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Posted by on Dec 20, 2022 in Blog, Las Vegas, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

Las Vegas Restaurant Review: Lemongrass & Lime

 

 

LAS VEGAS RESTAURANT REVIEW: LEMONGRASS & LIME

Lemongrass & Lime is one of the most disappointing Thai restaurants we’ve tried in Las Vegas. Maybe ever. Its selection as “Gold Winner” in the “Best Thai Food” category is an outright indictment of the mass fraud perpetuated by the Las Vegas Review-Journal (newspaper) and its hysterically bogus annual “Readers Poll.” [See Footnote Below]

Most of us already knew the poll is nothing but an ersatz revenue generator with no public credibility, nor reliability. But at least one expects that in a city loaded with several outstanding Thai restaurants, they’d at least not be so brazen as to shitpile their integrity for a fast buck on this awful selection. I’m not sure how many Thai restaurants we’ve dined at in the last ten years in this city, but the number is a lot. Assuming the answer is 30 (a pretty solid guess), I’d rank Lemongrass & Lime #29, and that’s assuming the hideous Thai Express fast-food drive-thru is still open.

There are so many problems with Lemongrass & Lime that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Our visit was to the West Charleston location, which is about as far as you can go toward the mountains before entering Red Rock Canyon. It’s in an upscale strip mall, about a mile west of Red Rock Casino. Their website says this is one of two Las Vegas locations (not associated with Lemongrass at the Aria, which is excellent).

Dine-in surroundings can best be described as Spartan. No frills is perfectly fine for smallish Thai places with lunch specials and rely on quick turnaround. Trouble is, Lemongrass & Lime purports to be more upscale (in menu items and pricing), so we might have expected a little more pizazz with the atmosphere.

Service was friendly, but also unattentive. We arrived at 2 pm and were one of only three tables. Lemongrass & Lime seems to do heavy takeout based on our hour-long stay. This is to be expected given the ritzy neighborhood and exclusive feel of the surroundings (translation: expensive homes). We had to ask for refills on beverages, which seems like a small detail. But when everything else goes wrong, the strikes begin to add up.

The problem with the food was — it was boring. We also felt like we were ripped off. Restaurants operate on tiny margins, but a dine-in place can’t charge $17 for a bowl of soup and then there’s hardly anything in it except for string noodles, a few boiled shrimp, a little bok choy, and broth, Most soups of this kind at other places include pieces of chicken, duck, onions, carrots, and assorted vegetables for less money. This was a disappointing starter (we split the soup).

The main courses were even less impressionable. A rice dish and a noodle dish, for about $16 each. Lemongrass & Lime offers no lunch specials, and that’s okay. However, if they’re going to serve DINNER all the time, then it seems DINNER-sized portions would be a reasonable expectation. Whereas most Thai restaurants offer the items we selected as lunch specials in the $9-13 price range, this was far costlier, and not nearly as tasty as so many other very good Thai places around Las Vegas. Those other spots also offer extras in the all-inclusive specials, such as a small soup, salad, spring roll, and main dish. This menu had everything ala carte. So, for $16 we got a platter of rice and for another $16 a helping of noodles. That’s it.

No drinks (except for an iced tea). No appetizer (except the soup, which was extra). The late lunch cost $52 plus a $10 tip. Maybe the worst $62 bucks I’ve ever spent on Thai food in Las Vegas.

Summation: This restaurant didn’t manage to check even one box on my satisfaction list. Bland food. Spotty service. No decor. Small portions. Higher-than-average prices. What a disappointment.

Whoever voted for this place as the Best Thai Food in Las Vegas must be the same clown posse that always picks Olive Garden as the Best Italian Restaurant, or PF Changs as Best Chinese Restaurant. These “polls” are a total fucking abomination.

Which reminds me — here’s what I need to do, next: I should write a review of the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “best of las Vegas” readers poll. Now, that’s the real scam.

Footnote: Reportedly, local businesses pay $2,500 or more for the right to use the LVRJ’s “Best of Las Vegas” trademark logo. Since the poll has more than 250 categories, that’s a huge revenue generator. The trouble for readers is — there’s nothing reliable or credible whatsoever about any of the “winners.”

 

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