We thought we'd give Spago a try as we always pass by the 'patio' diners everytime we go to Caesars. Besides with Wolfgang Puck as the celebrity chef behind Spago we thought it would be a great dining experience for a casual lunch. I wish we had not been sucked in. The tables are always filled but actually what one sees are the patio or outdoor tables. There is an empty dining room inside behind the bar area and I can see why that is so now.
First of all the waitstaff are clueless and not polished. Our waiter came off as brusque and not at all personable. Once we sat down he came over and asked 'What would you like to drink? Do you know what you want to eat?" This was all within less than 5 minutes of being seated. Can we have a bit more time to look at the menu? And where is the drinks menu or wine list? No, we are to know exactly what we want to drink from memory. It's good we didn't want a bottle of wine or what would have happened? Would we have offended him by asking for a wine list or were we to name off the top of our heads the make and vintage? This was great too: he practiced memorization of all of our orders. I guess that's what management teaches their waitstaff to do? And I suppose the management expects the patrons to follow suit as well unless this was our waiter's talent. His attitude belongs to a neighborhood bar and not to a supposedly upscale restaurant as Spago.
The busboys brought our ice water without lemons and straws although the other diners had. A couple of times they brought us orders which belonged to other diners. At the end of our meals one busboy asked if we needed bread(?). The worse thing that all waitstaff did was to snatch our plates before asking if we were finished. Oh, there was one instance where I was clearly done but our waiter asked if I was finished. However, the other two in our party had their plates taken while they were almost-but not quite-done. It did not seem to register to the waitstaff that they took their plates too soon!
The other disappointment was the food itself. One of us had jambalaya at $18 which was a very soupy rice with a few tidbits of prawns, fish, and sausage. The second person in our party ordered the pork chop which was actually just that: one thin pork chop with some oversalted squash. The pork chop was dry and looked like it was baked, but for $25 it was terrible-a ripoff. I had the chicken breast with mashed potato puree with mushroom marsala. The chicken breast was more like a pigeon breast as it was so tiny, the mashed potatoes tasted as though they came from a box, and while the green beans and baby carrots were cooked al dente, the whole meal was reminiscent of a TV dinner in some ways. Only thing this meal cost much more than a TV dinner at $17.
In short, the food at Spago is just average fare. And the waitstaff surely needs to be retrained as to the correct way of serving. For the high prices they charge and also for Wolfgang Puck's reputation, Spago Las Vegas definitely needs to improve its quality.
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