Red Square: restaurant at Mandalay Bay Resort
Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, August-Sept, 2005

Las Vegas is the land of opulence, a place where everything is created and built to appear larger than life. Spend one night on the strip and you'll lose yourself in a world of fantasy that will leave you dizzy with amazement and excitement and hungry for even more.

The Red Square is a Russian-themed restaurant located inside the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, one of the newest additions to the strip. The restaurant's main gimmick is the extensive list of over 100 vodkas that you can sample while you're there. At any given time, the restaurant is buoyant with a trendy, upscale crowd. In our recent visit, we were ushered to the main dining room, where tables appeared a bit too close together and crowded.

The first thing that struck us was the aloofness of the waiting staff. Although the restaurant was very busy, they acted almost like we were imposing on them by simply being there. When our waiter came to take our order and we were not quite ready, he simply turned around, walked away and got lost in the crowd without even saying a word. And then there was the menu. We were looking forward to sampling true Russian dishes, but not this time, not here.

Nowhere could we find Russian favorites like Golubtsy (a famous Russian cabbage and beef dish), Pruannie Krevetski (fried king prawns in white wine and creamy garlic), or even the staple Blinis (a Russian version of pancakes), all forsaken by dishes dubbed "eclectic" by the establishment, which in reality are a fusion of contemporary American, French and Italian cuisine.

We decided to try the Lobster & Black Truffle Fettuccine ($35) and the evening's special: a Surf & Turf combo that included an 8 oz. filet of beef and an 8 oz. lobster tail ($69). The Fettuccine nothing to write home about. The flavor was standard for an Italian dish; the lobster chunks scarce and somewhat rubbery. The Surf & Turf did not fare much better.

Although perfectly cooked, the lobster tail was overcooked and dry, the mashed potatoes scarce and bland. We asked for a side cooked Spinach and were disappointed to taste its pungent; under-the-salt flavor. We wished that we could have added some salt to it, but there was none at the table and the waiters were mostly absent.