If you want an app that’s slightly different, I highly recommend the Nam Kao Tod, which is a crispy rice appetizer with flavors of garlic and lime…it is amazing and not something you can find at every thai place.
As for entree, the Khao Soi is amazing (though I understand duck is not for everyone), as is pretty much everything off the “northern” menu. My favorite is the Kang Ka Noon (jackfruit curry). Lotus is different than most Thai places because of it’s northern/Burmese influence…so why not try one of those?
The duck dish is KHAO SOI and is one of their signature dishes.
I would highly recommend getting something that you can’t get from your local Thai joint. Try one of the northern Thai dishes. Would be a shame to go to Lotus and get yellow curry or some bullshit dish you can get from the Golden Bamboo restaurant down the street from your house. The Lotus yellow curry dish will likely be better than any other you’ve ever had, but it’d be a waste to do it, I think.
I was at lotus yesterday and i think its pretty overrated these days. Ive been going once a year or so for a decade and each time the tastes get sweeter and sweeter.
Basically do what skydiver said. The nam kao tod is very good and the duck is tasty. Then try northern thai dishes cause the majority of the menu is standard and i feel lost a lot of the edge they had before. Or maybe they just serve white people flavor profile when they see white people.
Its not that good. Like a vegan friend had the red curry with tofu and it was straight up local thai place average. Maybe not indiana local thai (like literally dunno if there are decent thai places there) but certainly average california.
I still remember when I took two friends to Chada (Now Lamaii in Chinatown not far from the Rio) and we sit down, we have this entire fantastic menu from a super hyped chef… And they both ordered Pad Thai, Mild Spice, with Chicken.
Not sure I’ve ever been more embarrassed at a meal in my life.
I think the insane long lines are really ruining the action. All the tables i did manage to sit at were without any fun players. Which makes sense who would wait 4-5 hours for their seat
Vegas cash games are great because you get a lot of people with money to burn who just want to drink and have fun. Long waitlists absolutely keep those players away. I’m guessing there is a staffing shortage in all the rooms this year, as there is in pretty much every poker room in the country. If you’re just playing $2/5nl or lower maybe you’d have less waits and more fish in the non Wynn/Bellagio/Aria/Venetian rooms right now.
was some years ago now but when I played cash in vegas during the wsop the best games were definitely not rio/aria/venetian (didn’t get over to try wynn then though and bellagio just seemed like where I’d play all masons to me) so I just played random rooms that did not have more than a few tables of action at once as those were the best games, though I dunno how many like that are still alive these days.
First event I traveled for was WPT Niagara. Played until like 10 am first day got back to the cash tables at 6 or 7 pm the next day, ask for a 2/5 nl seat and there were ~580 ppl on the list.
Aria/bellagio always had the woat games imo. Venetian close behind but you could table select to some good ones. Wynn is my favorite room and often had fantastic games. Also got into some absurdly good games at RIO pavilion room. It’s all about table selection in Vegas, and sometimes that require room selection too when all the games suck at one location.
Rio was the absolute worst for me, but as you said it’s all about the table at the time you’re on it. The best games I was in those rooms don’t exist anymore, they were all small so no surprise.
The last few times I’ve gone to Vegas during WSOP time, the cash games have sucked balls. Sure you get the rich drunk guy spewing every once in a while, but it’s a crapshoot finding that. So many nits and plenty of decent pros. I’ve never switched tables and/or casinos as much as I do in Vegas. And paying such a premium in food + hotels to play in those games? No thanks