Q: positive

A: The owner was really friendly with my family and took time to speak with them on a personal level. Since the Vietnamese community is small in Arizona, it was nice to see my fiancee and her parents have a chance to make a new friend. The food tasted great, too!

Q: positive

A: Fresh pasta and high quality ingredients make all the difference. This place has the best bucatini amatriciana, heck maybe anywhere. It isn't just good for AZ. It's actually good. Seriously this compares to east coast Italian. Everything was cooked perfectly. The party I was with consumed a great deal of wine, and seemed to approve of the list. Deserts (cheesecake, tiramisu) were also pretty great. Service was attentive.

Q: positive

A: Exquisite, well-prepared, innovative fish and sushi dishes makes Nobu a pricy but fantastic treat. The sake menu also rates raves.

Q: positive

A:
I can't believe I'm going to say this, because I've eaten so many places, but I think the dinner I had at Fleur de Lys is the best meal I've ever eaten. I had the four-course Elegance prix fixe menu, and each dish is etched in my memory -- the tuna tartare with an amazing blend of herbs and a minty note, the barely-there slivers of veal ravioli floating in jus and foam, the filet mignon that remade the flavors of a basic dish into its own unique thing, and the chocolate souffle. Service was excellent and attentive. There's a bit of the overindulgent goofiness that strikes me at any fancy restaurant, but to their credit the descriptions of each dish were succinct and useful (not the litany you sometimes get, where a waiter is explaining to you the name of the farmer's cousin who picked the radicchio). Something else I noticed is that you can have a sublime meal here for a variety of price points. One of my dinner companions had the three-course Lion King prix fixe, at $45 or $55; I had the four-course at $89; and two others had the four-course with wine pairings for about $150. And we each came away bowled over. Again I feel sheepish saying this, but at least right now I feel ruined for food. Anything I ate later on in my weekend in Vegas was disappointing. It was almost literally the meal to end all meals.