TI was a really good place to stay. We were comped for having 3 people simply because I was honest about it (the comp was for normal occupancy if that is not clearly enough implied). That was a nice gesture and saved us money. The room had a safe, refrigerator and plenty of drawers. The maid service was pretty solid. Tipping the maids, though mandatory in my eyes, was not necessarily helpful as the maid(s) who came to our room were not the same every day. A few times we had to call housekeeping and they were really, really prompt. The view was not a great view though it was billed as a view suite. It is not uninterrupted windows as it looks in some of the ads. 3 guys staying in Vegas and visiting the Grand Canyon, not doing late nights, having a couple nice meals and going to Cirque...it was a decent place to stay, but we felt out of place because of how tame we were: the place has been recently branded as a pretty racy and young place....we were not aware of this and if I stay in Vegas again, I would look to stay elsewhere. This is not an indictment against the hotel, it was a really good place to stay overall!

positive

Out of three locations, this is not only the original, but where Andre himself is still the executive chef. Which means there's no excuse to go anywhere else. It is right in downtown area, where casino noises won't bother you. A rather exclusive feeling place, the side street bears the chef's own name, which tells me that the government buildings nearby has gotten some quite good meals. Inside decor is an imitation of a basement cellar, with those rough stucco walls and random oversized bottles. A very quiet place, even though there were other diners present. My silverware clanging on the plates seemed to be echoing to both my and everyone else's horror. I tried my best to not make a mess, but we all know what happens. For appetizers we tried the heirloom tomato salad layered with buffalo mozzarella, a very refreshing and sweet dish, and pan-seared foie gras (my mandatory item!), a light but had that great savory goodness. Not quite melt-in-your-mouth good that I have had at other places, but very good quality and this one gets points for being properly de-veined. I had honey-glazed rack of lamb for my entree, cooked rare, it was served with a yogurt based sauce and a little dab of spinach puree. My date had the duck, which had sliced breast meat as well as thigh meat confit, it came with slices of small boiled potato layered with bits of bacon that covered the entire potato with bacon essence. All was prepared very well, as they should be, but it lives up to its reputation. But where it really won us was in the desserts. We both ordered souffles, one chocolate and one Grand Marnier, and both were cooked to a moist level, and did not feel like soggy bread as you see in too many other places. Both were served with insanely rich sauces. Easily the best souffles I have ever had. With kind and attentive service, this is the fancy place to go for special occasions. Expert kitchen skills, strong drinks from the bar, yet not so fancy that it requires a tie.

positive

We are from Canada and travel to Phoenix multiple times throughout the year. We had the opportunity to visit Second Story Liquor Bar in April and loved it. The service was amazing and the attention to detail in the service was like a 4 or 5 star restaurant. So, we were really looking forward to our return visit in October. Unfortunately, the experience was very different. While the food experience was very good; our experience on the service side was very different and somewhat uncomfortable at times. When we arrived, we let the hostess know our reservation time and were informed we had a 10 minute wait before we could be seated. After 15 minutes, we interrupted the hostess who was engaged in conversation with two friends, who by the way were talking to her all night and were still there when we left, to see if our table was ready. Fifteen minutes later when we checked to see if our table was available we were told she didn't know and should wait for the other hostess. We ordered the four course tasting menu so we could try items we may not have yet experienced and at each delivery of the course when the runner placed the course on the table she literally dumped and left. We were never given any information about the course ingredients or even offered pepper, we actually sat for 10 minutes after asking for pepper that was not delivered and had to flag another server to again request pepper. Upon delivery of the third course we made a point of trying to detain the runner to inquire about the dish and were told she did not know and would send some one over which never happened. In the end, the cocktails we tried were lovely, the meal was delicious but the service was very lack lustre, making us feel we were an inconvenience. Upon our departure, we mentioned to our server that it was unfortunate that our requests were ignored and were met only with a smile. I would also like mention that during past visits someone had always come to our table to see how things were and this certainly was not the case last night, they never asked once, we were certainly up sold on cocktails but the attention to detail regarding the food service was secondary to this staff.

negative

What a joke. I thought Subway was stingy with their meats until I came here. Sandwich wasn't bad, but there was practically no meat or toppings on it. I've heard the bbq sandwich is a lot better than the Italian, which I got.
negative