China Grill

My sister and I spent our first day in Vegas walking down the entire strip, from our motel (up near Circus Circus) down to the famous Welcome sign. We had plans for dinner, but all the walking we did was making us hungry (and thirsty!) for a little something. We ducked inside Mandalay Bay to look around around and discovered an awesome happy hour going on at this place — $ 5 sushi rolls and cocktails! We parked our tired bodies and feet in the seating area away from the bar (where we could still get the deal) and ordered two different cocktails and two rolls to share. Everything was delicious and our server was really nice and attentive. I definitely wish this place was still open so we could go back the next time we’re in Vegas!

The best meal I have had in a very long time. I’m so excited to review this place i don’t even know where to start!!!
Met a friend here last night and decided to grab a drink at the bar before sitting down. The bartender was a tall bald guy (cant remember his name) but he was so awesome! he made me a ginger mojito but used vodka instead of rum, it was delish!
We sat in the gorgeous intimate dinning room. With the high ceilings and kitchen behind a glass wall it was a very enjoyable setting.
Our waiter (Arty i believe his name was) was amazing. very informative and accommodating with my peanut allergy request. He suggested I start off with a Lychee Lemon Drop. this was mixology at its finest. Sweet but refreshing and with rock candy sugar i cant wait to try to replicate it.
We started off with the lobster pancakes as an appetizer. More of a crêpe then a traditional pancake filled with plumb lobster meat, mushrooms, red chili, scallions and dressed a lobster and coconut milk sauce they were melt in your mouth goodness.
Moving on to the main course. We decided to split two entrees.
Grilled Garlic Shrimp– Huge prawns over a bed of black fettuccine in a red coconut curry sauce they were mouth watering delish. The sauce truly made the dish. With the spice of the curry and a sweetness from the coconut milk it was the perfect combination.
Our waiter then suggested the Short Ribs– totally melt in your mouth meat accompanied with goat cheese mashed potatoes. We also ordered a side of Wasabi mashed potatoes… which i ate the entire portion. don’t judge me.
I also had the Strawberry Burst cocktail. Made with cachaca (a Brazilian rum) it was packed full of strawberry flavor in every drink.
We finished our meal with a bottle of pinot gregio.
This was an amazing experience and i highly recommend it to everyone.

China Grill was great for happy hour, but I can imagine it is somewhere I would like late night. It’s dark and sexy, with plenty of room to lounge, great drinks, and a Thievery Corporation-​based playlist. I really, really want a place like this in DC. I will never, ever get it.
But onto food and drinks: whatever I drank was strong. And tasty. I had three of them and I was way more than tipsy. Kelly enjoyed her appetizers, but I don’t like anything on the appetizer list. I tried ordering an option from it, and was just not a fan. However, go for the atmosphere and the drinks.

The food wasn’t «that bad». The menu was beat up and tacky. It smelled of an old dirty wet rag. I ordered the «tofu tots» and «skirt steak salad». The tots tasted like mushy potato tots, but costs a lot more than potatoes. The skirt steak was hard to chew. I had to swallow large pieces, and gave up half way through my steak.
The bartenders were very nice and friendly.
I hear the owners of china grill, rum jungle, and Red, White, and Blue were sold. So China Grill will be closing down in November for good. Construction is planned for 4 months. The new restaurant will be sushi oriented. I can’t wait to try it on my next visit.

Ate at China Grill for our anniversary and it was amazing. If you are not sure what to get I suggest the pre-​fixe menu for $ 65 a person. Well worth it and you get soooooo much food. We ended up taking alot home with us. The desert is the size of both of my hands together, and we couldn’t finish it and it also came with another dessert we didn’t even touch. I would highly suggest this restaurant. The service was outstanding and we had told the hostess it was our anniversary and she passed it along and the chef said happy anniversary and our server brought us champagne which was very nice :) They explain every dish and tell you how to eat it and what it will be like :) So enjoyable. Overall the experience with the amazing food and great service is what made it for us. I also used the restroom which was pretty entertaining as well since they have little tvs in each stall :)
I will def. go back!

I met up with some out-​of-​town friends at Mandalay and we were deciding on where to eat. Noticed the happy hour sign at China Grill and $ 5 sushi. I’m in!
Like a previous reviewer, only two rolls were $ 5, California and Spicey Tuna. AND you only get 4 pieces per «roll».so basically each piece of sushi is $ 1.25. Little steep in my book… they should call it «sad and still hungry hour» :(
I ordered the Philly Roll ($ 6.50) and Spicey Tuna ($ 5.00), ate those in 2 minutes and left.
I always wanted to stop by here because the décor is so awesome, but I doubt I’ll be back.

Expensive and average were my takeaways on dinner at the China Grill.
The food was not as good as a CheeseCake Factory, and I would just skip this place

I had the shrimp with lobster sauce and it was amazing. The shrimp was prepared perfectly and the sauce wasn’t overwhelming like other places make it. I don’t even like Chinese food, but this place is very good!

No self-​respecting Asian sushi lover would come back for their sushi. The worst! Went for their happy hour, got 4 small pieces of their version of spicy tuna and California rolls for $ 5 each. Ugh, it tasted old and I have no idea why they call it spicy tuna. More like a failed deconstruction of what they think their midwest customers think should be in a sushi roll. The drinks were overly sweet. We had a running joke while we were in Vegas — «but not as bad as CG Sushi»

The China Grill at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is not a Chinese food restaurant. As it was explained adamantly by my waiter, it is a global fusion that brings together the flavors of Japan, Thailand, Chinese and American cuisine (I guess that meant no Pu-​Pu platter for two). With our no Chinese food explanation at the fore front of our minds Simone and I set upon the task of looking over the not so Chinese menu. All items on the menu are meant to be eaten family style and shared –much like in China (oops). At the suggestion of our waiter we started our fusion journey with the not Chinese Beef and Scallion Dumplings. The dumplings were soft and pillow like, filled with minced tender beef and chopped scallions and served with a micro green salad on top and of a pool of spicy sauce. Alone, they were bland but eating them in a 5 alarm pool of soy, ginger chili sauce took care of that problem nicely. After downing an entire glass of water to ease the fiery pain, we then decided to choose our entrée.
Our entrée choice was the not Japanese Sake Marinated Drunken Chicken, served with a sweet Hoison laced Ponzu sauce and Bok Choy slaw with crispy onions, and for our side a not Chinese Duck Fried Rice. The chicken arrived whole, but already cut for our convenience. It was excellent, the sweet Sake marinade combined with the natural juices of the chicken kept every bite moist and full of intense flavor. The slaw was crunchy and vinegary and was a nice compliment to the dish. The side of duck fried rice was good also. The rice was very lightly fried with sesame and soy but not overwhelming in salt or oil. The shredded duck was rather dry, but the overall flavor of the rice was very good. We finished the entire bird and rice and still had some room for Deep Fried Cheesecake for dessert. Cream Cheese filled fried wontons arrived with a five spice chocolate dipping sauce, assorted fruit and Mango Raspberry purée. The chocolate was rich and spicy with ginger overtones, and the Mango purée was fresh and sweet. Both were great with the wontons. Overall this was a very good but not great «fusion» meal at the Not so China Grill in Mandalay Bay. For the price you can probably find better in Las Vegas. 3 stars

I came here for happy hour from 4−7pm. $ 5 drinks and appetizers. The ginger mojito was amazing — big chunks of fresh ginger. So yummy, but you must love ginger. The happy hour sushi rolls were also quite good. I’m usually not a fan of Philadelphia rolls but this one came with pesto, which was excellent. The rolls were half rolls but they were only $ 5. I think they must have lowered their HH prices since Robyn visited in April.
The «pod» restrooms were interesting — check them out. I think they were installed by a previous restaurant. Mine was a little messy but the design of these single stall restrooms was interesting. And there were a lot of them. Nothing is worse than a huge restaurant with one single stall restroom.
Definitely a good choice for happy hour in Mandalay Bay.

Much like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, sushi happy hours are one of my favorite things. We saw sign for the sushi happy hour here, so stopped in with a group of friends after getting some drinks elsewhere. I had a $ 5 seaweed salad and a $ 5 vegetable roll. Both were decent — not spectacular, but I feel it was a good deal for $ 5.
As I can’t remember what I had to drink, it is probably one of two things 1) the drink was unmemorable or 2) I had done too much day drinking before happy hour time to accurately remember. Who knows!
The service was good, especially considering how packed the lounge area was with others partaking in the happy hour.

Two friends and I were staying at the Mandalay Bay casino and wandered in here for a late dinner.
At first we were miffed because the hostesses told us there would be a 10 minute wait and to get a drink at the bar… however tumbleweeds could have been blowing through and there was no need to wait.
We pondered what drinks to order and shortly after were seated anyway so we didn’t even get to get a drink. We also asked for a booth and were denied even though ALL of the booths were open and looked desperate for people to plop their weary asses down and relax.
Our server was very knowledgeable, you know the whole ‘professional waiter’ vibe and was able to tell us about the portion size and specials. The cocktails were delicious. I think I ordered a red dragon or something like that. A friend ordered the mojito, also tasty.
We did not try any sushi (something about fresh sushi in the desert skeeves me out even if they do fly it in daily…). The Chinese dishes with a twist were interesting and flavorful. We got the grilled szechuan beef and drunken chicken for entrees to split and for an appetizer ordered the spicy beef and scallion dumplings. At first we figured we would still be hungry even though we wanted a light dinner but the portions were pleasantly filling.
If you’re starving then order an appetizer and entrée per person. The plates are able to be shared but the portions are rather sparse (one per person).
It’s a good place to start the evening and has a nice variety to the menu. Overall a nice place and I like the open kitchen to see the staff hard at work!

Sushi and drinks were quite tasty, but disproportionately expensive, even for happy hour. I think this is common for the Mandalay Bay restaurants, but it was a bit shocking coming from San Francisco, or even from other hotels in Las Vegas.
Service and ambiance were excellent and definitely make up for the price somewhat, especially for snacks during happy hour, or for a meal if you’ve just won big in the casino or just want to act like you have.

We decided to venture over to China Grill after hearing they offer a happy hour from 4 — 7 in their bar and lounge.
The restaurant is beautiful. The waterfalls behind the velvety booths set a lovely mood. Our service was excellent throughout.
That said, this happy hour is a sham! The offer sushi rolls from $ 5 — $ 9.50. Unfortunately they are half sized! What a crock. $ 9.50 for 4 pieces of sushi roll doesn’t exactly qualify as an enticing happy hour. Furthermore, the beers are $ 7. Um… how much are they normally??? That’s not a happy hour price.
There is a rum drink, a vodka lemonade, red or white wine, and hot sake for $ 5. So, skip the food, enjoy one of the afformentioned reasonably priced beverages and enjoy the atmosphere.

So we went here, cause we were staying at Mandalay Bay for the RE/​MAX Convention. They advertised $ 5 drinks and sushi in the bar area, so in we went. You have to order from a special menu in order to get this price, and I can assure you, the sushi was not $ 5. Service was creeping along … took forever to get a glass of wine. It was actually $ 5, but the Grey Goose and Grapefruit my friends ordered was not.
My friend got some sort of crab roll that tasted bad … she was doubled over in pain by the end of the night. The Philadelphia roll was o-​kay. I ordered the Volcano Roll and Spicy Tuna roll, both of which were good. We got free edamame because of the lame service. Overall … less than average dining experience.

First off, on a Saturday night, this was the only restaurant in the entire hotel that didn’t have a wait. We were starving so we decided to try this place. The seating inside is pretty awkward, tables of 2 going in a circle with booths in the outer ring. We were seated in a table for 2, in very close proximity of the other tables (not very comfortable at all). Minus one star. The ceiling was pretty cool, the hostess said this place was formerly a club… The lighting was really dim so I was struggling to read the menu. Note: bring a flashlight! The menus were really awkward as well! A big circle menu, laminated, and tacky.
I should’ve known it would be a bad experience since it was Asian fusion and Chinese with Japanese = disaster. I also received a dirty plate, which is hard to tell when you are in dim lighting. The sake menu was pretty lame and the prices were outrageous! We were starving so we ordered a lot of food.
We started out with an assortment of rolls~spicy tuna roll, philadelphia roll, crunchy roll, and california roll. They were ok, the sauces were a bit strange though. The Philadelphia roll came with a pesto sauce which did not match at all. Then we had the chicken salad. The small portion was huge! It was good but I wish they used a stronger vinaigrette since it was bland. The sesame oil did not help to perk up the dish. The side portion of duck fried rice was pretty good but the duck was very dry like beef jerky! I ate the fried rice and took the pieces of duck out. We ordered a large entrée of the barbequed salmon. The salmon was dry, very fishy, and overcooked. I did not like it at all. The vegetables were tasty though.
Service was pretty slow. The party of two sat after we ordered and they got their food before us and left before us! That pissed me off. Our dinner took 2 hours! We wanted to cancel our food just so we could get out of there. I will not be coming back. Food was mediocre and overpriced for the low quality. Service was bad.

Because my friends and I came here right before our night out on the town I was forced to order light, being in a far too tight dress and all. So, out of sheer necessity, I ordered a salad.
Usually, this girl does not order salads; why, you ask? Well, because, it is a waste of money; I can throw vegetables together at home for a fraction of the price that same dish would cost me at a restaurant. So, when I eat out I order hearty to ensure I get my money’s worth.
That was my POV, until I tried China Girll’s Cracking Calamari Salad. There are no words to describe how excellent this salad tasted. It was superb, the absolute best salad I have ever had the pleasure of eating.
It was so good that after a taste of my salad, a member of my party returned her previous order and subsequently ordered the same thing.
I can’t even describe what they may have put in that salad, but all I know is the next time and every other time I am in Vegas, I can be found sitting blissfully content at China Grill, eating a Calamari Salad.

Saturday night was girls night out, we were going to a concert at the Mandalay Bay Event Center so we decided to start the night with dinner at China Grill. We rolled into China Grill an hour after our reservation, but the hostess was still able to accommodate us which was nice.
The décor at China Grill is modern and sexy, on the darker side… We were trying to figure out how we could sneak out with one of the awesome lamps.
Our server was friendly, he explained that China Grill serves food that is meant to be shared… Like Asian tapas… And that we should expect what we order to come out one-​by-​one. We decided to get the lobster pancakes (more like a crêpe then your grandma’s pancakes our server explained) as a starter while we decided on some sushi. For drinks we decided to skip the $ 12 – 15 special drinks and got a couple rounds of hot sake and Sapporo to do sake bombs.
The lobster pancakes came out fairly quickly, and at that point we decided to order 2 full rolls (Philly and Spicy Tuna) as well as a half roll (Dragon). The sushi was very slow to come out. so slow we had to order another round of drinks… Thankfully we had allowed 2.5 hours for dinner, even with our lateness and the sushi chef’s slowness we made it to the concert right on time.
The Philly roll was my favorite of the night. Salmon was on top instead of inside like some places do, you seem to get more fish that way, always a plus. The fish also tasted very fresh. The Spicy Tuna roll was the spiciest I think I have ever had, no need for extra wasabi on these! The Dragon roll was good but it had shrimp and crab, I am used to Dragon rolls being eel. My fault for not reading the menu more carefully.
I have no idea what our bill came to, one of my sneaky girlfriends snagged the check before we could split up the costs. It’s the Strip though, if you go expect to spend $ 40 – 50 dollars per person, and preparty if dropping $ 15 a drink is not your cup of tea.

This was my first time eating here, although coworkers have recommended it numerous times.
The service was excellent, the interior was pleasant but nit very private. We shared a circular booth that was centered in the main dining area. The seating however didn’t bother us and the open spacious ceilings added to the liveliness of the crowd.
My only complaint was more than one of the items we wanted on the menu were not available. The food we did get was very good! The mushroom pasta and duck 2 ways were both wonderful entrees.