Guy Fieri vs Gordon Ramsay

Las Vegas Dining
We have spent almost a month in Las Vegas this winter. While it has not been particularly warm, it has been dry which is a big reason we like it here. Another reason is the almost endless amount of things to do, places to go and restaurants to try. You can read about our Vegas show experiences here. This blog compares our dining experiences at two restaurants on the Vegas strip named for their celebrity owners – Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay.

Ramsay’s Pub
Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is located in Caesar’s Palace. The ‘pub’ section is set up with bar and lounge seating and TV’s with sports from around the world. The ‘grill’ section is more of a dining room experience. There are 20+ beers on tap, 60 more in bottles and a good wine list. We have visited this location three times over the past 5 years, two of our experiences were very good, while one was average, at best. Both of our good experiences were as a couple sitting at the bar. Our less than stellar experience was as a group of 8 at a table. When seated at the bar we have had exceptional service from the bartenders and quick, hot food. In the dining room we had poor service and cold food. So all we can really say is, if you can, sit at the bar or at least in the lounge. You may get better service. 

Fieri’s Kitchen
Guy Fieri’s Kitchen & Bar is located in The Linq Hotel. We have eaten at this location twice, once at the bar and once in the main dining area. We’ve also been to Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse in Louisville, Kentucky three times and sat at both the bar and in the main restaurant. Our experience in Las Vegas was good. The wine list is small but there is a good cocktail selection and decent beers on tap. The service was just OK, but the food was excellent. We did prefer the menu in Louisville over the Las Vegas one as it was focused on everything smoked and all of the food that we ate their had tons of flavour. It is hard to compare the two as they are quite different but both were good experiences.

The Price of Celebrity Eats
While we did enjoy most of our experiences at both of these celebrity restaurants, they definitely use their names to charge higher prices. Especially in Las Vegas. We are not saying ‘don’t go’. Eating out in Las Vegas is over-priced in a lot of places. But do be prepared to spend more to give one of these celebrity places a try.

After 10+ visit to Vegas we have other go to dinner and happy hour spots that we can recommend. They don’t have the celebrity name but the food and service have both been good, and the prices reasonable. 

On the strip: Giordanos (italian, great chopped salad), Mon Ami Gabi (have the Croque Madame at Brunch or Lunch), Tilted Kilt and Twin Peaks (good pub food). Great Happy Hours: Grotto and Chart House (in Golden Nugget Downtown) and Morton’s (in-between strip and downtown).

We, Jeff and Tara Ciecko of CK Golf write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other an Industry Blog where we comment on general business and internet marketing best practices, sales strategies and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf  for 10 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries. As of August 2016 our life and our business have been ‘location independent’. Our 19th Hole Blog is about the places we visit and the things we do. If you have any questions or comments, or happen to be in the same location as us please reach out and contact us anytime.