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What Teray Says...
So being it was Thanksgiving week-end that we went on this date, Brett and I really did not want to eat heavily being we had the day before at dinner. I suggested Brett go through Groupon and try to find one for something light and we lucked out and found 808 Tapas. 808 Tapas is by the same people that own my favorite sushi place in Vegas, 808 Sushi. It is located in the Village Square Plaza over by the movie theater. If you don't know where this is located, it is W. Sahara and Ft. Apache. There is also is a Patty's Closet and Sparkle there (you need to hit those up).
808 Tapas was pretty busy when we arrived, but we got a table right away. We were greeted by one of our servers (they were doing community serving because it was so busy) who took our drink order. We both decided on water being we had been celebrating the previous two days with alcohol and needed a break. :)
We started off by ordering the shrimp cerviche and the fish tacos. Shrimp cerviche is always something I order no matter what tapas restaurant I go to. This one was a little different in the way the chips were (they were thinner) and the flavor of the cerviche was not what I was used to. I am not sure if this is because everything was chopped up so small or the flavoring they use, but it was by far the best I have ever had. Yes, I will through it out there, this cerviche is way better than my favorite place in Las Vegas' cerviche which also has tapas (you can figure it out). The portion size was great too because there was plenty for both Brett and I.
The fish tacos (you get two of them) were also amazing, again probably some of the best I have ever have. I can see why they are a favorite on the menu. The size of one is perfect for one person (it is full size), not a mini taco you would expect for tapas.
The next things that we ordered were the dynamite (which I have made Brett a fan of from eating in NJ with my sister every time we went to sushi) and some sushi. There were many rolls to order and I cannot remember the name of the one we did. The dynamite again, was like the other tapas some of the best I have ever had. I knew I would love the sushi because I as I mentioned in the introduction, 808 Sushi is my favorite sushi place in Vegas, so it was a given for me. Also, the portions were fabulous to share on both of these menu items.
After finishing those tapas we ordered a few more things. Brett picked the chicken skewers and the pork belly skewers. I picked the garlic edamame. I tasted both of the skewers. I am not the biggest skewer fan but they were pretty good. I let Brett eat most of those. I on the other hand devoured the garlic edamame. I am such a garlic fan and this just hit the spot. I could probably eat this every day for every meal, but then Brett would never come near me. Hahahaha.
The food at 808 Tapas is top notch, probably some of the best that I have had. The service was good, but I was getting a little confused who our waitress/waiter was and it took awhile to get the check, but I know that they were busy. If I were the I would get more seating, because this place is definitely going to be a huge success. Overall, I rate 808 Tapas 4 out of 5.
What Brett Says....
So we have already been to “808 Sushi” so naturally we figured we should try out “808 Tapas.” I was pretty excited because 808 sushi was pretty impressive, so the bar was set a little high already for their take on tapas. They are located at Sahara and Ft. Apache in the same strip mall as the movie theater. As of right now you should expect to become frustrated with the parking situation, don’t take it out on your restaurant experience. The powers that be that run that particular shopping corner have decided to expand and improve it. Unfortunately whoever they hired to do it all is a complete moron, they have made the parking lot worse then a random dirt lot next to the Super Bowl. The lanes are all jacked up and there are random curbs. Plan on at least 15min just to park, for this reason alone I will not be returning to any business in that complex until it is completed. That’s my rant about that stupidity but now lets get to 808.
I will start with the food. Teray and I are both fans of tapas, so we know what we like. 808 throws in the Pacific Islander/sushi twist, I wouldn’t say they are a true tapa restaurant like Firefly. They have some as well as larger meals and sushi. We did a good mixture of cold food, hot food, and sushi. Everything we had was pretty good. The menu had a good flow to it and nothing stood out as not belonging. I do think they are pushing the sushi a little too much, especially since they have a dedicated sushi restaurant. I think that they should think about doing an all-you-can-eat deal like so many sushi places do. They have enough on the menu that they could pick a couple from each category and make a special AYCE menu. I think it would lend itself better to the sushi and tapas. All that aside the food was good and I did enjoy everything.
As for the actual restaurant; I wasn’t impressed. It was a long room with a bunch of table and then a sushi bar. It looks like they were confused when building…is a tapas restaurant or is it a sushi restaurant. The sushi bar is in the back and kind of hidden. In the center of the layout is a large high top table that can be used for larger parties or several smaller parties. I think this is a great idea, I just think they are too small to use it for their layout. Aesthetically they restaurant is boring, the walls are just red. So you have red walls, tables and a sushi bar you can’t even see. Another thing that was annoying was the hostess stand. It was halfway into the restaurant, so you walk in and have the dilemma of whether it is seat yourself or wait to be seated. Since there was nothing to make the hostess stand obvious and there was no sign you just stand there and look stupid. Which brings me to my next point; where do you stand while waiting for your table? Do you stand by the hostess? But then you are standing next to people as they eat. They do have benches but they are in the complete opposite direction of the hostess stand. Or you could just do what a bunch of people did, stand at the door with it open…forcing me to continually ask them to close it because I am sitting at the first table and it is kind of cold. All in all the restaurant itself makes me think this would be a better take out place, like I said the food was good.
Now onto service. I’m torn on this one. Everyone we dealt with was very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately we dealt with everyone. I’m not sure if it was because they were shorthanded or if the management chooses to use a community server set up. Either way it was as annoying as the parking. The hostess was also the bartender and I guess even a server. We didn’t have a set server, so we weren’t sure who to give our order to each time. Also, we were constantly interrupted because someone new was checking on us. There was no communication between the employees…how many times can we get asked if we are ready for the check. They kind of do the same thing at 808 sushi but it is executed much better, at times it was just getting annoying. Towards the end we just wanted to leave so it would stop. I will say when we did order the food came out pretty quick and the fact that we got bugged every couple minutes by a different person made it easy to get water refills. I just don’t think it works, I would much rather have had a single server.
Overall I would say the experience was a bust, a let down compared to 808 sushi. I would recommend management go out to eat at Firefly and see how tapas service is done right. The parking is horrible. The restaurant is visibly unappealing. The food was very good. The service was annoying but very friendly and attentive. I would either go here for takeout or find out when they are dead, definitely not a good place to go Friday/Saturday night. I will most likely not return.
Rating 2 out of 5
Patty's Closet Outfit of the Week
Thanks to Patty and Juan of Patty's Closet for providing me with my outfit of the week this week. Patty herself helped me pick this fabulous look at Patty's Closet Fashion Boutique. As much as I love to dress up, sometimes you just want a casual, fun look. This sweater fits just that description. It is the classic color combo of black and ivory which can be paired with many options for bottoms. The sweater is striped and the best part about it is the skull patches on the sleeves. Talk about unique!!! You can find this sweater at the Rainbow location.
If you haven't already started Christmas shopping I suggest you head over to a Patty's near you. You can find all of their locations on the Facebook page, which I linked above. They also have Sparkle the all accessories store and Heart and Sole the shoe store. Also, if you aren't lucky enough to have a Patty's Closet near you, you can shop online at shop.ilovepattyscloset.com . A lot of you always say you would love to come shop with me. Well, if you hit up the Rainbow location of Patty's, Sparkle, and Heart and Sole you will find me there every Tuesday afternoon; so hopefully I will see some of you there! <3
Until next time, cheers to time for joy and time for cheer xoxo
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