritos, tacos, bowls, salads, interesting side dishes like cowboy caviar, Chile lime broccolini, and chipotle macaroni and cheese. You can also find kid’s meals, chocolate chip cookies, and fruit empanadas. For the Grand Opening soft beverages are served here but in the near future they hope to add aquas frescos, beers, margaritas and MORE!

This is a casual order at the counter restaurant.

You can dine in, do take out, or go threw the drive thru.

I tried a bowl called “The Coop.”

WOW! It’s topped with this incredible melt-in-the-mouth mesquite smoked chicken, cowboy caviar, charred corn relish, cilantro lime rice, pickled vegetables, guacamole, and crispy quinoa. All these flavors and textures and exploding with flavors together.

The smoked brisket burrito was also a winner.

This one is packed with smoked brisket, cilantro coleslaw, crispy potatoes, Mexican cheese, red rice, Chipotle mayo, and signature bbq sauce.

We were checked on serval times by Mary Sue Milliken herself.

While Susan Feniger was busy doing photo opps.

This food and service really exceeded our expectations.

BBQ Mexicana is Worth a Fork!

BBQ Mexicana

8480 W Sunset Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-552-0111

www.BBQMexicana.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Our Trip to Mo’Bettah’s Hawaiian Style Food North Las Vegas NV – GET THE PULEHU CHICKEN!

Leave a reply

Mo’Bettah’s is a chain of Hawaiian Style Casual Restaurants. Incase you are not familiar with the Hawaiian Plate lunch it usually is something like two big scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad and a double helping of some sort of protein or 2 or 3………packed into a styrofoam container. The North Las Vegas Location has a large surf themed dining room. Many of the pictures and surfboards are spread all around and I couldn’t get them in one photo.

Luckily for us they have two benches outside. I also called to make sure that it was ok to bring my dogs.

I got Teriyaki & Pulehu Chicken. Both are three small chicken thighs that are tender and infused with flavors……I also got a generous amount of brown rice that is a bit crunchy today. I also got some cabbage and some creamy macaroni salad. They also offer a variety of sauces. The only sauce that I like here is the spicy mayo…maybe they offer a chili sauce here but I didn’t notice any today. I do think that the Pulehu Chicken is especially delicious….It doesn’t need a sauce..This one was really tasty today.

My husband tried a 3 meat plate.

and Spam. He got katsu chicken (that was juicy and nicely breaded) katsu steak (a little chewy but that was to be expected) and kalua pork (1/2 moist 1/2 dry today) with some crispy white rice and macaroni salad.

All three chicken dishes were at least good. Favorite here was the Pulehu Chicken.

That was our trip to Mo’Bettaha’s Hawaiian Style Food.

1020 E. Craig Rd North Las Vegas NV – 725-285-0280

www.MoBettahs.com

Every THING is subject to change.

DW Bistro Las Vegas NV – Good but not perfect

1 Reply

DW Bistro might be considered to be a New American Bistro that offers some foods laced with Jamaican flavors and some foods with subdued flavors of New Mexican cuisine and other surprises. They are open for weekend brunch, and also offer a weekday menu. On both menus you can find things like salmon bowls, salads, jerk chicken, vegetable or chicken curry, and New Mexican red Chile pork.

Most of the seating is indoors but they also offer some outdoor seating.

I tried the jerk chicken and waffles.

For me this is a very large serving that I got two meals out of. Fresh grated orange rind was a nice added touch to the chicken. I got a breaded breast and thigh that are moist and lightly seasoned with jerk seasoning. The only down side is that the crust falls off. The waffles are good and the syrup is good.

I did take home a chicken curry meal for the next day.

It’s made with lots of fresh vegetables like two squashes, broccoli, carrots, red onions, and most chicken. I had my choice of rice or couscous and went with couscous that was good. I think most people would like this.

My husband tried the New Mexico red Chile pork with locally made tortillas.

The eggs came out unseasoned and the meal came out cold. My husband got really grumpy. He said the pork was cold all stuck together and wasn’t succulent like it should be. Eventually we were checked on and they tried to make things right with us. Then this plate was removed from the bill and they surprised us with a key lime pie that was tasty.

They also accidentally charged me $5.00 for an iced tea I didn’t get but I didn’t want to complain about it since they gave us the red Chile pork and the dessert for free.

That was my visit to DW Bistro.

Good but not perfect.

DW Bistro – 702-527-5200

9275 W Russell Rd Las Vegas NV

www.DWBistro.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Rang’s Cocina Moderne Las Vegas NV – Still Worth a Fork! PERFECT FOOD & SERVICE – Everything Delicious!

1 Reply

Rang’s Cocina Moderne is a small Mom and Pop Restaurant located in Las Vegas Nevada not too far from the Strip. They offer a very unique menu that is a Modern Mix of Italian, Spanish, and Filipino. They offer soups, salads, small plates, pastas, entrees, sides, and desserts. Soft beverages and wine are served here. Rang herself does most of the cooking and her husband Benedict does most of the serving. The food and service is always perfect! The food is always FORKING DELICIOUS!