Lupo By Wolfgang Puck at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas Resort – Review

Now that I am studying hospitality administration, dining out can be both a culinary experience and a learning one.  So, I decided to try out and review Lupo by Wolfgang Puck at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, with my parents. The hotel is on the Las Vegas Strip, and Lupo is on a scenic walkway lined with dining and entertainment spots within the resort complex.

Lupo was created by Wolfgang Puck, who is a master chef famous for creating Spago in Los Angeles.  So we had high expectations for this restaurant. Did it meet our expectations? Or were we disappointed? Read on!

By the way, the Mandalay Bay resort is enormous, so if you get lost within their grounds and cannot find Lupo, just look for the big headless statue. This one:

UPDATE: Unfortunately the iconic headless statue is gone now. I’ve left this part of the review in, with this update, since the statue itself is historic!

The statue actually is for the Red Square restaurant, and it is Lenin without his head.  Lenin of course was the communist leader of the old Soviet Union, and I guess he is depicted as headless since people toppled statues, like Lenin’s, after communism fell in Russia.  So, if you are in the Mandalay Bay, and can not find Lupo, just look for the giant headless statue, and Lupo it is right across the walkway. Update: The Red Square restaurant has closed, and the statue is gone with it. The menu below is from my first visit a few years ago. Although some of the dishes have changed, it still reflects the general cuisine of Lupo.

 

 

Caesar Salad Appetizer

For an appetizer we split a caesar salad. This was probably my favorite part of the meal. It was a large serving, and more than enough for three people. It included romaine and endive, traditional Caesar dressing with a nice tang to it. The croutons on the salad were excellent, but there were only four! Christy wanted more, and I have to agree it would have been improved with more. It also could have been improved by more shaved Parmesan.

Red Wine Braised Veal Oso Bucco

My dad ordered the veal Oso Bucco as his entrée . It was a large veal shank with a bed of risotto milanese. The risotto was delicious. The veal was well prepared, but very fatty. My dad said Oso Bucco often tends to have fatty cuts, but this was somewhat fattier than he had before.

Pappardelle Pasta

Christy’s entrée was the pappardelle pasta with ragu. This is one of the house specialties, and I could see why. The hand made noodles were very tasty and the ragu had a nice rich full flavor. Christy said she liked it a lot, but if she went back she would try something else: “In other words it was very good but not the best pasta I have ever eaten.”

Margherita Pizza

I got a margherita pizza. Usually I love magretta pizza and like to order it if I see it on a menu and feel like having a pizza.  You could say it is one of my favorite foods. Howerer, I was kind of disappointed with this one. The cheese pieces were too small for the size of the pie, so there just was not enough cheese. That was disappointing for me because I love cheese and would expect more cheese on this type of pizza. Instead, it was mostly just sauce. In my opinion pizza should be an even ratio of cheese and sauce,even a margherita type.  I have had better at other places. I thought it would be better since this was a celebrity chef restaurant (Wolfgang Puck, what happened!) but the bottom line is that I was quite disappointed with this pizza.

Vanilla Zeppole (Italian Doughnuts)

For dessert we all shared Italian donuts called Vanilla Zeppole.  We got a plate of nine of the donuts along with two dipping sauces, one vanilla and the other berry. The donuts were very fluffy and covered with granular sugar.  The sauces were not super sweet and complemented the donuts well. I liked the vanilla sauce the most though. I love the taste of vanilla so anything vanilla I will love.

So, what was my overall opinion of Lupo?  I would say that it was okay – not great and not bad.  However, I have to say it was disappointing because I had such high expectations for it, but it was not my favorite. I have definitely been to better places.

Lupo by Wolfgang Puck
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
3950 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119
Phone: (702) 632-7200

COVID-19 Update:

I visited the Mandalay Bay Resort as research for one of my classes in Hospitality Management.  I was pleased to see that Lupo still is open. They have removed a lot of the tables to accommodate the social distancing required in the pandemic world.  It looked like the tables all were over six feet apart, maybe more, leaving just about half, or a third of the tables there once were.  From a diner’s perspective, that is nice, eliminating crowding that you often find at restaurants during peak times.  But, financially speaking it must really hurt the restaurant. 

(Updated August 26, 2020, Original November 19, 2019)