Epicurean Affair

We came all the way from Florida to attend this food and wine affair. It was amazing. I had never been to this type of event before so I didn't have a point of reference. But this was a at the Belaggio! It stands to reason it was amazing. We opted to buy the early admission, meaning, we got to come in an hour earlier than general admission. The friend who organized this trip suggested we do this. Frankly, for my part I didn't need it. I'm a pretty small person so I get full very quickly. I was full before the hour was up! Price wise, I believe the difference is substantial, but I don't remember quite well. Anyway, I would up just walking around waiting for my food to go down, next thing I know, it was 20 minutes before closing. I didn't drink a lot either. My bad though, there was plenty to eat and drink.The food I did try was great. LOTS of tuna tartare. In any way you can imagine! There was lots of sea food. Not a lot of dessert, which was a little disappointing. A booze infused ice cream, and Firefly had some dessert as well. Everything was so good though. Would I do it again? not in Vegas, I would try somewhere I don't have to buy a flight and hotel LOL. South Beach or Palm Beach. I now have a point of reference and it's a pretty high bar to reach.

This is for the 2014 event. Full disclosure - my friend hooked me up with tix, so I didn't pay for this event. Event started at 7pm sharp and we were near the front lining up about 15 min early. Things started out disorganized due to the box office failing to stamp people's hands when they picked up tickets from the box office. The old lady in front of me was about to flip out when they said we had to go downstairs and get back in line. Thanks to her for pitching a fit because they just ended up giving people their wristbands anyway. The event is spread out among the Palazzo's various pools - some booths were pretty hidden, and space was cramped at times. I kept waiting for some drunky to accidentally (or intentionally) push another drunky into the pool, but it didn't happen in the 2hrs I was there. It really was the perfect venue since most of their walls had ledges that served as tables and seats. The timing was also awesome - started a little before sunset and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. I only had a few drinks - there were some pretty unique cocktails like a li hing mui one w vodka and spicy mango margarita. The drunk, pushing and slow moving crowd was getting on my nerves after the 2nd person spilled sh*t on me so I decided to stay soberish before I started getting belligerent. Alcohol was everywhere with just 1 place with beer, but lots of cocktails and wine to choose from. You could easily just drink your money's worth here in 3hrs if you wanted to. Now for the food! It felt like a big chunk of the booths were Venetian restaurants. Understandable since they were hosting, but I'm surprised at the lack of variety - 3 of their restaurants had nearly identical looking dishes with different proteins. And Buddy V's serving grilled Italian sausage w peppers was lame. They have the name brand already, but they could maybe try to impress people by actually cooking something. There was a ton of food and I was surprised how ridiculously big most of the portions were, I really shouldn't complain about that, but I only want an easy to eat bite or 2. If I like it, I can always get more, but since the majority was pretty mediocre, I ended up throwing away a shameful amount of food (as did most others). Being one of the first ones in may have also been a bad move. Our first hot dishes like Hubert Keller's sliders, meatloaf slider and clam chowder were all cold from sitting out - kind of makes me reconsider paying extra for VIP entry at similar events. So yeah majority of food was mediocre, with only a couple of things really standing out. My favorite was the Maine lobster tail w corn custard from chef Dave Middleton at the newly opened DW Brasserie (Daniel Boulud). Everywhere else lost a lot in taste and presentation just because of the bulk prep and rush. At the DW Brasserie table, every serving I saw was beautiful with perfectly cooked lobster, and delicious creamy corn custard topped with the sweetest corn I've ever had in my life. Their booth was surprisingly slow since it was in kind of a hidden spot, but more for me - I had 5 or 6 servings spread over 3 visits. I just kept coming back. They also had wrapped blueberry mini pound cakes that I had yet to try. DW was already on my list, but now I'm more motivated to go after this event. And the chef is super hot. I know a lot of people were there because they got the $60 tickets off groupon. It's definitely worth that, but I'd hesitate at the $105 for full price general admission. But I'm a little snobby and I'm more about quality than quantity. Unfortunately the quality just wasn't there, but you definitely won't leave hungry. It's a convenient opportunity to try some new places, although several restaurants that I know are great disappointed me with their offerings. So I'm not sure that I can say the event represents what they're capable of.

I love this!!! We came in at 8:30, was sooo upset thought it's until 10pm. We came in there some booth that are still serving. They're most steaks sooo good! At the was very happy got what I wanted! Hope they do this again this year!

The Epicurean Affair was beautiful but all of the food served was amateur. I did not feel like the majority of the restaurants put out their best product. Many of the restaurants served similar dishes like raw fish or steak. It almost felt like I was at a pot luck.Two of the restaurants that have world famous chefs behind them AKA Bouchon and Simon Kitchen and Bar put out mediocre dishes. Bouchon put out chocolate "bouchon's" which had no flavor and were dry. They looked beautiful but I would have preferred Costco brownies. Simon Kitchen had a variety of desserts and all of them were not creative nor exciting. The spread was fruit loop rice krispy treats which the guy said would change my life and the only thing they made me do was not want to try the restaurant. They also had oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cotton candy, and red velvet cupcakes. All of them looked like they were store bought by the way they tasted and how they were presented. The red velvet cupcake was decent but nothing special.Many of the food items I actually spit out or through out in the trash can and by observation many people did the same. I do not feel like I got my money's worth!

I had never been to The Epicurean Affair before...I found discounted tickets on Travelzoo and treated myself (and my husband) for my birthday. I was stunned by the crowd lined up in The Palazzo casino to get on the elevators at 7pm to get up to the pool for the event. Once they opened it up the line went pretty quick and we were at the event in no time. We jumped at the first booths out of thirst and hunger which was a mistake but I learned a lesson. The crowds were a little crazy and frustrating but we dealt with it.So over all the food was pretty disappointing, desserts and drinks were safe bets. You can totally drink the cost of the tickets. We did get full and found some chairs to lounge in and people watch while sipping drinks, so we stayed til the end but we didn't and couldn't eat til the end.I wouldn't waste my money again on this event. I would go for free but I rather use the $ I paid for the tickets and eat somewhere nice where I don't have to fight for food.

What a great event! There was plenty of good food, seating, music, and drinks. It was not overly crowded, so visiting each booth was easy enough to do. The chefs and their teams did a fantastic job creating bite-sized apps and delicious cocktails. Lots of variety! Truly something to please all palates. Planning to go again next year!Compared to Vegas Uncorked (which I attended and was disappointed - expensive and a lot of the same food), this was a real treat! I will definitely spend my money here if the organizer continues to have great chefs and limits the attendance to prevent overcrowding)