Elia Authentic Greek Traverna is a full service Greek Restaurant and Wine restaurant located in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer a seafood heavy menu and also offer special flown in Greek Fish that you seldom come by. They also offer enough meat dishes to please meat eaters such as Lamb Souvlaki, Bone-In Rib Eye, Lamb, and Pork, Chops.
Inside is a mix of traditional tables and booths. I noticed an outside patio that might be in use when the weather is right.
They serve complimentary house baked bread with quality olive oil.
We shared a beet salad with a couple little swirls of skordalia (potato, garlic, lemon, nut) dip.
This was good but the Roasted Feta was a little more exciting.
The Roasted Feta came out on a sizzling skillet like a fajita. What is really great is the thick roasted tomato steak with the seasoned and sliced spicy peppers that are in there. It’s really delicious I think most people would like it.
For our main we shared the Fagri. (a sea bream-like Greek Fish)
You can see by my photo that this is not perfection. It arrived cooled off and slightly over cooked. I noticed that they were catering a party at the same time that they were cooking this fish……..Maybe if you hit them when they aren’t catering they might do a better job?
We loved the appetizers and the service seemed top notch.
Safta 1964 By Alon Shaya is the Las Vegas version of James Beard Award Wining Chef Alon Shaya’s Michelin Mediterranean Denver Safta Restaurant. The Las Vegas Safta location is a temporary pop up restaurant and is located in the Encore part of the Wynn Hotel Casino. Their last day will be December 31st 2024. The Restaurant by day is Jarden and by Dinner it changes to Safta 1964 by Alon Shaya (pictured below in Chef Jacket).
Inside the atmosphere is just stunning and rich looking.
One of the “Must Get” starters are the Salatim Platter (does change slightly from week to week).
Today in the middle is classic hummus that is unusually outstanding (very few places in the country make it this well), Close to where 12:00 is going clockwise is Labneh, Baba Ganoush,carmelised tomatoes, (really delicious) Lutenitsa (eggplant, pepper, tomato), Cream Cheese with Smoked Trout Roe, Za’Atar Oil, Fluffy just baked HOT Pita Breads, and Pickles.
The Falafels come embellished with preserved mango, zhoug (a hot pepper/garlic/herb sauce), and tahini.
The falafels are a very good herby style with a shattering crisp exterior.
The Grape Leaves here are stuffed with Beef Short Rib, pine nuts, and dates and are served over labneh.
A vegetarian entree or just a nice vegetable dish to share is the Crispy Eggplant.
It’s accented with caramelized tomatoes, goat cheese, and greens. The eggplant has a very crisp surface and inside is very creamy and sweet.
There is a Prime New York Strip with Hazelnut Muhammara and Za’Atar Chimichurri.
One of the best desserts that you can get anywhere is the Safta’s Delights.
We usually get not one, not two, but usually THREE of each. Baklava, Blueberry Rugelach, Chocolate Chunk Halva, Lemon Tart, Turkish Coffee Truffle
Time is limited. Try Safta 1964 By Alon Shaya. Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
P.S. A little birdie (our server) told us that this summer (Summer 2025) Alon Shaya is expected to open a new restaurant in the Wynn.
This one is based on my husband’s opinion. He said that the Pork Chop from Ciao Vino was the best one that he ever had so it deserves to be the Notable Dish of the Week. He said that it was tender and delicious. He also enjoyed the peppers under the pork chop. He said that usually pork chops are served tough and getting a delicious tender one is very rare. I enjoyed my halibut that evening that was also prepared perfect.
The Notable Dish of the Week is the Pork Chop from Ciao Vino
Halloween is when my claws come out and I complain about some of the lousiest food I tried here. (I drew the picture below for a restaurant I used to work for)
Our local food critic always raves about an Italian Restaurant called Cipriani. This restaurant was also on Eater Las Vegas as one of the best for lunches in Las Vegas so I had to try it. We got the three course menu. The FORKING Truth is that two of the three courses were horrible.
I started with the lentil soup that completely lacked any depth of flavors….For the most part it tasted like a bowl of wet dirt.
Lentil Soup
For our mains we both tried the branzino with pasta. The pasta was perfect but possibly they forgot to season this dish? The only flavor was the fishy bloodline that they might have also forgotten to remove from the fish.
The North Las Vegas Location of Servehzah Bottle Shop and Tap Room might serve good beer but food is another story. All the tacos…even the fried tacos were served cold. The fried meat tacos also were coated in a wet cold (what seemed like thawed from frozen?), possibly raw batter and didn’t taste good. I had a protein bowl that is their signature specialty dish. The chicken was served cold and had this unappetizing taste. The dressing didn’t pour and was hard like cold cream cheese. I think it is possible that it might have been a health violation.
Some things from Izakayo Go were indeed very good but raw fish is usually very good from Japanese restaurants. The big eye tuna steak was NOT EDIBLE. It was raw inside and not tender at all. It was like trying to bite into a raw turkey leg.
I heard mostly good things about Fat Choy. They were even featured on Drive Ins Diners and Dives. The chef also has great experience working at very fine restaurants such as Robuchon. My server recommended the salmon teriyaki so I gave that a try. My fish was slightly over cooked and slightly fishy tasting maybe from being over cooked but my husbands Crispy Korean BBQ Rice bowl was even worst (see it pictured below).
Crispy Korean Beef BBQ Rice Bowl
I tried a small piece of beef. WOW……It’s not developed with any kind of flavor and has a dehydrated beef jerky kind of texture. This is really awful.
We went to MRKT Land and Sea. This is a luxury restaurant at Aliante Casino. I tried the salmon dinner.
Salmon from MRKT
They over cooked the salmon till it was dried out and crumbly.
I sent it back and then they made me raw salmon that was partially over cooked on the ends. They said that they were going to try again but after waiting another 40 minutes we decided that they couldn’t cook salmon. I didn’t have dinner that night.
Incase you don’t know how salmon should be cooked I added a picture from how Bouchon serves salmon.
Salmon from Bouchon
We all should get something like the above from a luxury restaurant.
The Harvest Cafe is sort of a budget restaurant that offers a large menu with lots of variety including breakfast. The prices are very low so you go in not excepting the best. But I made the mistake of expecting the standard or just ok.
This is a very sad plate. I picked the grilled cod because I thought it was the easiest plate on the menu to get ok. I don’t know how they made it but I can imagine frozen fish sticks that got the batter removed and the fish got drenched with four. They grilled it well on one side with the other three sides tasting like raw flour. In the process they over cooked the fish sticks till they were tough and chewy. The green beans were dropped in a nasty tasting oil and served soggy. The rice just tastes gross. You go here when you have a cold and can’t taste your food. Or you go here when you are dieting and are trying not to eat.
And the mediocre or non-honorable mention
Prince’s Pizza
We tried four different slices..None of them looked bad but all four supposedly were made with a different sauce…????……All four were made with tomato sauce that was as sweet as candy.
Uncle Paulie’s
Hated the pastrami sandwich.
Pastrami sandwich from Uncle Paulie’s
Weird tasting pastrami with crunchy ends on not so great bread.
From Greens and Proteins Restaurant –
Just awful tasting and mostly everything was over cooked.
Thai Chicken Peanut Bowl from Greens and Proteins
The Chicken Peanut Bowl was missing the mushrooms and the asparagus. Chicken was dry and chewy. Rice was mushy. My husband’s plate was Chewy steak, hard rice and just didn’t taste good.
Spiedini Fiamma Italian Bistro –
Here almost everything was either over cooked or undercooked. The chicken was under cooked and also had rubbery skin. Dessert there had a frozen center.
Chicken from Spiedini Fiamma Italian Bistro
This was the 2024 Horrific Food Edition from Las Vegas NV.
Izakaya Go is a Japanese Tapas Bar, Ramen, Yakitori, and Sushi Restaurant located in Las Vegas’s Chinatown.
It’s a small place so you might need a reservation.
the tables on this side of the bar are reserved for reservations.
I had a reservation and told the host but for some reason the host didn’t care and didn’t even ask me my name and sat us on the non-reservation side.
We were somewhat offended but stayed anyway.
We started with the spicy tuna crackers.
They are different here and are more like tuna and rice croquettes….
Next was a big eye tuna steak.
They accidentally undercooked this and sent it out with a raw interior. Usually raw fish at Japanese Places is good but for some reason the raw center was tough like biting into a raw turkey leg…….This was not edible and was taken off our bill.
Most of the tempura vegetables were very tasty. My favorite vegetable here was the shishito pepper….That was really great here. My husband loved the tempura mushroom. The asparagus wasn’t edible because they had a very hard thick skin on them that should have been peeled.
The pumpkin croquettes were tasty.
The best plate of the evening might have been the Salmon Kama (salmon collar) It was perfect, moist, and delicious. In case you don’t know …..The collar is the best and tastiest part of a fish.
I didn’t try the wagyu beef nigiri.
The Salmon Collar was really great…..some things were tasty….I’d stay away from the Big Eye Tuna Steak.
Nittaya’s Little kitchen is a Thai Food Restaurant and Wine Bar located in the Centennial Hills Area of Las Vegas Nevada. This is a very small restaurant that offers a great BIG menu of Thai appetizers and many of your favorite Thai dishes.
We started out by sharing Nittaya’s FAMOUS tempura fried spinach salad.
Each leaf is a crunchy treat but it is the insanely great tasting sauce with lime cashews and a little heat that makes this fried spinach salad so yummy!
For my main I tried the chicken green curry with medium heat (#3).
they add zucchini, red bell pepper strips, bamboo shouts, an green beans to the dish. The chicken is moist. The dish contains a good amount of flavors and the right amount of heat for medium. It’s also a large portion and some people might get two meals out of it.
My husband tried the Cashew Shrimp HOT (#4).
It’s also a large portion with a good amount of shrimp. Hot wasn’t “Hot” today. The server told us that most people complain that “Hot” is too hot spicy for them so the kitchen has issues serving HOT. This dish also runs sweet here.
Ciao Vino Ristorante is a full service American Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar located Boca Park in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. It is very opulent inside with shiny crystal embellished chandeliers and crisp linen napkins on tables.
We started out by sharing the Rotolo. It’s like a pasta rolatini stuffed with taleggio cheese and served over caramelized onions.
For my main I tried the Halibut.
The fish is cooked perfect and has a melt in your mouth type of quality. The dish is embellished with fancy orange cherry tomatoes that are reduced to a wonderful natural sweetness. The grilled lemon could use a little longer on the grill but the rest is very good.
My husband said the pork chop is one of the best that he has had anywhere.
It’s moist, tender, and delicious. It sits over a very good peperonata.
Monzu Italian Oven & Bar is an Italian Restaurant not far from the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They offer house made bread and pizzas made with a three hundred year old natural starter that gives the bread and pizzas a sophisticated developed taste. They offer many starters, salads, pizzas, entrees, desserts, bar drinks, and Italian Wines. Certain hours they also have live music.
We always get the $62. Chef’s Table Menu. It’s always different. They do customize for your taste. It’s also way more food than you can eat so you always have leftovers to bring home.
Whatever you order they start you off with their amazing country bread that is served with olive oil and house made ricotta cheese.
Then with the $62. Chef’s Table Menu you might get Antipasti like this….
There was four kinds of Italian meats, four kinds of Italian cheeses, Italian fried breads, pistachio crusted goat cheese, walnuts, and sage fried anchovies. On previous visits I remembered getting a fried artichoke and another time we got fried stuffed squash blossoms.
Next courses were –
Kale salad with pomegranate and fennel salad with crunchy sweet fennel
Crepe lasagna with beef
Potato Gnocchi with walnuts and gorgonzola sauce
This is their pesto multi cheese pizza. I think I’ve tasted the very best pizzas here. They are like no other and “POP” the most. Delicious amazing developed crust and spectacular toppings. Then the pizzas go straight up to the Stratosphere with the crushed Calabrian Chilies and the garlic marscapone condiments….WOW! You won’t get this anywhere-else.
tender Lamb Chops with roasted potatoes
Tender Hanger Steak with herb sauce and roasted potatoes
Citrus Doughnut, pistachio dipped cannolis, nougat, cookies is a sweet ending.
The $66. Chef’s Table Menu from Monzu Italian Oven & Bar is The Notable Dinner of the week and also is Worth a Fork!
Arts District Kitchen is located in the Able Baker Brewing in the Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas not far from the Strip. Besides getting beers from Able Baker Brewing………..
You can order food from Arts District Kitchen in here too! You can order a number of snacks like esquites salsa and chips and pretzel bites. They offer a variety of tacos. They offer a variety of fries, burgers, sandwiches, and rice bowls.
We started out by sharing the crispy cauliflower.
Today the cauliflower isn’t crispy…..It seems roasted. The buffalo sauce is ok. I think they’ve thinned down the blue cheese dressing too much because it is thin like milk.
To my surprise the mains are much better.
I tried the chicken tikka masala rice bowl.
The chicken is moist and developed with good flavors. It’s actually delicious and very good with some heat too!
The pastrami sandwich really looked much better than what my photo shows.
They grilled the pastrami nicely and used a mighty tasty full flavored one that is delicious. They also added dijon mustard, pickled onions, pickle chips, and spicy red pepper rings on a lightly toasted baguette.
I’ve seen Buldogis Gourmet Hot Dog Restaurant on the Cooking Channel several times so I finally had to try it. Bulgogis offers a menu of SEVENTEEN different gourmet hot dogs to choose from. They also offer things like chicken wings, fried chicken sandwiches, a macaroni and cheese bacon quesadilla, Korean Noodle soups, bibim rice bowls, and gourmet fries. This restaurant is a casual small restaurant that is located in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas Nevada.
It gets very busy here.
From here it’s about a half hour wait.
I was lucky enough to snag a table.
my husband tries two Hot Dogs.
Soul Dog – Pork Belly, Caramelized Onions, BBQ Sauce, Scallions, Gourmet Beef Dog
Philly Cheesesteak Dog – Caramelized Onions, Red Peppers, Cheese Sauce, Gourmet Beef Hot Dog
I tried the Spicy Korean BFC(chicken) Sandwich
And we shared Sweet Potato Fries
The Food was mostly very good but not perfect.
There is no silverware here and it is very hard to eat any of the sandwiches without silverware. My husband couldn’t get the Soul Dog into his mouth. I found it hard to eat the chicken sandwich because it’s a very big sandwich and would be easier to eat if it was cut in half.
The Chicken sandwich was a good chicken sand but not all of it was spicy. Only the end was crunchy and delicious…..but the middle lacked the spicy sauce that made it special. This sandwich was over packed with slaw and tomatoes that fell out when you tried to eat it.
My husband did say that the hot dogs here really are very good. He was able to eat the Philly Cheesesteak dog a little more easily than the Soul Dog.
I’d recommend to bring your own silverware when dining at Bulgogis.
This was a little Taste of Buldogis Gourmet Hot Dogs in Las Vegas NV
