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I Love Burgers

 

 

6605 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
 
(702) 675-7800
 

I am a huge fan of the cheeseburger, I often joke that if I had to choose one item to eat forever this would be it.  So I was kind of excited to make it over to I Love Burgers, I mean the title says it all.  They are located in the back of Town Square and could easily be missed, since not a lot of things are open right by it.  This is the type of place where you order when you walk in then you pick your seat and the food will be delivered separately, I thought it was an actual sit down restaurant so this was a bit of a surprise for me.

The menu is pretty straight forward, the only thing I found interesting was that they had columns for pricing they had a classic & more to love, I had to ask what the difference was because there was no information.  Turns out the classic is a 5 oz patty and the more to love is a 7 oz.  You would think this would be on the menu and it wouldn’t be something we would have to ask, but maybe that is what they ultimately want for the customer to ask questions.

They did have a pretty decent selection of burgers as well as meat choices, you can get chicken, salmon & veggie.  They also have a variety of shakes, that I was able to watch get made from my seat and they all looked delicious.  I was focused on the burger so I didn’t order one, but if I go back I will give one a shot.

I went for the Inferno Burger; angus burger, pepper jack cheese, roasted jalapeños & habonaro-jalapeño mayo.  I must be a kid a heart because I couldn’t resist getting tator tots on the side.

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If you are looking for a spicy burger this is for you, but I was disappointed that the jalapeños that topped the burger were not actually roasted like they were described on the menu but were actually raw.  I ended up picking off pieces of jalapeño because it was overpowering everything.  I couldn’t taste the meat, mayo or cheese because all I got flavor wise was jalapeño.  Now I know ordering a burger that is covered in jalapeños it would taste like them, but when basically all I am eating is jalapeños it really distracts from the actual meal.  If the jalapeños had actually been roasted this would’ve been better and actually enhanced the burger.  Plus the roasted jalapeños would be a bit tamer and sweeter in a sense which would make it more palatable meal overall.  The tator tots were cooked perfectly and really helped when I needed to cool down my mouth.

My friend went with the standard which was just a basic burger with lettuce, tomatoes & onions with a side of the natural cut fries.

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I didn’t try any of the plain burger but it looked really good, and my friend enjoyed it.  The fries were cooked perfectly also.  But truthfully this place is nothing special.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here, but if I was in the mood for something casual I would certainly not be turned off of going here while in town square.

Overall I will say that it is a bit pricy for what you get.  For my 7 oz burger the cost was $7.99 and to add the tots & small soda it was an additional $4.00.  So it made my total meal $12.96 w/tax.  Considering that it is “fast food” I am not a big fan of spending $13 on my meal when I can go to a drive-thru and get basically the same meal for about $5 less and get a way bigger drink.  That being said I do think that I will go back because I would like to try the I Love Bacon burger because it sounded interesting and a bacon lovers dream and maybe it is what I should’ve went with from the beginning and maybe my trip would’ve been better.

I would say that if you are in the neighborhood and want something fast, because in town square there are limited choices on fast food, this would be a decent choice.  Overall it had potential to be a good burger and I would think it is worth a second chance.

Yard House

 
Town Square
6593 Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89119
 
(702) 734-9273
 
Website: http://www.yardhouse.com/NV/las-vegas-restaurant-town-square/
 

I should preface this review with the fact that this isn’t my first time here but it is the first time in a long time that I have been here and didn’t order a beer.  Because this is the one place where you want to come to order a beer.  They have over 100 beers on tap in the center bar (I say 100 because there is truly too many to count), and you can see the kegs in the glass enclosed room right by the main entrance, so the beer flows over head to be served up at the bar.  This really is a beer lovers paradise, they have such a wide range of beers that you are bound to find at least one that you enjoy.  And if you would like to take a look at their massive beer listing you can click here.  My friend is big on ciders so she ordered the pear cider in the traditional yard glass that started it all.

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If you would like to read about how it all got started click here and it will take you to their website’s about page.

We got to the yard house at the end of happy hour which runs 3pm – 6pm Monday – Friday & 10pm – close Sunday – Wednesday; during happy hour their drinks range in price from $2.25 – 10.00 depending on the size of the glass and on if you order beer, wine or cocktails.  They also have select appetizers and sliders that are half off.  This is a really good time to come here, their sliders are really good and I will tell you about some of the happy house appetizers that we got, since we took advantage of getting there 10 mins before the end.

But I want to start off with the one item that was not part of the happy hour and that was my dinner.  Coming in I knew that I was craving carbs so I went straight for the (Mac+Cheese)².

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This pasta is a mixture of chicken breast, applewood bacon, wild mushrooms, cheddar, parmesan, pasta and truffle oil; I apologize for the messy looking plate, I stirred it up right as it got me without thinking about taking a picture.  Oh well you can see all the cheesy glory just as well in the above picture.  I really enjoyed this dish, it is the perfect balance of cheese, pasta and chicken, everything just melts together and makes for one delicious bite and hey there is bacon in there and who doesn’t love bacon?  I will admit that the truffle oil is not very prevalent in this dish, truthfully I actually forgot it was in there until I double checked the ingredients.  Luckily for me this does not change the way that I feel about this pasta dish, it is one of my favorites to get here.  Because there is something to be said for the simple dishes, things do not need to be overly complicated to be good, and the fact that this can be accomplished in a busy restaurant is even better.

Next up we have the appetizers, one thing we noted that the appetizers were bigger than we expected, so my friend ordered a total of 3 and her eyes were definitely bigger than her stomach.  First up is the Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer:

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This time the mess was not me, the waiter almost lost the sauce on the table as he delivered the food, I blame carrying 4 plates of food to our table all on his arms to be the problem.  The Ahi Tuna is seared rare, and served with soy vinaigrette, wasabi and pickled ginger.  The tuna was cooked perfectly, often times I have seen tuna ordered and it comes out over cooked, which really takes away the integrity of the tuna, but they got it just right.  I only had one bite of this as this was my friend’s dish and truthfully I was sick the week before and didn’t want to risk anything by eating raw fish.  But I really enjoyed the subtle tuna flavor and the soy vinaigrette was a nice compliment.  I know that it states it comes with wasabi but I didn’t put any on my bite which I wish I did because I think that level of flavor would elevate the vinaigrette up.  I have already mentioned to my mother that she should give this dish a try next time she heads to the Yard House since she is a big Ahi Tuna fan, I think she would really enjoy this dish.  My friend did be sure to tell me that she really enjoyed this and would have this again without question.

Next up are the boneless wings:

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You can get the wings in buffalo, jerk or firecracker and come boneless or bone-in.  We got them plain and they came with a honey barbeque sauce and ranch for dipping.  While I normally am a big fan of chicken wings of all kinds these are definitely a dish to skip.  They were over fried (that isn’t a dark photo they really were that dark) which made them really crunchy and I couldn’t taste any chicken just batter.  The dipping sauces were both really good and had the chicken been up to par this could’ve been a really good dish.  I would tell you to skip right over this one, not one of their bests that’s for sure.

Next and final dish of the night is the California Roll:

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The California roll is not your average sushi roll as you can see; they use as described on their menu, a sushi rice cake with cucumber, snow crab, tobiko, avocado fan and wasabi soy sauce.  This has actually become one of my new favorite dishes from the Yard House, I never ordered it before because I always just assumed it was going to be a traditional California roll that you get everywhere, but I was delightfully surprised when it came to the table and honestly I actually am kind of craving it as I write this.  I really enjoyed the way that it was put together and you got this nice blend of rice, crab & avocado then on the back end there was the wasabi kicker, which I really liked.  It gives the whole bite a level up in flavor and it was not over powering so you still got to taste all the other ingredients on the plate.  My friend wasn’t a big fan of this because of the wasabi flavor, so she barely touched the dish.

Even with the over cooked chicken dish; which truthfully is the first thing I have had that really was under par, I would highly recommend you check them out if you are looking for a place to kick back and sample some beers and get great food to go along.  With over a 100 beers to choose from you certainly won’t be out of choices.  I say give the Big Sky Moose Drool a shot if you like brown ales; the first time I ordered it, it was strictly because it was fun to order after a couple already and then it turned out to be one of my go to beers.  They do have two locations here in Las Vegas the one at Town Square and the second one in Red Rock casino, you won’t be disappointed at either location.  The service we experienced was pretty good our waitress was very attentive at the beginning but towards the end it seemed like it took a long time to actually get our bill, I assume this is because she hoped that maybe we would order more drinks or food while my friend finished her large beer.  The service is the only reason I took off a half star.

Coconuts Beach Bar & Mexican Grill

 
 
Town Square
6605 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119
 
702-675-6000

I was at Town Square the other night and we were looking for something to eat that was on the lighter side and if possible something different, when I saw the sign for Coconuts Beach Bar & Mexican Grill.  Before making our decision to eat here we decided to check out the menu first before going in just to be sure there was something on the menu that sounded appetizing.  The prices didn’t seem too bad ranging from $8 – $16 depending on the the entree.  I will fess up that I am not a huge fan of mexican food; I have a few items that I really like and I can almost find at every restaurant, tacos or tortas, doesn’t get much simpler than that.  They had a couple taco plates that looked good so we decided to give this place a shot.

We were greeted quickly and seated immediately; which I can see why there was only 4 parties excluding us in the main dining area, and this was around 6pm I would say on a Wednesday.  I guess the emptiness should’ve been a sign.  The dress code was certainly on the casual side which fits with the beach theme, the girls were in short shorts wearing tank tops & bikini tops this dress code showed off the hostess’s lower back piercing so they obviously go for the fun & casual dress at work.  The male waiters were wearing life guard themed outfits white tanks that said coconuts and red swim trunks.  The decor was cheesy beach cabana.  The place felt like a dive bar to be honest, but maybe that is what they want it to feel like, considering at night this place turns into a club with dancing, drinking and partying.

On to the food we pretty much knew what we wanted when we walked in since we had been debating the menu outside.  The waiter came over shortly after we had been seated took our drink order and then came back for our food order.  We went with the grilled fish tacos and the al pastor tacos.  While we were waiting for our food we wondered if we got chips and salsa with our meals like most mexican restaurants and that would be no, you have to order this as an appetizer which I found out was $5, on the menu it does not say unlimited and the basket was about average from what I could tell at the neighboring table.

First up the fish tacos:

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To our surprise both of our dishes came with rice and beans, since the menu didn’t list that they came with anything so we were only expecting the tacos.  The grilled fish tacos are grilled mahi-mahi with baja slaw topped with cabo sauce & their 3 cheese blend on a flour tortilla.  This was a really nice taco, not greasy and the fish was cooked perfectly.  The spicy cabo sauce was a nice element and really blended well.  I wasn’t sure what the difference between baja slaw and normal slaw because it tasted like normal slaw to me nothing special.  Over all I liked this taco it wasn’t the best fish taco I ever ate but it wasn’t the worst either.

Next up the al pastor tacos:

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The al pastor tacos is roasted pork with a Achiote marinade on corn tortillas, since I am not a fan of corn tortillas I asked for them to be made with flour which they did for me.  I did not expect pineapple on top since it wasn’t listed but due to a conversation with a friend she had mentioned to me a couple days beforehand that al pastor comes with pineapple normally.  You can see from the photo that they were a little greasy from what I can assume was the marinade.  I am on the fence with this taco dish, first off my food was luke warm it really could’ve been a lot hotter so this was a disappointment.  These are not a spicy pork despite their orange coloring, most of the time this eludes to spicy.  There wasn’t a lot of flavor actually to the taco most of what flavor I recognized was from the pineapple.  Which you wouldn’t think would be good; kind of like pineapple on pizza, but it did work well with the pork.  Overall it was just a taco not bad but not fantastic either kind of right down the middle, if someone gave me a free one I would still eat it but I wouldn’t crave it.  I didn’t care for the rice & beans that came with my dish, the rice was bland and the beans were a weird texture almost like they had started to mash them up to make refried beans but changed their mind, and actually they were on the watery side.

I would say that being in town square there are a lot of other choices which I think you would enjoy more than this.  I would not go out of my way to come here again, even though together our total bill was $23 without tip; the waiter did not add our drinks on to the bill which was just a soda & ice tea.  I am not sure if it was an oversight or he was just being nice.  The service was so so we waited a bit for our food but the waiter did check on us a couple times throughout the meal which is good.  So for the price it was fine especially since we had the surprise rice and beans, but I know the next time I am in Town Square this place will be last on my list for food.  Especially when as we walked around we both said that we should’ve gone to Tommy Bahama or Brio instead as we walked past them.  Also afterwords I mentioned to a friend I went there and the first thing she asked me was why?  I guess that sums up this place, and since this use to be a place called Lolitas I can honestly say it wouldn’t shock me if it became something else in the future.

B.A.R
 
 
7260 South Cimarron Road
Las Vegas, NV 89113
 
(702) 685-2058
 

If you are looking for a good local place to kick back and have a drink with some friends this is the place to go, you wont be disappointed.  I have had the pleasure to eat here at B.A.R = Born And Raised on a couple different occasions, and I know I will be back.  This is a lovely place owned by locals and for locals and when you walk it you know this is a bar for locals and the food is delicious.

On my last trip here we had the Chicken Parm (left) sliders & Monte Cristo Sliders (right).

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My friend and I gave each other one of ours so that we could taste them and both slider orders came with french fries, you can get onion rings or sweet potato tots for an upcharge.  I’ll start with the Chicken Parm that she gave me to try, this was really good it was a parmesan encrusted chicken breast smothered in tomato sauce and topped with melted mozzarella cheese & basil.  This was the perfect combination and I would go back and order this as my meal.  The flavors melded really well together into a perfect little bite.

I ordered the Monte Cristo which is turkey, ham & swiss cheese on texas toast dipped into batter and pan fried.  It is then drizzled with maple syrup & powdered sugar.  It was like having lunch and breakfast all in the same meal.  I will definitely have this one again and I will take them up on their offer of some maple syrup on the side to dip it into.  Because i will admit that it needed that extra bite of sweetness.  Also I will say that I didn’t taste the cheese that much I think it was lost in everything else, but it didn’t hurt the overall appeal and taste of the dish.

I can’t talk about a bar and not show you at least one picture of a cocktail.  I ordered a gin & tonic, which I have to say is one of the best ones I have had in the valley.  It was the perfect balance so the bartender knows how to pour.  My friend had a vodka water and she said the same thing that it was a perfect mix and a great way to end our day of moving.

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The do have a happy hour which I have not attended but it runs Monday – Friday 4pm – 7pm & 3am – 6am; they have drink specials and food specials ranging from $1 beer to $5 appetizers.

My only critique about this place was during this visit our waitress was a little aloof, I am not sure if it was because we were getting more food than drinks but it did put me off.  But luckily my first visit there the waitress was on point so I am going to chop it up to just a busy day for them.

LBS: a burger joint
Red Rock Casino
11011 West Charleston Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89135
(702) 835-9393
 

I ended up at LBS on a whim, my friend Jayson & I had originally planned our evening at the Yard House but the wait was almost an hour long for the two of us. That is when we remembered we both hadn’t been to LBS yet and so off we went.

The restaurant has a grudge bar feel with a mix of lace, exposed brick and a license plate flag on the ceiling. The menus are nicely designed, one page attached to wood almost like a clipboard. What is offered is exactly what you would expect burgers..mini burgers, build your own & signature burgers. Below is a photo of the take out menu which is a copy of the original in the restaurant.

I went for the bleu burger without tomato on a wheat bun (you get a choice of white or wheat) and shoe string fries. You can upgrade to onion rings or sweet potato fries for an extra $2.50 charge. Jayson had the classic burger on wheat with shoestring fries.

The burgers were nice and thick, a good 1/2 inch at least and oh so juicy. I could have used more bleu cheese because I could barely taste it, but I love blue cheese so for me I want to taste it. The fries where nice and crispy and were served with LBS burger sauce which tasted like a spicy ranch. Jayson said his was just as good and that the meat was seasoned well, which for him is important when eating a burger.

My burger on top & Jayson’s on the bottom.

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The service was a little spotty our waitress seemed to have better things to do than actually interact with us. The place isn’t that big and the other waiters seemed more friendly than ours. But I wouldn’t let this hold me back from coming back, over all the food did out weigh our waitress’s bad mood. And this is why I gave them 4 out of 5 stars. If you are in the red rock casino and craving a burger I would definitely recommend the place.

Our total bill was $39.43 w/out tip and this included 2 blue moons @6.50 ea and our 2 burgers. So based on an average dinner out this wasn’t too bad. Especially since the burgers were very tasty.