My husband & I were driving around Summerlin on a Saturday night looking for a place to eat with no reservations. Honey Salt was a 1 hour wait (1st choice), Cheesecake factory which was just across the street had a line out the door, so we called Poppy Den and the hostess said there was no wait, so up the block to Tivoli Village we went. We were seated in their back patio while the sun was setting which was very romantic. The restaurant is beautiful and very modern. I love all the decor, including the bathrooms! So, looking over the menu, I wanted the pork belly which I read on Yelp was fantastic! When our server came over, I told him that's what I wanted. He was kind of a jokester, so when he told me that they were using a different cut of pork which isn't pork belly and it's kind of tough and dry, I thought he was joking. So I just laughed and was like "no, really, I want the pork belly". But apparently, he wasn't joking. I don't know why they insisted on serving this "roasted pork belly" with a different cut of meat rather than just removing it from the menu for the night. That was kind of strange and tells me a lot about this restaurant, in a negative light. Thank goodness the server warned me. I ended up going with the duck which was cooked medium rare I do believe, while my husband ordered the cheeseburger with the kim cheese fries, grilled bok choy, and kim chee fried rice. The duck was... alright. It was definitely on the sweet side, and cooked medium rare, it was not that amazing. I'm used to eat duck confit, and Chinese roast duck. Compared to those, I'd say this was sub-par. They were just kind of sweet, extra chewy, pieces of duck breast. The grilled bok choy was a nice side. Having eaten boy choy many different ways growing up, grilling them was pretty unique, but the price was crazy. At a chinese market, you can buy 1lb of bok choy for probably $2. That would come with 10-15 spears. Here, you get 2-3 spears (they are all slices in half) for $7. I think I'll just grill my own bok choy at home next time. The kim chee fried rice tasted like any other kim chee fried rice I've had, and it came in a much smaller portion than I'm used to. My husband's burger was weird. There was WAY too much cheese on it, with a strange sauce, and pickled cucumbers (like ban chan cucumbers) that he just didn't like. He didn't even eat more than 1/4th of it. He hated the kim cheese sauce (he said it tasted like cheese sauce mixed with Sriricha) but the fries were okay (it's pretty hard to mess up fries). Overall, I'd say we won't be back. This place is just an elegant place to eat poorly prepared and overpriced Asian cuisine.
Is this review positive or negative?
negative