Royally Flushed

Stay, dine and see a show at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas for less. This plush resort is offering great deals right now.

Mandalay Bay is one of our favorite Strip hotels in Las Vegas and everything from the rooms to the restaurants to tickets for the award-winning show, The Lion King, are on sale now!

From that first whiff of the pineapple coconut-scented lobby, we know we have arrived at Mandalay Bay, a lush Caribbean-themed resort on the Las Vegas Strip.  There are so many things to enjoy while staying here that there’s really no reason to venture out if a laid-back, relaxing trip is the goal.

Mandalay Bay “More for Less” Rates from $89.99/nt. *Includes: $25 Food and Beverage Credit, $100 Cabana Credit, 25% Off Spa Treatments, Complimentary Access to House of Blues Foundation Room, 50% off mid-week entry into Moorea Beach (Monday-Thursday,) 2-for-1 Original Margaritas at Hussong’s Mexican Cantina, and 2-for-1 Breakfast at House of Blues (Monday – Thursday) – (*See site for additional details and restrictions.) Good for travel select dates March 8 – Sept. 9, 2010. Promo Code: PHSPR10 (Exp 9/9/10).

Pool — Home to one of the best pool complexes in Las Vegas, the Mandalay Bay Beach Club is one of the big attractions drawing visitors from all over the world.  Located on 11 acres, Mandalay Bay Beach offers a wave pool, lazy river, three swimming pools, jogging track and 2,700 tons of real sand.  There’s even a beachside casino located just steps from the pool.

Restaurants — Sushi to steaks, burgers to pasta, Mandalay Bay has a fabulous array of restaurants and we have the promo code to get $25 worth of dining for just $2 right now.  Here are the hotel restaurants participating in this money-saving program:  (Click the name of the restaurant for more info and to purchase the certificates!)

Aureole – Home of the famous flying “wine angels,” this beautiful spot features a fabulous seasonal menu from Chef Charlie Palmer.  Be sure to leave room for dessert from the decadent sweets menu.

Mix In Las Vegas – Perched atop THE Hotel at the resort, MIX is one of the most beautiful dining spots in all of Vegas. Inside hangs the largest chandelier in the world with 15,000 hand-blown Murano glass balls plus a menu originally composed by French Master Chef Alain Ducasse and a balcony that offers the best sunset view of THE Strip.

Shanghai Lilly – We’ve heard good things about the eclectic Cantonese cuisine featuring some spicy Szechwan dishes plus the relaxing dining room looks perfect for kicking back and sharing a meal.

Special Online Promotions at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas

Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood — If you love creamy clam chowder, garlicky steamed mussels and the freshest fish prepared in a variety of mouth-watering ways, then RM Seafood is for you. The casual downstairs bar and grill is our favorite place to order up a couple of ice cold beers and enjoy bowls of clams and mussels swimming in fragrant broth served with lots of crunchy cheese-topped country bread perfect for sopping up all that great liquid.

Raffles Cafe — Mandalay Bay’s 24-hour restaurant offers diners breakfast, lunch or dinner in a relaxed yet beautiful atmosphere.  From waffles to prime rib, this cafe has it all.

NEW to Restaurant.com — Mizuya Sushi and Sake and The Cafe plus The Noodle Shop all at Mandalay Bay!

Special Online Promotions at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas.

Save on The Lion King – The Tony award-winning Broadway favorite, The Lion King, has been wowing audiences in Las Vegas with its soaring musical score, fantastic costumes and make-up and magical storyline since opening at Mandalay Bay.  Visit BestOfVegas.com and receive a Complimentary Upgrade to VIP seating (Your Price: $126.00, Regular Price: $177.25) or a Category 3 Upgrade to Category 2 (Your Price: $93.00, Regular Price: $133.25).

Room deal: For Best Rates at Mandalay Bay, Book Online!
Restaurant discounts: Click here for Restaurant.com Gift Certificates
Show tickets and more!: BestOfVegas.com

In-house aging is one key to the juicy tender steaks at STRIPSTEAK LV.

I recently had lunch with a friend of mine (a professional food writer and guest reviewer here) who made the most spot-on comment I’ve ever heard when it comes to Chef Michael Mina’s food: “The man is a wizard with potatoes!” So, you’re thinking if this is a review on STRIPSTEAK LV, why do I care what the chef does with potatoes? It’s the meat that matters not the sides. Well, in this case, while the steaks are more than worthy, it is definitely the spuds that make for a memorable meal. And, did we mention that said spuds are free? No kidding, these crisp crunchy beauties come courtesy of the chef… au gratis… n/c.

First, the restaurant itself: Located at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, the space is sleek and edgy with enough hard surfaces to make sound somewhat of an issue if you were hoping for an intimate dinner for two.* But keep in mind, the sound bouncing from walls to ceiling comes from people having fun! This is a great spot for celebrations like bachelor/bachelorette parties, birthday bashes and other group events or for couples looking to dine in a high-energy atmosphere. (We had a terrific time chatting away with the couple at the table next to us who also happened to be from Phoenix. Yeah, it’s that kind of place.)

This trio of spectacular fries is presented au gratis with dinner at the winning STRIPSTEAK LV.

The fries: Okay, back to those marvelous complimentary potatoes. After ordering drinks (wine for P.B., a draft for me) and dinner, the server brought out this very cool serving stand filled with three tubs of perfectly cooked-in-duck-fat fries – herb-flecked, paprika-dusted and saffron garlic – along with three dipping sauces: housemade ketchup, perky BBQ sauce and our hands-down favorite, a luxurious truffle cream sauce I would’ve eaten with a spoon! The serving is so large we couldn’t finish it but, oh, how we tried.

Dinner: For an appetizer, we chose to share the Maine lobster fritters, a dish we unfortunately wouldn’t order again. The batter was too heavy for the delicate seafood flavor to come through and the bacon mentioned in the menu description seemed to be AWOL from our dish. In hindsight, we would have merrily munched on the fries with our drinks and ordered a salad to share with the yummy warm potato focaccia (served in a cast iron skillet) before the main course. For our steaks, we chose the American Kobe beef – the Rib Eye ($64) for P.B. and the Rib Cap ($65) for me. (STRIPSTEAK also offers Japanese A5 Wagyu beef at Market Price.) Chef Mina’s steaks are heralded for their cooking method which entails a long slow-poach in clarified butter and then a quick turn on a high heat (think 1,000 degrees!) grill. The process renders a steak that is meltingly tender inside with a beautifully crusty exterior. As we expected, our steaks were superb. As a side, we shared a de-lish mountain of creamed spinach topped with crumbled bacon bits. (Note to self: next time we eat here, we walk back to our room at the Bellagio.)

Well-marbled and perfectly cooked, the rib cap American Kobe steak is a terrific menu choice.

Dessert: Overkill for sure but the “Beignets with Macallan 18-Year Butterscotch Pudding” were just way too tempting to resist and we’re so glad we didn’t. Plump, fluffy pillows of warm donut dipped in scotch-flavored caramel pudding…uh, what’s not to like? (Do be aware that the liquor really comes through in this decidedly “adult-flavored” dessert.)

Service and other highlights:

Excellent, attentive service even on a busy Saturday night during prime time dining hours of 8 – 10 pm.

Another freebie courtesy of STRIPSTEAK — A bag of gourmet dark-chocolate-drizzled caramel corn made in-house sends you out the door.

I have to say that I knew we were in for a great meal when Las Vegas local, UNLV professor and famed foodie, Patti Shock, highly recommended the place to me via Twitter. (If you are interested in food and Las Vegas you should follow her.  @PattiShock)

The best: We used a $25 certificate purchased for $2 at Restaurant.com (use coupon code “FOUR” and the link below) to pay for part of the meal.  At the restautant, be sure to present it early on so they have time to validate the certificate before the check comes.

STRIPSTEAK definitely merits a top spot on our list of “Best Las Vegas Steakhouses.”

(*Looking for a romantic spot to dine? Try Fleur De Lys or Mix In Las Vegas, both located at Mandalay Bay and both participate in the Restaurant.com certificate program.)

Save 80% off on every $25 Gift Certificate order. Use code “FOUR” and pay just $2 through 10/12/09 only at Restaurant.com.

We'll be checking out the new "Peepshow" starring Holly Madison at Planet Hollywood while on this trip to Las Vegas.

Leaving in a couple of days for a week in LasVegas and here’s a  “hit” list for some of the stops we’ll be making to check out some new places both on and off the Strip:

- Lunch and a famous “Frrrozen Hot Chocolate” at Serendipty 3 at Caesars Palace.

- Late-night sliders and the “Lucky Onion Soup – $7.77″ at First Food Bar at the Palazzo.

- Dinners with our discount restaurant gift certificates (from Restaurant.com) at Mandalay Bay spots Aureole, Fleur de Lys and Strip Steak.  Since we’ll be spending so much time at Mandalay Bay’s restaurants, we’ll just have to check out the new Mandalay Bay Beach Side Casino. (more…)

The ethereal Mix at Mandalay Bay offers diners luxurious surroundings, superb food and a fabulous view of The Strip and all at a discount this summer.

If you’re like us, planning the perfect trip to Las Vegas starts with finding the best Vegas hotel room at the lowest rate. Once we’ve secured where we’re staying, we go right on to figuring out the next most important trip detail — where we’re going to eat while we’re in town! We love great food and we love great deals so when we can combine the two it’s like hitting the Vegas dining deal equivalent of a Wheel of Fortune jackpot.

That’s exactly how we feel about the gift certificates available through Restaurant.com. We’ve written about these before and frankly, we really don’t know why everybody isn’t using them not only in Las Vegas but in any vacation spot around the country not to mention for restaurants in their own hometowns. (We and our friends use them here in Phoenix all the time.)

So, we’re writing about them again because in looking over the list of restaurants to choose from for our late-July trip, we were so excited to see a bunch of terrific Mandalay Bay restaurants added to the selection. Here’s a recap on the deal: for just $10, you buy $25 restaurant gift certificates from restaurant.com good at top spots all over Vegas. But, wait (yes, we do know we sound like an infomercial!) use this restaurant discount code SEVENTY and get those same $25 certificates for just $3 now through July 13.

Now, check out the great slate of Mandalay Bay restaurants that are participating in the program –

Fleur De Lys – Renowned chef Hubert Keller’s contemporary French restaurant. We’ve been fans of Keller since he hit the dining scene in San Francisco and we watched as he recently competed on the Bravo TV show “Top Chef Masters.” (He was the winner of that round so we look forward to seeing him in the series finale later this summer.) (more…)

Rick Moonen's RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas.

It may seem odd to go to the Nevada desert to indulge in your favorite seafood dishes but that is exactly what P.B. and I set out to do when we dined at RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino. RM refers to Chef/Owner Rick Moonen, a former New Yorker who previously helmed the kitchens at two of our favorite NYC seafood restaurants – The Water Club and Oceana. Because we were familiar with his food, we were expecting excellent meals and weren’t disappointed.

Occupying a back corner of the casino, the two-story restaurant is near the Mandalay Bay theater. Upstairs is the high-end more formal restaurant complete with chef’s tasting menu, Hudson Valley foie gras and an assortment of caviars. Downstairs, where we ate, is a seafood joint that would be perfectly at home on any street corner in New York or San Francisco.

White leather banquettes, teak chairs and table tops — plus a few TV screens perched over the bar — let you know you’re in the “slang” portion of the restaurant. While the setting and menu may be more casual, the attention to food and service is most decidedly not. (more…)

Watch the Las Vegas sunset at Mix lounge atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.

Whether it is your first trip to LasVegas or your 20th, one spot you do not want to miss is Mix lounge at THEhotel in the Mandalay Bay resort.  Be sure to time your visit so you’re there when the sun is setting and you will be treated to an absolutely magical view of Las Vegas.

When you arrive at Mandalay Bay, head for the back of the casino, near the theater, where you’ll find the reception area for THEhotel and the Mix elevator bank.  While the glassed-in lift slowly ascends to the 64th floor, you get your first view of the Las Vegas landscape laid out before you and a preview of what’s to come. (more…)