Hell’s Kitchen is a reality television show hosted by Gordon Ramsay. The Las Vegas restaurant of the same name is modelled around the restaurant used in the show and features Gordon’s signature dishes.
I confess to not being that big a fan of the show – US reality shows have the drama and emotion turned up to the max – there’s too much shouting, crying and whoop whooping. That said, I do like Gordon Ramsay and his food.
I wanted to visit a Ramsay restaurant while in Vegas. My first choice was Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris Hotel. But then I found that Hell’s Kitchen had my favourite choices as their prix fixe menu.
HK signature prix fixe menu $80
Pan-seared scallops
English pea puree, pickled fennel, sherry braised bacon lardons
Beef Wellington
potato puree, glazed root vegetables, red wine demi-glace
Sticky toffee pudding
speculoos ice cream
It’s a perfect menu, I had to Google ‘speculoos ice cream’ – it is a real thing and sounded delicious.
We booked for Monday 27th May late afternoon/early evening as we were going to see the Penn & Teller Magic Show at 9pm.
The entrance is impressive and just inside is a video wall with Gordon vignettes featuring Gordon – I could have watched that for 30 minutes as they were great. I even wrote to the Ramsay media contact to ask if there were any that I could share – they didn’t bother to reply. Instead, here’s a video promoting the opening of Hell’s Kitchen.
Inside is perfectly themed as HK.
Our waiter was a little abrupt and slightly condescending. It didn’t help when I asked about three prix fixe menus, but could one scallops be swapped for:
wagyu meatballs
slow roasted tomato sauce, polenta croutons, parmesan cheese, basil 22
He was quick to say ‘no substitutions’ and I’d sort of guessed that, even though the meatballs cost less than the scallops. So I said “Okay three set menus plus one wagyu meatballs”. This led to some confusion and I had to explain that two of us like scallops so much that we’d eat the, now spare, third plate.
A glass of Malbec was $16.00. A beer $9.00.
The scallops were amazing.
and the wagyu meatballs looked pretty good too.
I was really looking forward to the Beef Wellington. I’ve previously made it myself following Gordon’s recipe. I’d also watched this video of the dish from Hell’s Kitchen.
It really was as good as it looks – I was so happy to have a perfect Beef Wellington.
Sticky toffee pudding – amazing.
We absolutely loved the food and I’d go back and have the same menu over and over. I tipped 15% – low by US standards, although generous in Europe. But that tip was all because of the food and not really the service – I just hope the tips are shared with the kitchen. Our check number 9352505/935 server was Omar.
One thing that would have disappointed me if I was a big HK (the show) fan, was that there wasn’t any focus on the red/blue kitchen competition. I’m surprised that they don’t say “your starter was prepared by the red kitchen” then “main, blue” and ask you to vote. As it was, I don’t even know if the kitchens even operate separately.
I wanted to watch more of the entrance videos as we left, but the evening sun was streaming directly on to the screen making them hard to see – HK need to consider moving the screen or shielding it from the light.
Despite a few issues, I’d recommend a visit and I’d certainly go again if I was in Vegas.
Our visit was part of our May/June 2019 USA Trip – click here for all the USA trip reviews.
Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant (within the grounds of Caesar’s Palace)
3570 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA
(702) 731-7373
Daily: 11 AM – 12 AM
https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/hells-kitchen-caesars-palace/
