The British Chef Gordon Ramsey has developed a magnificent marketing empire of restaurants around the world. One of the latest additions to South Western United States are his franchises of Hell’s Kitchen restaurants. We would get the experience to try out the Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas on our recent trip to town. How did the experience stand up to his brand ?

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This post is one chapter on our trip during the end of the pandemic to Las Vegas, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America.

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Amid all the wonderful dining opportunities in Las Vegas, there are a few that are celebrity chef oriented. Some of these restaurants are flagship restaurants within a celebrity chef’s portfolio, whereas others are a bit more entertainment oriented.

The Concept:

Chef Gordon Ramsey, OBE is a British chef, Restauranteur and Television Personality. He presently owns 35 restaurants and has previously held 16 Michelin Stars; currently holding 7 Michelin Stars.

His Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen venture is a reality television show that features a progressive elimination model between two teams (red and blue teams) to advance to the grand prize of being a head chef at one of his restaurants. The Hell’s Kitchen filming takes place in a studio in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Thanks to a little creative marketing and a partnership between Gordon Ramsey and Ceasar’s Palace Entertainment, you can dine at a facsimile of Hell’s Kitchen at Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas, USA. There are other Hell’s Kitchen locations at Lake Tahoe, California, and a marketed Hell’s Kitchen Southern California, that’s actually in Harrah’s Resort Southern California, in Funner, California (almost halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego in the mountains), USA.

Booking a Dinner at Hell’s Kitchen:

It was pretty easy to access a reservation at Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas. I easily found the restaurant on the Open Table Reservation Platform.

The main drawback was that, despite booking several months in advance, I was unable to get a decent dining time. As a result, I ended up with an early 5:15 PM dining time, with most of the preferred dining times taken up by other diners.

I generally found it was pretty difficult to get Friday and Saturday night availability. At the time of our visit, Friday and Saturday night reservations were booking on the Open Table platform about 3 1/2 months in advance.

Arriving to Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen Las Vegas:

We walked up to Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen from our stay at Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas were we found ourselves on this Friday night. The restaurant is located at Caeser’s Palace on an outer building outside of the front entrance is a stand alone building space away from the casino.

The walk along the Las Vegas Strip was pretty easy, and before we knew it, we arrived to a familiar sight for those that are fans of the television show. The famous entertainment branding of the show’s Hell’s Kitchen Logo with the Pitch Fork on Fire was found in front of the dedicated entrance to the restaurant.

Inside Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen:

Immediately upon entering Hell’s Kitchen, you’ll find yourself in a mixed gift shop and reception area. It’s a large format exercise, and we were in between souvenir shoppers, people waiting for tables and those that were in off the street just looking to get a glance inside.

In addition to the gift shop items, there was also a wall of the series Hell’s Kitchen winners.

While the space was neat, it wasn’t exactly intimate. The television show portrays diners arriving in limosines, attired in formal suits and cocktail dresses. The reality isn’t quite this fancy.

We checked in at reception. Despite being on time for the reservation, we were asked to wait nearby while our table was prepared. As a result, we waited for about 7 minutes.

After our wait time was up, we were escorted to our table.

The Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas is set up in a big box format. There is an innner box of tables that have a direct view of the Hell’s Kitchen Red and Blue Kitchen’s. There is an outer ring of tables that offer a peek – a boo view of the dueling Kitchens. Instead, these outer tables offer large glass windows that offer a view of the Las Vegas Strip or the parks surrindoung the Ceaser’s Palace property.

As we passed through the Hell’s Kitchen inner box. we would end up with one of the outer tables. This wasn’t abad thing, but I recognize that if you came expecting to have a view of the Kitchens at all times, you may be better off to request same in your reservation; otherwise you might end up on the outer tables.

The Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas “kitchen” looks exactly like the television set. The dining area looks much larger given that big box format and doesn’t feature the booths or chef’s table as featured on the television shows.

There is even a spot cordoned off for “selfie” photos as diners take an opportunity taking a look at the operations of the kitchen.

We were seated at our table, which didn’t have a view of the duelling kitchens. If being seated near view of the competing Hell’s Kitchen’s red and blue kitchens is important, try to request this on your reservation and hope for the best that your request will be accommodated. Alternately, try to visit outside of a peak period (lunch or weeknights) where you may have a better opportunity at getting seated closer to the main event.

The decor and ambiance was upscale and contemporary. There were some flat screen televisions around the restaurant that showed promotional reels from the Hell’s Kitchen Television shows. However, aside from some Hell’s Kitchen branding on our table, there wasn’t much around our area that would indicate that you were dining inside Hell’s Kitchen.

The noise levels around the restaurant were moderate. With diners making a reasonable amount conversational noise, the theatrical yelling that comes with. theHell’s Kitchen Brand is completly absent. Instead, the chefs and sous chefs had almost a purpose built objective; servicing all the diner orders coming in from the guests of Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas.

Those that were looking for a more immersive and entertaining Hells’ Kitchen experience may be disappointed.

The Menus:

We had an introduction by our waiter who was a young and enthusiastic server. His pitch started with an explanation that the appetizers were coming out of the Red Kitchen, whereas the main courses were being served by the Blue Kitchen. This is slightly different than the television show that usually has an appetizer and entree stations in each kitchen, but who’s counting for technical accuracy on a night out?

The menus’ featured the usual upscale menu items often described on the television show. The variety featured the usual scallops, risottos’ along with salmon, beef rib eye and short rib. Side dishes were also available and featured haricot vert, baked macaroni and cheese along with wild mushrooms.

The main event, and probably your reason for eating here, is the opportunity to try items that are famous from the Hells’ Kitchen television show. Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen has conveniently marketed these items together in a Hells Kitchen Signature Prix Fixe Menu.

The HK Prix Fix Menu offers the opportunity to try Gordon Ramsey’s famous scallops, along with Beef Wellington. The Beef Wellington is exceptionally difficult to cook. From the tasting menu, the Beef Wellington is only offered cooked at medium. The menu also offered a taste of Gordon Ramsey’s famous British Sticky Toffee Pudding.

The HK Prix Fixe Menu is marketed at $89 USD/ with a three glass wine pairing at $149 USD. This is hardly value territory. However, of ordered a – la – carte the Beef Wellington is offered at $70 USD, making three courses for an additional $19 USD the perception for a value. It’s also the easiest way to enjoy all the fan favourites.

Lastly, there was also a cocktail menu, along with a reasonably full wine by the glass menu that centered on Californian and Old World European varietals.

I was pretty satisfied with the drink offerings. It wasn’t exactly the ambience of a restaurant that I’d spend hours lingering over a fine bottle of wine. However, there was enough there to keep everyone happy and most certainly enough quality in order to pair well with the meals that were on offer.

The Meal:

I ordered the Hell’s Kitchen Prix Fixe Menu, whereas MrsWT73 went with an a – la – carte offering. There are no set rules of all diners having to stick with a – la – carte, which was appreciated for this upscale casual dining restaurant.

First Course: Pan Seared Scallops

English Pea Purée, Pickled Fennel and Sherry Braised Bacon Lardons

Before we had really settled in, our first course was up. From the HK prix fixe menu, it was pan seared scallops with an english pea purée, picked fennel and sherry braised bacon lardons.

It was paired with a tasty and properly chilled white Vermentio Marchesi Antinori Bolgheri 2011 wine.

The presentation was a little more showy than classy. While it was presented nicely, and consistent with a plate that as designed to be a delight, it did find that it came off as a little more staged than with substance.

In terms of the dish itself, the star of the combination was the wine; something that stood on its own. The scallops were quite thinly sliced. In terms of cook, I found them a little over for my particular Pacific Northwest tastes. While they were not rubbery, juicy was not something that came across the palette while I was enjoying them. The pea purée was pretty simple and not complex tasting, although the flavours paired well together.

Second Course: Beef Wellington

Potato Purée, Glazed Root Vegetables and Red Wine Demi Glaze

Given the number of times Beef Wellington was given as a challenge on Hell’s Kitchen, it seems natural to order the dish at Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas. Beef Wellington isn’t a dish that is typically featured on many North American restaurant menus, so it’s not as though you can easily try it.

The Beef Wellington was presented with a red Cabernet Sauvingon by Jordan of Alexander Valley from California.

The dish was presented in a showy presentation style on the plate. It was cut open at the half mark, along with a cooling potato purée spread across the plate along with a pool of demi glace near the wellington.

The Beef Wellington was offered at a perfect medium cook. I couldn’t ask for a better cook than this.

In terms of taste, the Beef Wellington was about “as expected”. While I was impressed with the quality of the duxelles mushrooms coating the beef between the pastry, the meat cut itself contained a few tough elements. The potato purée fan spread cross the plate encouraged a quick cooling by design and was a little warm by the time it arrived. The Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon was another great pairing, and stood out as highlight of the dish.

Second Course: Lobster Risotto

Butter poached lobster tail, truffle risotto, crispy onions.

MrsWT73 enjoyed an appetizer as a main course. She enjoyed a lobster risotto prepared as a butter poached lobster tail, truffle risotto and crispy onions. Despite this being an appetizer portion, there was enough there to present as a small meal.

MrsWT73 didn’t provide very high marks for this dish. She described it as overly salty and not one of the best tasting risotto’s that she had enjoyed.

Third Course: Sticky Toffee Pudding

with Dulce de Leché ice cream

To close our dining experience, we split one of Gordon Ramsey’s most famous desserts. The sticky toffee pudding was served, paired with v barbetio , historical series, boston bual madiera Port.

Like Beef Wellington, Sticky Toffee Pudding isn’t something that’s usually on the menu in North America so I was keen to try it.

I’m happy to report that this was probably the highlight of the meal. The slow melt of the ice cream was divine as the whole dish turned into a gooey mess.

Closing Thoughts:

The cheque was presented on request. The costs with my Hell’s Kitchen Prix Fixe menu with wine pairing, an appetizer and two glasses of wine came to about $300 USD. Again, this isn’t value territory, but perhaps worth it for those that are serious fans of the franchise.

I did feel that the experience was a little assembly line in nature. As I passed by the kitchen on the way out, I spotted about 8 Beef Wellingtons getting ready to be served. The thirst to process as many covers as possible seems to be the order of the game.

Given we’d eaten so early, we had a late night snack at Din Tai Tung at the Aria Resort later in the evening. MrsWT73 happened to enjoy this meal more in terms of food quality than her beloved Hell’s Kitchen.

The Bottom Line: Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas

For those looking for a little taste of the Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen experience, you’re not likely to be disappointed. You’ll get yourself a wonderful photograph of a facsimile Hell’s Kitchen set and it makes for an engaging evening of dining with all the usual favourites dishes

Unfortunately, given the restaurant’s big box format, there are chances you won’t actually be seated with a view of the competing red and blue kitchens. If this happens, you’ll get the opportunity to view Hell’s Kitchens marketing material looping on a flat screen television, much like at home.

In term of food quality, the concepts were interesting and appealing, but I didn’t find that the food was all that exceptional. If I was spending $300 USD on a meal back home, I’d better leave pretty damn impressed. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave with that impression. Rather, we came, enjoyed a whimsical night of Hollywood for one evening, and left a little hungry but yearning for better food experiences.

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If you have visited Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas, was the food up to the standard that you’d expect ?

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