Solo Dining Review: Olives at the Bellagio

Olives at the Bellagio

While I was in Las Vegas in early September, I was able to take advantage of Restaurant Week. During Restaurant Week, a number of Las Vegas restaurants offer prix fixe menus at a reduced price and donate proceeds to Three Square, a local charity which feeds the hungry. It’s a nice way to try out restaurants that might normally be a stretch for one’s budget, while at the same time supporting a worthwhile cause.  Before I left Vermont, I perused the menus for participating restaurants and booked Olives at the Bellagio for Sunday lunch via their website.

Bellagio

I was so hungry, I went to the restaurant half an hour before my reservation to see if they could take me early.  The restaurant, including the bar, was packed with diners. But they were still able to seat me right away, and I scored a table by the window. Seats at their window tables are not parallel to the window, which I prefer. My choice was to either sit with my back to the window (and the potential fountain view) or with my back to the dining room (which I don’t like).   I decided to face the window.  As it turned out, all I could see from my seat were the people dining on the patio outside. They seemed to have a good view of the fountain show, though.

The restaurant was in keeping with the elegance of the Bellagio.  Throughout the room were trees with little lanterns at the ends of the branches; the chandelier shades continued that theme with tree branches painted on them.  The floor was tile mosaic. The chairs, an autumnal orange color, were soft and plush as an easy chair. For solo diners, there are two-top tables as well as a very long bar.

Blueberrytini

As you might imagine of a Todd English restaurant in a classy hotel like the Bellagio, service was impeccable. I had one waiter who took my order, another who brought me bread and water, and a woman who may have been a sommelier or bartender who brought me my cocktail. I felt like royalty.  The cocktail was a splurge treat to myself which drove up the cost of lunch by another $14.  It was a seasonal fruit-infused Skyy vodka  martini with blueberry sour.  It was delicious, but quite strong for so early in the day.  It was also large enough to justify that $14 price.

Bread basket

A complimentary basket of breads was brought to the table.  The bread was accompanied by two kinds of tapenade and olives. (Get it, olives at Olives?)  I don’t normally eat bread, because it just fills me up with carbs, but I had to try some.  My favorite was a crispy cheese bread. The tapenade was fresh and delicious.  I could have made a meal of just the bread and tapenade alone.

Crispy Calamari

Naturally, I ordered from the Restaurant Week menu (which was $20 for a 3 course lunch), which was the whole point of being there.  For my appetizer, I got the crispy calamari, which was quite good.  It was served on a bed of shredded romaine lettuce tossed with toasted garlic, cherry peppers and an organic honey aoli.  In addition to being among the tastiest calamari I’ve had, it had the healthiest presentation.  Nice touch, Olives.

Organic Chicken Breast

For my entree, I had the organic chicken breast with ginger-tahini marinade, tomato, black lentil hummus and yogurt relish (like tzatziki).  The chicken was fine, for breast meat (I’m more of a thigh woman myself); but the accompaniments really made this entreee.  The flavors of each element of this dish were  very complementary.  I cannot begin to comprehend how chefs know what flavors to mix together in a dish to make it really “pop” (or even, for that matter, how they conceived of making hummus from black lentils).  I was only able to eat 1/2 of the entree, though, as I was getting very full, and I still had dessert coming.

Drunk Chocolate Trifle

Dessert was the drunk chocolate trifle–a dark chocolate pudding (more like fudge sauce) with chocolate cookie (it looked like a little chocolate cake ball), vanilla bean ice cream, and Bailey’s white chocolate ganache.  It was heavenly, and thankfully, not too large.  Again, the details in this dish were amazing.  Serving the cookie/cake ball with either the ice cream or the pudding or the ganache would have been sufficient.  But apparently “sufficient” isn’t in Olives’ vocabulary.  They had to make it superior. So they added all three.

This is the second Todd English restaurant I’ve dined at (the other being Bluezoo at Disney World), and I have to say, I’m a fan.  Food and service at both were terrific.  Having now experienced Olives, I can say it will definitely go on my list of repeat restaurants for future Vegas trips.  I was especially pleased with how I was treated as a solo diner.  Everyone was very solicitous and I wanted for nothing.  So if you’re ever traveling solo to Las Vegas and are looking for a quality solo dining experience, I can happily recommend Olives.