David Burke Las Vegas

Although dinner at David Burke is filled with flavor, the creative and ingenious presentations makes this restaurant special. Our table of four was wowed again and again.

We were 15 minute early for our 7 pm reservation; but the hostess was welcoming and seated us immediately. In a stylish place where we might have expected to encounter some attitude, we received none from any of the staff. The decor of the place is eye-catching but not too distracting, and the center installation is awesome - it's something I would love in my house lol! Ok, I would need a bigger house first :) But, a woman can dream, can't she?

The service was attentive, but unusual. We had two waiters who performed in tandem to serve us. Since there were still times where neither was around, it didn't really lead to better service. My husband and I disagree on the pacing with one thinking it was too fast and the other too slow, so maybe it was just right. Yeah right! I'm correct, of course :D

I don't want to give too much away tho' I think my uploaded pictures might already - at least I didn't upload EVERY picture :) The list of appetizers is appealing and fun! We opted for two of the signature appetizers, the 'crisp and angry lobster' and the 'pretzel-crusted crabcake'. The lobster was delicious, though trickier to eat than I expected with the utensils given; even my Boston-born husband struggled a bit. The crabcakes were delicious and different than what we might have expected from the name. My girlfriend's boyfriend ordered oysters which looked plump and tasty, but I wasn't able to manage to steal one from him (OK he didn't offer LOL but who could blame him?!).

For entrees, I had the special of the evening (Alaskan salmon) - it was SLIGHTLY more cooked then I would like it so it wasn't perfect but tasty nonetheless. I'm glad I ordered it also because, in contrast with most of the entrees at our table, the portion of my salmon was smaller than I expected. I also ordered a smoked gouda croquette on the side. Contrary to a lame review on Yelp, neither the king nor I had trouble discerning the smoked gouda flavor in the potato mousse within. YUM!

My husband had the lobster steak with curry fries and candy grapefruit - also a special of the evening. The lobster steak was delicious! The mountain of super skinny fries was crispy, and the candied grapefruit provided a sweet and sour counterpoint to the dish. My girlfriend ordered the DB take on Peking Duck; it looked appealing on the menu, but wasn't the kind of dish I would order since I have very high expectations/standards for anything relating to Peking Duck. The dish is actually just duck in rice noodles but very flavorful; I would have liked the noodles a little less cooked but my girlfriend absolutely loved this dish. I still wish they didn't name it Peking Duck - arrgh!


You HAVE to leave enough space for dessert! You just have to! Or, you could just do as we did and make pigs of yourselves LOL! Our table of four each ordered a dessert and one more to share for the table. I had the white chocolate "faberge egg" with mango, and my girlfriend's boyfriend thought this was his favorite of all the desserts. My girlfriend had the banana split with ostrich egg; this was nice, but it was pretty much a bloody banana split, so I would have opted for the selection of ice cream and sorbets in mini-cones if I had this to do over (and was ordering for her hahahahaha). Her boyfriend had five tastes from five states creme brulee. The mini creme brulees came in shotglasses in what looked a little like a test tube rack. He loves creme brulee and was very happy, but the waiter who presented this let us down here and wasn't able to clearly explain what the five states and five flavors were. My husband had panna cotta with butterscotch, curry (!?!), and caramel, topped with meringue cigarettes. My personal favorite! The combinations of flavors were well matched and not contrived; it was popular at the table and also husband's favorite. We also had to have the signature dessert, the cheesecake lollipop tree with bubblegum whipped cream. This sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland, looked the part, and was great! The dessert featured 3 different flavors of cheesecake bites: strawberry, dark chocolate, and heath bar. The concierge at our hotel enthusiasticaly recommended this specific dessert, and it lived up to its advanced billing. I hate whipped cream, but I loved the bubble gum flavored whipped cream especially when I dipped the raspberry garnish into it.

A solid 4 stars our of five!

OK, so with a great dinner, why not five stars? For me, the principal reason is that I ate at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon earlier this summer and it was a little better in every dimension. The service was crisper (one waiter who knew EVERYTHING about every dish and wine); the dishes were more consistently executed (every presentation and taste was spot on), and the atmosphere was more romantic (DB is loud, but if you're having a boisterous celebration you'll fit right in).

DB was great fun! Put yourselves in the hands of the Mad Culinary Genius, and you' ll never know what's around the next corner. But it will taste delicious!