text: Disappointing I have been a huge fan of Charlie Trotters in Chicago and was excited to try out his new place in Las Vegas emphasizing seafood Maybe it was because it was so late pm on a Friday night after a show but the servers were definitely not on their game Though they advertise that they take reservations until pm there was just one other party in the restaurantnnI started out with a nice albeit expensive glass of Schramsberg and was greeted by a refreshing amuse consisting of a little pile of Peekytoe crab seasoned with light citrus and vinegar flavors As an aside I wonder what the attraction of Peekytoe crab isit seems that it is always somewhat tough and stringy I much prefer Maryland Blue Crab nnI started out with a Fruits de Mer with spot prawns cockles and oysters The presentation was lovely but it was oversalted Furthermore though chilled I did not realize that the spot prawns would be rawthey were not even cured by the citrus and as a result were unpleasantly mushy with a lingering aftertaste The dish was garnished with two deepfried shrimp heads but these were lukewarm and tasted like they had been done well in advance of plating nnMy wife had spiced artichokes with honey and pine nuts Now these were delicious The artichokes were deepfried and seasoned with some Moroccaninspired heat Great dishnnI proceeded to have the Lobster tart with chorizo and trumpet mushrooms This was again marred by oversalting and the generous chunks of lobster were a bit overdone Conceptually the problem I have with this dish is that there was an overwhelming amount of chorizo that had been overcooked resulting in a vinaigrette with lots of pebbles nnFinally I had the hamachi with braised short ribs and trumpet mushrooms It was okay The short ribs tasted a little on the tough and stringy side and again seemed oversalted to me I wonder if they had been sitting around too long out of their braising liquid through the course of the day The fish though nice and rare in the middle seems to have been seared at too high a temperature so that the exterior was overdoneI have never encoutered that beforennIn the meantime my wife had the ocean trout with oysters and hijiki The oysters were perfectly poached and remained meltingly tender albeit too salty but the trout again tasted overdone and chewy nnWe would have given a pass on the food if the service were better It was very friendly and as a result it was very difficult to post a negative review But it seemed unattentive We had a dining companion who was vegetarian but did not like beets We made this clear to the many servers which attended us So the amuse came with roasted beets We pointed this out to the server Then her next dish came with beets We again had to point this outnnAgain this dining experience was so disappointing in view of the fact that I love Charlie Trotters so much For my wifes two courses and my three courses a glass of Schramsberg and a glass of chablis tax and tip we paid nearly way overpriced The place did have the air of a place doomed to impending failure wafting about