This is the first and probably the last time I’ll be staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. In addition to the trifling annoyances (in-room safe not working, housekeeping skipping our room today, being told I could leave my valuables at the front desk only to be told by the front desk that I had to leave them with the Bell Captain only to be told by the Bell Captain that they had to be in an enclosed piece of luggage (forcing me to lug my laptop around with me all afternoon) only to later be told by someone else at the front desk that I could leave my valuables at the front desk, etc.) is the one big annoyance of being charged for in-room wifi. It feels so nickel and dime, well beneath a hotel of its supposed stature. Next thing you know, one of maids is going to stop by to ask if I’d like to pitch in for fellow employee Anita’s going away party. Akemi, on the other hand, likes the Cosmo just fine. She finds the bed incredibly comfy (I have to agree) and loves the patio…
I’m not a patio (or standing on anything more than three feet off the ground) guy, so “nice patio” lines up in neither column so far as I’m concerned.
Today was our big walking day. Lots of walking punctuated by excessive bursts of eating…
For lunch, we headed over to a place I mean to try out every time I’m in town. This trip, we finally got there: Bobby’s Flay’s Mesa Grill in Caesar’s Palace.
For her main, Akemi ordered a shrimp dish that came with a cilantro sauce. I requested the cilantro sauce on the side because she isn’t a fan. When the dish arrived, I couldn’t help but notice the shrimp were swimming in the cilantro sauce. I asked the (different) waiter who served us: “Is that cilantro?”. And he replied: “No cilantro.”
Akemi took a bite. As it turned out, either the waiter serving us desperately needed to brush up on the menu or the parsley on the plate was doing a bang-up imitation of cilantro. Akemi resigned herself to eating it but I wouldn’t allow it. I called over our original waiter and pointed out the cilantro. He tried to sidestep the issue by saying he had served the “chili oil on the side” as I’d requested. Even if that were true and I had asked for “chill oil” on the side (which I didn’t), the fact that the chill oil was also served IN the sauce as evidenced by the photograph makes his point moot. He then suggested Akemi try the dish and if she still minded the cilantro, he would exchange it. No pressure. We asked to exchange it. So he presented us with the menu. Again, I had to point out there had been some sort of miscommunication. We didn’t want another dish. We wanted THAT dish with the cilantro sauce on the side. Our waiter informed us this was impossible. Somehow, between the time I placed the initial order and fifteen minutes later, it had become impossible. So Akemi settled for a chopped salad.
We ended up trekking all the way over to the Wynn Hotel in search of a fantastic dessert place I swear I remember visiting once – only to come up empty. We trekked all the way back and, by the time we were within visual range of our hotel, we were hot and exhausted. So I suggested a little pick-me-up in the form of a sundae at Serendipity.
She had the frozen hot chocolate. I did the amaretto-almond hot chocolate. AND the carrot cake sundae with vanilla and butter-pecan ice cream.
Properly recharged, we had plenty of energy for what lay ahead: Dinner at Jaleo…
Akemi loved dinner and we would have gone back for a return visit – if not for the fact that we’d already booked Michael Mina at the Bellagio.
One more night and I’m Vancouver-bound!
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