Okada: Las Vegas

Like steakhouses, Las Vegas has plenty of options for Japanese cuisine and sushi. Last year, as well as a couple other times, I dined at the famed Nobu located in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. I have always had excellent meals there but I decided this year to try someplace else. Like my steakhouse challenge, I needed to find a top notch Japanese restaurant. Hopefully, I would succeed as well as I did on the steakhouse challenge.

After much consideration, I chose Okada, Chef Masa Ishizawa's restaurant at the Wynn. This is certainly a beautiful restaurant with its lush gardens and waterfalls. It looks quite impressive and you expect that your dining experience will be equally impressive. Unfortunately, that was not my experience.

Maybe my expectations were too high as I was looking for an exceptional meal. I enjoyed my meal, it was very good, but it just did not "wow" me. And I don't think my meal was as good as those I have had at Nobu. And we had a couple minor service issues as well.

The sushi was very good, and fairly priced as you received two pieces rather than just one. The tempura shrimp was also very good, a nice light batter, as was the miso black cod. I was not as keen on their robata skewers, my chicken and fish being a bit dry. Their Sake was very expensive though they had a decent selection.

I find myself somewhat at a loss for words. Just not enough inspiration from this dining experience to ignite my passions.