Hi everyone, welcome to article two of my Exploring Vegas series! Today I am writing about my experience exploring the ARIA Resort & Casino, along with my review of Ding Tai Fung – one of the restaurants in this huge resort.
The ARIA is in the Center City complex on the Las Vegas Strip, along with some other great Resorts, like the Cosmopolitan, Vdara and the new Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas. Since my Dad was in town, we did this exploration and review together, and credit to him for a lot of the photos. Let me know if you think he should become my regular photographer!
The Aria is an upscale hotel on the strip. Its theme is urban modern, and luxury. It also has a lot of Asian cuisine dining experiences available, so it was only fitting that our visit coincided with the Chinese Lunar New Year. Let’s go explore!
ARIA Resort & Casino Vital Stats
First, before we get to the fun stuff, here are some of the Top 10 facts about the ARIA Resort:
#1 Theme: Sophisticated City Chic
#2 Rooms: 4004
#3 Convention Space: 300,000 sq. ft.
#4 Casino Size: 150,000 sq. ft.
#5 Restaurants: Some of the restaurants in the Aria are:
-
-
-
- Din Tai Fung – Asian, dumplings, noodles (Reviewed in this article)
- Julian Serrano – Tapas
- Jean-Georges Steakhouse
- Catch – Sushi
- Carbone – Italian Cuisine
- Lemongrass – Thai Cuisine
- Javier’s – Southern California chic
- Starbucks – yay, coffee
-
-
#6 Year Opened: 2009
#7 Hotel Group: MGM Resorts International
#8 Location: In the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, in the City Center complex.
#9 Address:
3730 South Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, Nevada 89158
#10 Website: ARIA Las Vegas Resort
Whether you are traveling there, planning an event or party, or just going to a show or restaurant, these are the stats you need.
Asian Lunar New Year Décor
The entire resort was decked out with Chinese Lunar New Year decorations. Some of them were quite impressive, like the huge 100 foot long dragon hanging above the lobby. It happened to be the year of the rabbit so there also was a lot of rabbit décor, like the cute bunny sculpture seen in the photo at the top of this page. I loved the attention to detail. Overall, if you are coming to Las Vegas around Chinese New Year I would highly recommend coming to see the decorations at the Aria or some of the other resorts. It was such an amazing experience.
Lunch at Ding Tai Fung Dumpling Restaurant in the Aria Resort
My regular readers know that Las Vegas restaurant reviews are one of my specialties, so here is my review of the ARIA’s Ding Tai Fung. We decided to go to Ding Tai Fung as a fun lunchtime adventure, to sample its Taiwanese cuisine and renowned specialty’s. There was a little bit of a line to get in but it went by quickly. The inside was huge. There was a huge waiting area. There was also a window where you could see the chefs making the wontons. Here is a picture:
When you order the food comes in sharable portions so you order a lot of plates. Here is what we ordered:
Tea with Passion Fruit Syrup
Of course I had to order a mocktail! Passion fruit is one of my favorite drink flavors so I was excited to try it. Unfortunately, it was a bit too sweet. I could not taste the tea. The syrup overpowered the tea. I love sweet drinks so it is rare that I say a drink is too sweet. My dad liked it though.
Chicken Wonton Soup
I love soup so I was excited to try this. This was one of my favorite things that we ordered. The soup did not have much flavor but the wontons made up for it.
Sesame Noodles
These were way too spicy for me. My mouth was on fire after one bite. I ended up giving it to my dad who likes spicy food more then me. He thought it was ok but too spicy.
Chicken and Mushroom Bao Bun
This was the best thing we ordered. I love mushrooms so I was curious to try it. I was surprised at how good this was. My only complaint is that it did not taste like mushrooms. There were no mushroom pieces in it. My dad does not like mushrooms, so he thought that was great.
Overall, I thought that Din Tang Fung was ok. I would consider coming back but I would try different things. I would say if you are already at the Aria I would recommend giving it a try but I do not think it is worth going out of the way for.
