Beso me mucho! xo

 

So there I was in the city of bright lights,  and sinful adventures- Vegas and of course I was looking for an interesting dining experience and decided to try Eva Longoria Parker's spot in the Crystals Mall located outside my sexy new hotel Aria.  It was seductive and sultry like Eva's style dripping with dark chandeliers and fusia highlights.    The chandeliers are actually made from the Swarovski Crystal curtain that was featured at the 2009 Academy Awards. The menu had a latin flare with of course recipes right out of Eva's kitchen like her Tortilla soup and guacamole.

The service was impeccable from the moment we were seated, constantly checking on us and answering all our questions and accommodating our needs and made us feel very comfortable for being there. 

After settling ourselves with a round of cocktails that even worked for my colleague who was expecting a new bundle - the server made her a 'virgin' cocktail that she adored, we started the evening off with an order of Eva's guacamole.  Boy was that a mistake, it was a bit pricey for a very small bowl that was gone in a few bites and not especially flavourful- for a fiesty latina, there was definitely no fire in Eva's guacamole.  However we moved beyond that.  I must comment on the extensive bread basket we were given - a selection of bread with white chocolate infused in it, Parmesan flat bread and pretzel twists.  Lots of attractive options which lifted our spirits and made us forgetthe blandness of the guacamole.

Next up was the giant Shellfish Tower, consisting of Maine lobster, jumbo shrimp, oysters, little neck clams. P.EI. mussels and ceviche. It was accompanied by sauces in which to dip the seafood, from cocktail sauce,  horseradish to grainy mustard and fresh lemons and limes and a tiny bottle of tobasco sauce.  While it was also on the expensive side, the one order was enough to feed the entire table- the portion size was huge and the seafood was very fresh and juicy.  I definitely felt like this was a huge treat for us to share!

After polishing off the succulent morsels of seafood - we were treated to our mains.  I ordered the paella which came with a slew of seafood, chorizo and whole roasted peppers. My heart sunk when i saw the peppers as I dislike them and hate wasting food. But I had to eat around them and they did leave the paella with their flavour and really nothing else so the paella wasn't my favourite. Also the portion was huge and I just had to leave it as I wasn't enjoying it.

Michelle had the Ahi Tuna cooked perfectly rare in the middle and seared on the outside with a nice spicy crust.  She enjoyed it fine!
Nikki had a few dietary constraints and our servers were really great about checking into dishes for her and making sure the choices she made were right for her.  
Dpitty (aka Diana) had the Filet Mignon, ordered Medium but on the rare side.  We convinced her to send it back and have them fire it up and cook it a bit more.  Upon its return, the filet was cooked to her tastes perfectly.  The server was very apologetic and offered to send us a complimentary dessert as a way to make it up to us.  They sent us this giant chocolate beso (chocolate kiss) that was a molten chocolate cake and it was soo decadent.
We were extremely full at the end of dinner as the portions were huge as well and we weren't thinking about getting dessert but it was sent to us so ohhh well, there goes being good (but who am i kidding?)!

I will comment that the prices seemed a little outrageous even for a celebrity endorsed touristy restaurant but the service and portion size were a good justification.
One other thing - they were having a private event in a section and they ended up closing off the bathrooms in the restaurant for the patrons to use which was insane.  All of us had to leave the restaurant and either go inside the crystals mall or what I did was to go to the pub across the way and use their rest room - less of a wait :)

At the end, it was a really fun and lovely evening with a good group and a ton of food!  Muchos besos xox

*** 1/2 stars
Beso - In the Crystals Mall on the strip
3750 S. Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89109