text: After nearly years away from Vegas I was back And as you can imagine I had a handful of restaurants I had been dying to check out Out of the five only one lived up to the hype and will continue to see me whenever I am in town Can you guess which restaurant that wasnnMy wife and I made reservations a month out because we knew it would be difficult to get one if we had waited any longer So that would be my first recommendation if you plan on coming here reserve your spot as early as possible During dinner I saw a couple come in without a reservation and they were regrettably turned away Do not let that happen to younnMy second recommendation would be to order the Omakase option Apparently the difference between this and the option is the quality of the food my opinion is if you are going to eat a dinner of this caliber why not spend more to get the bestnnAs far as the food was concerned I do not know what to tell you except be prepared to be wowed Granted not all of the dishes were mindblowing but plenty of them were Some of my favoritesnnHairy crab I had never heard of this prior to my visit to Raku and apparently they only exist in parts of Japan but the meat was flavorful and they precut the she will so it is easy for you to scoop out the meat And the vinegarbased dipping sauce that comes with it is absolutely perfect with the crabnnSashimi The tuna paired with marinated seaweed was awesome And the uni was by far the best I have ever had So rich so creamy so buttery SO GOOD My wife never had uni and refused to try it because of the way it looked and because she is a textureeater but I convinced her to try some and she ended up liking it Some day she will love uni I am sure of itnnBaconwrapped mushrooms So simple yet so delicious I love the texture of these mushrooms and when combined with the bacon and a soy saucelike sauce it is seriously fantastic I could pop these in my mouth all day longnnSalmon belly The salmon was cooked so well meaning not overcooked and dry and the skin was perfectly crunchy and salty Combine that with salmon roe in each bite and you have got a magical blend of flavors and texture Popping the roe in your mouth completed the dish so perfectly AwesomennWagyu beef This was served on a skewer cooked to a perfect mediumrare and topped lightly with wasabi When I took my first bite I was shocked at how tender it was it melts in your mouth like butter And the seasoning was just right nnEach dish came out in a timely manner although we got a little jammed w the crab since it took some time to scoop out all the meat and the chef did a great job going from the lighter dishes to the richer more filling ones And our server Kazue was extremely friendly and did a great job explaining each dish to usnnKeep in mind the Omakase menu does change There were a few items that my friends had told me about but we did not get them I guess we will just have to keep going back