Monday, February 24, 2014

Rose.Rabbit.Lie-It's a restaurant, it's a show, it's fun!

My friend Boots and I had planned a February trip to Cosmopolitan mainly with the purpose of eating at e' at Jaleo.  We were also considering seeing one of the shows at Rose.Rabbie.Lie which had opened in January but a week before our trip we still hadn't bought tickets. Happily a email from Living Social arrived and it had a deal for admission for two for either the 8pm or 10pm shows of Vegas Nocturne at Rose.Rabbit.Lie for $134.00 ($268.00 value). Sold! We booked the 8pm Sunday show and also make a reservation to eat at their restaurant before the show.
When you first enter Rose.Rabbit.Lie you are in a Octagon shaped room with staff standing to the side of five doors. It reminded me a bit of that first room one stands in at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride but that's me.
The door we were led to opened up to a small reception area where we were greeted enthusiastically and offered a tour when we questioned if our request of being in the music room was the best place to sit for our dinner.
The first room we entered pictured above is I believe the study and it's very intimate.
Both Boots and I liked the Library room the best and decided to eat in this room.
The two photos below are the music room, which we had requested to be seated in when we made our reservation.
The reason we switched rooms is there is great live entertainment in the music room but the band is super loud, we could hear it fine in the library room. Also before the shows start a lot of the audience buys their drinks and waits in this room so if you are dining in this room expect a crowd to gather 30 minutes before each show and surround the tables.
The positive part of eating in the music room is if you aren't going to the show they have the band playing, and 15 minutes or so before the shows most of the mini acts they do take place in this room so if you aren't going to the show you have some free entertainment with your dinner. Well free except for the live entertainment tax added to your bill.
I thought the ceiling in the library was gorgerous!
The menu is presented to you with a wax seal. I thought we might get to keep ours for a souvenir but they did take it away. For photos of the drink, dinner and dessert menus go to this link on my blog:
http://www.lasvegasdaze.com/2014/02/roserabbitlie-menus.html
Boots and I like cocktails and she ordered the drink on the left, the Floradore Imperial which is described in the photos below while I ordered the Monkey Gland, drink mainly due to the orange foam. Both cocktails were good but while I normally love drinks with foam I didn't take to this one as much as the drinks with foam I normally order at Bond Bar. The texture of the foam was a bit off for me and there was a slight aftertaste I didn't care for, but this was likely due to personal taste.

It as recommended that as most of the items on their menus are small plates that we order and share three to four items each. As we were planning on dessert we ordered 6 plates to share. If there are hearty appetites in your party, I would suggest ordering 4 plates per person to share plus dessert.
We started with the beet salad with candied hazelnuts and it was good.
I thought we had ordered the Curry Cauliflower but what we were served was obviously the Cauliflower Green Apple Veloute with Brown Butter and Tarragon Chantilly. It was tasty and had a lovely presentation but normally my choice of a food to share wouldn't be a soup. By the way I'm not suggesting the server gave us the wrong dish, it's very possible that Boots and I ordered this Veloute and I only was thinking Curry Cauliflower.
I loved their serving dishes and utensils. A photo above shows off the lovely pattern on the fork and knife which is resting on a peacock rest.
I thought the soup bowl fox pattern was lovely. Below the flatware rest is definitely not the White Rabbit, but perhaps a running Hare?
Close up of the peacock and duck flatware rests.
There's a lot of interesting dishes on the menu for foodies, but we had a marvelous experience the evening before at e' at Jaleo and decided to order more mainstream tonight. I thought the taste and presentation of the Pan Roasted Salmon with Sea Beans (grown on salt marshes and beaches, a trendy food currently), Asparagus and Lemon Nage was great!
A stand out dish and one that I would recommend everyone try if you eat at Rose.Rabbit.Lie is the Short Rib Stroganoff with Herb Pasta, and Roasted Maitake Mushrooms. This was the prefect portion to share for such a rich and flavorful entree, though your taste buds will be crying out for more.
Chicken oysters with a Hazelnut Crust, Garlic Flan, Cress Salad and a sauce of Watercress Broth was delicious! They poured the sauce over the Chicken Oysters at the table and left extra in the gravy boat.
Loop De Mer en Coute with creamed spinach was also good. I enjoyed everything and when staying at Cosmopolitan in the future would return here just for the food, the entertainment in the dining rooms is just a added perk.
For our second order of cocktails I really liked the El Diablo with ginger and ginger beer.
Boots ordered the Odd Mcintyre which she liked.
The cocktails in the style of the Great Gatsby era are well crafted. They even have a couple, like the Moscow Mule on Tap!
The price of our cocktails, dinner and dessert came to a total of $156.00 before sales tax, L.E.Tax and tip. The LET is due to the live entertainment in the dining rooms.
While we were waiting for our dessert menus the entertainment in our library room started out with a Chanteuse who is also the main singer in the 8pm show. She's definitely talented and I really liked her voice and style.
More scenes from the entertainment during dinner in the library that starts 20 minutes or so before the 8pm show.
Most of the entertainment in the restaurant takes place in the music room.
This gentleman is playing the Glass Armonica invented by Benjamin Franklin. I really enjoyed hearing this played.
Just trying to capture the pre-show in the music room with the swinging lady. Unfortunately the crowds were very heavy at this time waiting to enter the theatre so I really couldn't clear shots of the acts.
At the end of the library and over the bar a reproduction of Bosch's, The Garden of Earthly Delight. Rose.Rabbit.Lie definitely was a delight in my opinion and had a Alice in Wonderland vibe going along with a Moulin Rouge vibe, at least for me, others may take away a different vibe as there is a lot going on here.
Service was good during dinner but we really need more time to enjoy the atmosphere and food and that was my fault as I suggested the time for our dinner reservation. When I return I will book dinner for at least two hours before the show.

Toward the end of the dinner as show time was approaching we really needed them to step up the service and present our bill and process our payment faster. As it was earlier in the evening a lady came to our table and said she would escort us to our show seats and she did return to do that but we hadn't paid yet. After payment was finished we waited for her to return but she never came back. However if the timing had been on point it would have been a nice touch to have the escort to the show.
Originally we were going to order two desserts just because it was so difficult to make a selection as most of them sounded interesting. Okay, so the real reason is I like dessert!
However feeling pressed for time, our own mistake due to timing of our reservation we went with the $15 Cookie Jar and I was very happy with our choice.
The presentation was clever and the variety of cookies had something for everyone in the jar and they were yummy. There was around fourteen cookies and candies in our Cookie Jar!
I had picked up the tickets for our Sunday 8pm show on Sunday afternoon and I don't know if it was because I did it earlier then others with the Living Social Deal or because they knew we were also eating at the restaurant but our seats were good. We were five rows on the side from the main stage and our seats were on a raised platform so no bodies were blocking our view.
While some of the seats are padded in this room, including some comfy looking individual arm chairs the majority of the seats are on hard chairs, so comfort level will vary depending perhaps on the length of the show you are seeing. The 8pm show we saw is 90 minutes, but the 10pm show I believe is 60 minutes and the Midnight show is only 20 minutes
The show is a variety of acts which for us started with a incredible balancing act by the lady in the photos above and below. She is balancing about 15 sticks that are approximately 3 to 6 feet long.
It's my understanding the acts varying according to time and day of show. We saw a Contortionist, a magic dragon and dog act, singers, dancers, tight rope walking, etc…some we enjoyed more then others. There's a lot of humor in the show which is always a plus for me.
The lady below who was the singer who came in to the Library as we were having dessert is really good, love her voice!
This act created a splash zone and plastic tarps were handed out to the audience in that area. The guy was a hottie and it was one of the more sensual acts of the show.
I liked the 8pm Vegas Nocturne Show at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. I understand that it doesn't always have the same performers so you might not see the show I saw. I would go again if I can pay the same amount that I did via the Living Social deal as I personally think their normal prices are too expensive.
Vegas Nocturne is produced by the same company that does the Absinthe show. If I had to do a comparison to describe the show I would say the 8pm show was Absinthe with a PG rating and one that I wouldn't mind sitting next to my Mom or adult son at, where in my opinion Absinthe is R and perhaps a act or two of Absinthe might be a X rating for some people.

I enjoy Cirque type shows and I liked Absinthe. While Vegas Nocturne is not a Cirque show or Absinthe, it you dislike those types of shows you may not care for this even though Boots and I did. I suggest if in doubt you consider eating at the restaurant and if you like the mini-acts you see while dining there then you will want to book one of the shows if the price point fits your budget. If you don't care for the mini acts during your time at the restaurant then you might want to skip their three Cantos shows.


8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review! From what I see, I'd eat at Rose.Rabbit.Lie, just for the flatware and plates!

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  2. Rebecca, I'm glad it was helpful. If you are going to be in Vegas before the end of April Living Social still has tickets on sale for the 8 and 10pm shows for half off. :)

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  3. Just my luck going for Cinco de Mayo. Too late for the Living Social deal. As always thanks for the trip report. Staying @Cosmo in a terrace suite, thanks for the tip about the nightclub noise. Someday we will run into each other. Until then, good luck and fortune in your travels!

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    1. Rick, please continue to watch out for deals on Travel Zoo, and Groupon in addition to Living Social. It's my opinion that they will continue to offer discount offers in the future. Enjoy your trip and as always, Good luck!

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  4. Hello Diana,
    Really enjoyed reading all your trip reports. With the organized pictures and captions it feels like I am in Vegas. Hope you get some big jackpots in the future.

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    1. Thanks Anon, I'm so glad you enjoyed reading my trip reports. Just came back from April trip so hope to have new TR up in a week or two. Good luck on your next trip to Vegas!

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  5. You took a lot of pictures! I am glad you did. I am wondering if anyone said, no photography or if they were totally fine with you taking pics? Also, did you take them on a phone or with a DSLR? Thanks for the insight! I think we will have to go there!

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    1. No one stopped me from taking photos since I wasn't using a flash. I was taking the photos with my iPhone. The restaurant is still open and they might still have some entertainment but the show Vegas Nocturne closed in July. In my July birthday trip report I had some video of the acts as I saw it again the night before it closed. There's a rumor that it might eventually open up at a new location in the future but for now it's just a rumor.

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