Theresa M.
Yelp
My review is for dinner and the NYE party we attended at the Ahern. The NYE package we purchased included a 3-course dinner at their onsite restaurant Ottimo, and then entertainment throughout the evening including DJ's, piano performance by Ryan Ahern (part-owner of the hotel), a magic show and more.
The main reason this place didn't score 5 stars was due to the quality of my dinner. I also want to make it crystal clear that if could break out points to score food and our server, then our server, CONNOR, would receive 10 stars if possible. He is a GEM and made a less than stellar dinner MUCH more palatable!
The options for dinner were as follows:
First Course (choose one)
Fried Pork Belly
Caesar Salad or
French Onion Soup
Main Course (choose one)
Smashed Burger
Chicken Parmesan with Rigatoni pasta or
Herb Encrusted Pork Chops (NOT)
Final course was dessert: Gelato (multiple flavors to choose from).
So, my husband chose the Caesar Salad and the Chicken Parm. I chose the Onion Soup and the Pork Chops.
The "cook" on everything was on point. My husband's chicken parm was tender and moist. It was not over-breaded and had a great ratio of sauce to cheese. The rigatoni I felt was an odd choice to accompany chicken Parmesan and could have used a bit more sauce.
Next, we come to my choice. The French Onion soup, which usually can be a bit salty, was perfect. A fair amount of onions and yummy, tangy broth. The soup was covered in a nice layer of cheese, but oddly the bread that should have been in the soup was on the side of bowl? Perhaps for people cutting back on carbs, but really? On NYE? WHO CARES??? I just put the bread in my soup and waited a couple of minutes for the bread to absorb the broth. Overall, very delicious.
Now, we come to the pork chops...OMG...WHY, WHY, WHY did the chef think ROLLING and caking a pound of salt on two AMAZING pork chops would be the same as herb encrusted chops?
The pork chops themselves (there were 2) where thick and juicy. They were not under cooked. They were downright succulent AND completely ruined by the salt that was so much that it literally BURNED my mouth from the severe saltiness. Drinking saltwater could NOT have been a worse experience.
Connor was so sweet! He took the horrid chops back to the kitchen and had them re-done. Sadly, this time there was about 1/2 as much salt, but now the chops were underdone and I had no desire to include a ride in an ambulance to a hospital. I was able to basically eat one chop, since there were two on the plate. Each was cooked on one half of each chop (also rather odd that half a chop is cooked and half is inedible).
Since the entire dinner was pre-paid, not too much Connor could offer to make things right. However, he did comp us our drinks to make up for my dreadful pork chops.
I realize that NYE (or any holiday for that matter) puts more demands on a kitchen, but don't they know this BEFORE the holiday. Maybe practice a bit more and honestly, maybe watch "Hell's Kitchen" to learn the difference between salt encrusted and herb encrusted.
As for the NYE festivities, they were GREAT! The magic show was a little old school, but fun to watch and honestly I think the performers had more life in them than Penn & Teller (who cost a lot more to see).
Ryan Ahern, the evening's headliner is WONDERFUL!! His playing style very much reminds me of Liberace. He is very talented and showy in his style of piano playing. He's not sleepy, stuffy, or pretentious. I happen to love piano and he made the piano "fun" for our evening.
Thanks to the location of the hotel, we were able to go up on the roof and had a PERFECT view of the fireworks from the Strat. We could see the other hotels, too, on the strip, but in my opinion, The Strat put on the BEST firework spectacle.
If the Ahern does a NYE party again, next year, I would definitely consider it. My only suggestion is they should either do a package that includes a stay at the hotel (for a discounted rate) or sell rooms at a discount if you are a guest at the NYE party. I tried to book a regular room for the night (nothing fancy) and they wanted nearly $600.00...I'm sorry, if I am going to pay that much, then I'll pay a little more and stay somewhere like the Wynn or Bellagio.
I think this hotel and their restaurants have a lot of potential, but there is room for some tweaking "here and there" to make this a really sought after destination.
I definitely over all had a great evening and I will definitely try them again in the future.