Texas Star Oyster Bar at Texas Station

VERDICT: Good clam chowder and decent fish and chips....that is it for what you should order.

We went to Texas Star Oyster Bar at Texas Station again last night.  Greg actually asked me halfway through the meal, "Why do we keep coming here?"  Feeling like I was going to vomit later from the food settling in my stomach, I had to reflect.

The good points:
1. It's cool.  It's a fun little, open seafood eatery.
2. The clam chowder is exceptional.
3. The fish and chips are decent.
4.  I assume that if you like raw oysters, that the oyster are good.  I can't vouch for that though, because yuck, raw oysters are disgusting!

The bad points: 
1.  The service is slow, especially during the day when there is only one server.  Let me make that clear the slow service is not the servers, but the fact that they like to keep it understaffed. 
2.  They're expensive for everything other than what you should order (which is the clam chowder and the fish and chips.)
3.  I had the gumbo.  It was unlike any gumbo I've ever had and filled with some spice that I detest, that usually I only find in bad Chinese food.  It was this spice that made me vomity and push the plate away after a few bites.  Greg insists that it was bad crab.  So maybe bad crab is a spice.
4.  Greg had a boil with shrimp, corn, mussels and clams.  The mussels and clams were sandy.  HELLO?!  Did someone miss cooking 101?  Twenty minutes soaking them live in fresh water is all it takes and all that sand goes away.  Also, the shrimp were overcooked, making them extra chewy.


Four good points and four bad points, I guess it is a wash.  I'll have to try it again.  I just wish they would revisit their menu.

Martinis

UPDATE: Martinis is now out of business. 

VERDICT: Come here to talk about your 6-figure deal, not for amazing food.

I got a Groupon for Martinis.  It cost $15 for $35 worth of food.  I didn't even know where Martinis was, but I saw it was near and thought I would give it a try.  I'm all about the Groupons, I recommend all Vegas people take advantage of them.

First, Greg and I noticed the large amount of "luxury" cars in the parking lot.  I'm talking about cars that aren't bought because they are nice, but rather bought to show wealth.  At least, that is what I think of Mercedes and BMW.  They certainly aren't bought because they don't break down and let's leave it at that.

When we entered at around 6:30, we were faced with a crowded bar area.  I mean packed with loud "successful" people, trying to talk louder than each other, as they discussed about how much money they have in some sort of money-fueled mating ritual.  These were the type of people that use phrases like "six-figure deal", "team building", and "after this, I'm going to the gym".  Greg, of course, wanted to leave immediately, as did I.  However, I didn't want to be stuck with a Groupon that I already paid for.  I didn't want this to be a lesson learned about pre-buying food. (Groupon is great...try it, I get $10 if you use my links and buy something).

Luckily, someone was there to assist us to the dining room, which was separated by a wall with fireplaces from the yuppie-packed bar.  The restaurant area was nice and sufficiently separated from the din.  She said that if we waited around, the live music was going to start later.  This only made us want to finish our meal quickly and leave.

We had the pork and shrimp dumplings.  They were good, but only came with 5 tiny dumplings for a substantial price.  I had the flatbread pizza. Among its toppings were pepperoni, Greek olives, and jalapeños.  I love jalapeños, but with the olives, the pizza was too pickle-y.  I ended up taking them off.  Greg had the shrimp scampi, which he reported was good, but the shrimp was slightly overcooked.

All in all, it was good, not great and a little spendy.  A place to see and be seen, which is just not my scene.

King's Fish House - Green Valley at The District

VERDICT: A decent seafood chain for Las Vegas.

Greg and I decided to go wild and head to the opposite side of the city to shop at The District, next to Green Valley Ranch.  The District is such a strange area: condos over stores of a outdoor mall.  The really strange part is all the people with dogs in the mall.  Seriously, go and look, they just hang out for hours outside in the mall with their dogs...and they aren't homeless.

I noticed that the Coffee Bean has free Wi-Fi.  If you were going to have a condo in The District, I would have it above the Coffee Bean, then you would never have to pay for internet.  Of course, people that can afford condos in The District and can afford to hang out all day with their dogs in a mall, well, those people can easily afford internet.

Anyway, we were going to go to Lucille's Barbeque, because everyone raves about it, but there was a wait.  We were instantly drawn to King's Fish House.  The outside is decorated with posters declaring lobsters for sale and ichiban sushi.  It was a nice day and Greg immediately said that he wanted to sit outside.  I need to point out that Greg always wants to sit outside at every restaurant and in every weather condition.  I've sat outside in 50 degree weather and in 113 degree weather with Greg.  My knee jerk reaction is always to say "no" to sitting outside now, but today was really nice.  We went inside to get a table and the atmosphere was wonderful with small black and white checkered tiles lining the floor with dark wood walls and furniture.  It reminded me of a traditional fish market restaurant I frequented.  The waitress then walked us through another door into the sushi room, which was decorated more whimsically, but still enjoyable.  Finally, we walked outside and were seated at our stupid table with the traditional vinyl red and white checked table cloth.

 

If you want atmosphere, eat inside.  It's really nice in there and you can be protected from the elements while you eat.  Greg admitted that even he wished he ate inside in the well decorated restaurant.  The glare from the sun on our menus blinded us, but otherwise sitting outside was decent.

The lobster bisque was average.  My taste in lobster bisque must have been tainted by having exceptional bisque in Maine.  Every time I have lobster bisque now, I'm disappointed.  I was disappointed again.  The flavor was slightly fishy and there was not much in the way of actual lobster bits in the bisque.  I know, I know, bisque is not suppose to have bits in it, but when you've had a lobster bisque with lots of lobster bits in it, you'll never want to eat anything else.  Really, you can't get in your face fast enough...it's that good.

Greg had the scallops, which he thought was superb.  The sides are a nice selection ranging from coleslaw (not the best I've had) to a house salad or steamed vegetables.  Most meals come with two sides, which really makes the prices at King's seem reasonable.  I had the King's combo platter, which was a deep fried platter with two scallops, two shrimp and one piece of cod.  In hind sight, I should have avoided the deep fried stuff.  I only choose it because it is usually safe as far as fish goes and well, I do like it.  Next time, I think that I will have no problem ordering something that might ordinarily not be good at other restaurants.  They appear to have fresh seafood and have the added bonus of knowing how to prepare it.