Pleasant surprise! Yard House at Red Rock Casino & Resort
March 2013: initially we planned on having dinner somewhere else. It was a Tuesday night and our initial dinner location was closed. We had spent most of the day off-Strip so we decided to drive to Red Rock Casino & Resort and have dinner there. We had a party of four and upon arrival at Red Rock we discussed the dining options. We chose Yard House.

First thing we noticed when we walked into the restaurant; it was filled to capacity. In our opinion that’s always a good sign. When a restaurant has a reputation for serving mediocre food, word travels fast and people tend to stay away. We walked to the front desk and were informed there would be a 20 minute wait. The lady at the front desk asked us if we were willing to wait. She gave us an illuminating disk so we didn’t have to wait at the restaurant until we could be seated. We went outside for a quick smoke (yeah we know, bad habbit) and after approximately 5 minutes the disk buzzed and illuminated. Time for us to get in and get our table.

They gave us a nice, large table, handed us the menu and took our drink orders. Within a couple of minutes our server returned with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. We had a hard time chosing from all the delicious options on the menu but made a choice anyhow. Here’s what we ordered:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken (Garlic mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomato three mushroom sauce $ 16.95)
Orange Peel Chicken (Baby corn in spicy sweet orange glaze & Bok Choy with Jasmine rice $ 16.85)
Mac + Cheese (Chicken Breast, applewood bacon, wild mushrooms, cheddar, parmesan, truffle oil & campanelle pasta $16.95)
Chicken Tinga (in a chipotle tomato sauce with green cabbage, cilantro, feta cheese & cumin crema $ 10.35)

Now, before we report about our meals we do want to mention a few things we didn’t appreciate about Yard House. It was dark inside. We like dimmed lights in a restaurant because it improves the ambiance but this place was like a dungeon. A little more light wouldn’t have hurt anyone. Second thing we could have done without was the loud music. Don’t get us wrong, we like loud music when we’re visiting a nightclub or watching a live show but not so much when we’re having dinner at a restaurant. It was difficult for us to have a decent conversation with our friends because we almost had to shout to understand eachother.

Back to the food. After about 20 minutes our meals were served. Presentation was ok, not special but we had no complaints. The food was cooked to perfection, had the right amount of flavor/seasoning and was very tasty. All the ingredients combined perfectly. We thoroughly enjoyed our meals, portions were exactly correct. At some restaurants your meal is so huge you can’t eat at least half of it. Not at Yard House. You will be able to finish your meal completely and conclude it was exactly the right amount of food. Service was satisfactory. We received refills (water and sodas) without having to ask for them and our waitress walked by our table at least every 5 to 10 minutes to see if we were doing ok. She would just look at our glasses and fill them if they were (almost) empty. She also checked if we were satisfied with our meals. In other words, everything you would expect.

Our conclusion: Yard House at Red Rock Casino & Resort is a great choice for a good meal, the food is wonderful. Prices are very reasonable: our total bill for dinner for 4 (drinks and tip included) was less than $100. Not bad at all! Try it when you have the chance…….