Aquaknox is an upscale restaurant in the “restaurant row” at the Venetian that puts its emphasis on serving fresh seafood. Most of what you will end up ordering has arrived from an ocean some place or another within the past day or two. To be honest I had never heard much of anything about this place neither good nor bad before I had dinner there. A friend of mine was in town for Memorial Day weekend staying at The Venetian, and suggested we take a break from red meat, and give it a try. Sure, why not? My first impression was pretty neutral. The décor had a modern contemporary feel. Nothing too fancy, but you def can’t wear a t-shirt and jeans. I posted a picture of what I decided to wear, and I was a bit more dressed up then some other people were, but I felt like I was pretty much on point. It wasn’t crowded, and we were given a nice table that wasn’t too close to any other diners. Our server came over and introduced himself, and his assistant, and gave us a few minutes to look at the drink menu. The wine list was decent. I had a glass of Cab costing $25 a pop. It was good. I couldn’t complain. When I opened the dinner menu the first thing I noticed was the fact that the prices didn’t match those of the online menu (which I had scoped out earlier in the day). Everything seemed to be $2-$3 bucks more expensive. The menu was identical except for the prices. Something about that rubbed me the wrong way. You expect people to pay good money, but you can’t even be bothered to hire someone to keep your website updated? Whatever tho…not that big of a deal.
So we looked over the menu (with no complementary bread to ease the wait). The menu seemed a little unfocused, the main seafood category featured 9 dishes 5 of which were cut portions of different types of fish. Almost all of them garnished with a puree of some kind. Boring. The last option was the market priced Maine lobster tail stuffed with crab. Our server returned, and told us that the specials that evening were a “surf and turf” combo, which included your choice of one of their 3 steaks, and half of a crab stuffed lobster. The other special? Crab legs. When we asked if the legs were an app or dinner sized portion we were told either could be done. That didn’t sound too special to me. More like they were attempting to get rid of them in any portion size possible. Not very impressive for a Memorial Day weekend lineup if you ask me.
My date ordered 6 cold water oysters to start ($21) I tried one, and it was very good. You could taste the freshness. I didn’t care for the champagne mignonette they offered as a topping, but I’ve always been more of a good ol’ Tabasco type of girl myself. Overall a good pick. He chose the Ora King Salmon ($36) for a main course. I had narrowed my entrée decision down to a couple choices, and asked our server for his opinion. Of course he suggested I go with the market price lobster tail stuffed with crab ($98). Who could blame him? I ordered it. Then I asked him for something like a house salad to start. My starter salad consisted of lettuce leaves tossed in a vinaigrette dressing. That’s it. I came to the conclusion it was the Butter Lettuce & Herbs salad ($14) after looking back at the menu. I noticed there were 2 other $14 overpriced side salads available, maybe I would have preferred one of those? I guess I’ll never know.
My friends Salmon was to his liking. He liked the flavor a lot, and felt it was cooked really well. I remember him having nothing but a bunch of vegetables left on his plate. He seemed to get all the food luck that night. My lobster was a big boy. A giant next to the 4 spears of asparagus that came as the side dish. The lobster was cooked nicely, but it was kind of bland. I know there’s people out there that say seasoning distracts from the delicate lobster flavor, but I need a little salt somewhere?!? The butter maybe? Nope. Plain clarified butter. The crab stuffing had to be where all the flavor was? Wrong again. It was decent don’t get me wrong. I ate all of it but it could have used a little salt or some herbs to liven it up.
The stuffing didn’t sit higher than the lobster shell itself, it almost looked like it had been leveled off with a knife to keep it flush with the shell. I can’t even get a heaping portion of stuffing in my $98 lobster?!? Anyways… No dessert for me. I’m normally not a sweet fan, but I was finished with this crap shoot of a menu for one night. This place was ok. It could be worth another try, but I might pass on it. I guess only time will tell.