Worth the trip ! (Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas)

First of all, I have to apologize for this posting. The short version of the story goes like this.... I forgot my camera. argh!!!! I couldn't believe it. How stupid could I be? The biggest reason I decided to bring my camera on this trip was for the sole purpose of taking pictures of one of my favorite restaurants Lotus of Siam. And I forgot. I contemplated whether or not to go back to the hotel and retrieve it, but i thought to myself 'oh well, I'll just have to come back again and take pictures'. So that's it for my apologies. I had to commandeer my sister's phone and use the camera from her phone to photograph the food. Believe me when I say that the pictures do not do the food justice!
Let me start off by saying that Lotus of Siam is one of my all-time favorites! The food here is absolutely delicious. The one thing that I've discovered over the past few years is that some of the best restaurants in Las Vegas are off the strip. Lotus of Siam truly lives up to this idea. The first time we ever went to Lotus we were Really reluctant. We actually drove past it a couple of times and when we got there we were very skeptical. Lotus is located off the strip in a dive of a strip mall right next to a dingy looking massage parlor. But boy was the food worth the trip!
One of everyone's favorites is the Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. The shrimp is wrapped with bacon and is deep fried with a crispy won ton skin. These make for the perfect appetizer treats! Another to die for dish is their Crab Fried Rice. This has got to be one of the best fried rices around. I don't see crab fried rice offered very often so its hard for me to compare to other restaurants. Yet another very delicious dish is the Scallops with Garlic Sauce. I typically don't like scallops because they can tend to be a bit chewy, but the scallops here are like butter and the sauce... forget about it! It's so good that after all the scallops are gone, I get the left over sauce and pour it over my rice. Over the past few years we've come to know the menu fairly well and now have our standards. Keep in mind that you could ask the waiter to tailor the heat level of the food to your liking as some dishes could completely burn your taste buds. One of the most unique items on the menu that I have yet to see anywhere else is their Crispy Rice. The deep fried rice is both citrussy and a bit spicy. The texture and taste of this dish is out of this world. The Spicy Beef Salad is another dish that is very delicious, but this is one of those dishes that you may want to ask for medium heat, unless you like heat. Yummm!!! I know that this is sounding monotonous, but yet again... Another delicious dish is the Steamed Sea Bass. The sea bass is so delicate and moist and is also an absolute must! For all the people that know me well and know my eating peculiarities, I don't often eat much seafood, but all my favorite dishes at Lotus of Siam are seafood. Weird... or maybe not. Just depends on how it is prepared. Good food is good food! There were three new items that we tried on this particular visit to Lotus. One was the Crispy Pork. This dish happened to be my least favorite of the night. The flavors were just not that impressive as the other dishes. The second dish that was new to us was the Fried Wonton that had ground chicken inside. The wontons were just okay, nothing special. Right when I started to think that we should have just stuck to our regulars the last dish came out. It was the Sliced Beef with Tamarind Sauce. The beef was perfectly cooked and had a nice flavor of BBQ and the tamarind sauce complimented the meat nicely. This dish will definitely become one of my regulars. To cap off the night we ordered the Fried Bananas that were wrapped in a wonton skin and fried. This dessert was actually pretty good. We were all thinking that it would have been better if it was served ala mode! Lotus of Siam is definitely worth the trip!

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Crispy Rice

Crab Fried Rice

Spicy Beef Salad

Scallops with Garlic Sauce

Steamed Sea Bass

Crispy Pork

Fried Dumplings

Sliced Beef with Tamarind Sauce

Fried Bananas

Lotus of Siam
953 E. Sahara Blvd
Las Vegas, NV. 89104
702-735-3033