Hello friends!! It's been a bit since I posted. So here goes. I have had a good time trying out different Wine bars. This one sucks ass tasting wise. (Randy's words not mine) I bought a Groupon to this place. It offered for $10 a $20 value of a wine tasting for two and cheesecake for two. For $10 can you go wrong? YUP! You can. Now let me say this, the owner was super nice! Local Cave Creek guy. My stomping grounds. Super casual. A little to casual. Nice store, greets you as you come in, etc. when we shared with him that we had been by twice during posted hours and that the place was closed, he casually responded that he had a baby and would head out early to put his baby to bed. Touching; (Later found out that the baby was 2 1/2 and that sometimes he went home early to watch football....hmmm?) bad business practice. If you aren't t open during posted hours, how do you run a business? I could go on about this, but I digress. He gave us several options besides those listed on the Groupon. I thought this sounded amazing! A $20 bottle of wine. Four beers, or your choice of any combinations of 8 wine tastings. All included the cheesecake. Let me say this about the cheesecake, it was good but it was served in individual jars that made it look like baby food! The presentation was less than appetizing. We made the choice to allow him to choose the wines. We wanted to try wines we had never tried before. The wine choices were, well, NASTY!! I can get a better shot at a decent wine by rolling the dice in the grocery store, bottom shelf, $3.99. (Sad) Four of the 8 wines had started to turn to vinegar. I'm not sure how long the bottles had been open, but they were just stuffed with their corks. No rubber suction stoppers to keep the wine from turning. For all I know, they could have been good wines. Again, not professional. For an owner and purveyor who goes to wine tastings and sells wine for a living I was sadly disappointed. Cave Creek is full of hidden gems, this is not one of them. Now, in fairness, I will say that he poured us a wonderful Pinot Grigio. I purchased this wine. it was smooth and well balanced. This was surprising since I was more interested in the reds....gross! On a positive note, he does a lot of fund raisers for wounded vets and has been quite successful in raising money and awareness for wounded vets and their needs. For this reason I would not totally snub my nose at this establishment. Remember friends, life is to short to drink nasty wine!! Until the next time!
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negative

Eggs and toast were actually pretty good for an airport but it comes with McDonald's style hash browns - fries squares. Gave me bacon when I ordered sausage. Also charged $4.49 for a small bottle if Perrier - really? Unfortunately at 6am there aren't many choices here.
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negative

Yum! Grilled cheese with tomato soup and sweet potato fries! The fish tacos are also great plus they have yummy vegetarian and vegan options. If you have the time to chill the food and the atmosphere are totally worth it. If quickness is a concern for you, service while sitting at the bar tends to be a little faster. The outside patio is nice, the bartenders are friendly and they make great drinks. Extra bonus: It's in the Arts Factory so if you go at a time when the galleries are open you can see some good art, too. Extra extra bonus: There's a yoga studio in the building so you can do yoga first (donation based) then eat dinner. Extra Extra Extra bonus: The Cockroach Theater is across the street so you can get dinner then go see a play.
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positive

Just got back from Vegas and had a nice dinner at Emeril's Fish House, which is just outside the MGM Grand Casino (btw, you won't find any signs leading to Emeril's from inside the casino). We had the 'petite prix fixe' four course dinner , $55. The first course was a shrimp appetizer dish. Peeled, succulent, BIG shrimp over some julienned veggies, surrounded by an intense balsamic vinegar reduction drizzled around the plate. Very nice. Second course was the lobster cassoulet. Wow. Delicious, savory, and elegant dish. Tender baby lobster tail with a delicious broth, beans, and some diced veggies. Third course was the main course - a thinly sliced ribeye over creamed spinach. Here is where there was a small hiccup. We ordered the ribeye medium rare but instead it came out rare. Luckily we didn't mind, especially since the meat was of such high quality that it was still tender rare. You know when the meat quality is top notch when rare steaks are not chewy. This was the case at Emeril's. Excellent dish yet again. The creamed spinach had a subtle kick to it - I tasted a hint of horseradish. At this point our stomachs were very satisfied and we were glad that we did not go for the full tasting menu which was something like another $20-30 for an additional 2 or 3 dishes. Not sure how we were going to eat our way through the last course - dessert. Dessert - choice of banana cream pie and bread pudding with whiskey sauce. We had one of each and they were both excellent, especially the banana cream pie which is exceptionally noteworthy since I do NOT like banana cream pie at all and try to avoid it at all cost. However, this was the best banana cream pie I have ever had. Despite being full, we devoured both desserts fully and waddled out of there, very satisfied and felt like the $55 pp dinner was a very good deal indeed. A word about the ambiance - not much there. We felt like the restaurant was nicely decorated, but it was too large of a space and therefore felt cold - not temperature cold, but lacking character. Also, we noticed the service entrance was very stark and obvious - tables situated right next to openings to the kitchen, uncovered. It cheapened the look of the place, in our opinion. Didn't bother us too much but of course we value food over ambiance any day. Service - excellent wait staff. Before seating the host properly asked if we had a show to catch after the dinner (we did not). Courses were served with a nice pace - not too slow, not too fast. Total dining time was about 1.5 hours, which is about right for me. Emeril's was not full despite it being the day before new year's eve. MGM has a LOT of nice restaurants in the casino and Emeril's is surrounded by competition (craft steak house, pearl asian restaurant, etc.). I hope others give Emeril's a try. We will definitely go back again.
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positive