HIGHLIGHTS: La La Noodle @ Park MGM Las Vegas

I am thrilled to finally be eating at La La Noodle. I dined Christmas Eve, and sampled a wide variety of dishes – many of which were quite good! My highlights were the entrees – Walnut Shrimp and Oxtail Fried Rice being my favorites. Appetizers were also quite delicious, with a wide range of cuisines – traditional Cantonese Dim Sum, or Szechuan-style spicy chili wonton. This place was good enough to earn my stamp of approval – I would certainly come back on my own, and also it was good enough that I think I would be willing to take my parents as well. Come check out La La Noodle at Park MGM and try out their food!

 

My standard restaurant reviews include a breakdown by the following topics. Feel free to skip to whichever section you find most interesting.

  • Highlights
  • Ambiance
  • Atmosphere
  • Menu
  • Drinks
  • Appetizers
  • Entrees
  • Desserts
  • Closing

Sponsored – this restaurant review is sponsored by the establishment and property in general. No additional compensation was received for this post other than the exchange of product.

 

AMBIANCE

La La Noodle is tucked into a corner of Park MGM near the Las Vegas Strip, next to the Eataly and the pedestrian entrance from the New York New York. Its bright pink and purple color scheme makes for an eyecatching scene, with a printed menu displayed outside. It’s approximately 5,000 square feet, fitting in well with the Park MGM rebranding and remodeling over the past few years.

 

ATMOSPHERE

Plenty of people in the casino, but the restaurant was only about half full, primarily of Asian families, at 7pm. We walked past the very long bar area to be seated in tables in the back, quieter and away from the action, but close to a large and loud family. Additionally, when we left, you can get great views of the master chefs working on their craft!

 

MENU

Pleased to see a simple, straightforward menu – any time I have a menu with so many pages, I experience decision fatigue. We had a similarly straightforward order, trying a couple from each section, but also asking our server for his recommendations about what’s popular – my goal is to highlight the popular dishes and provide my impression of them, so that you can make a more informed judgment when you come here! Similarly thin drink menu with some cocktails, sake (which isn’t Chinese, as I expected a place called La La Noodle serving Dim Sum to be), and a happy hour menu as well. Perhaps I’ll come back to try happy hour.

 

DRINKS

We ordered a Thai Iced Tea ($5.50) – I always, always enjoy it – as well as a round of cocktails for the table. The Thai Iced Tea was served in a small drink glass, and was not very sweet, perhaps heavy on the condensed milk, and not very cold.

The Matcha Punch ($16) tasted great, and the Mai Thai ($16) was sweet, like a pineapple juice. The La La Cooler ($16) tasted like Mike’s Hard Lemonade, which was interesting.

 

APPETIZERS

We ordered the Spicy Chili Wonton ($17) and Crispy Lobster & Shrimp Dumplings ($22) as appetizers, as well as testing out their Pork & Shrimp Shu Mai ($13).

Spicy Chili Wontons were slightly cold on the inside, and very spicy, drenched in the chili sauce. The krill added a nice crunch to the dish, as did the chopped dried garlic. The filling on the inside was quite tasty however. The lobster dumpings were drizzled with a sauce, and were nice, hot, and freshly made. However, be careful when biting – as they do squirt the juices out! The exterior is crunchy, with a salty filling, similar to a cheesy lobster bake, and definitely tasted more like a shrimp ball than lobster.

The Shu Mai had an interesting crispy and dry skin, and tasted as if it was previously frozen and left steaming for too long. Unfortunate for us!

 

ENTREES

For entrees, we ordered several different items to try family style – and definitely stretched our stomachs! We ordered the Walnut Shrimp ($33) – a personal favorite of mine, as well as a Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($22), Pan-Fried Lobster & Shrimp Stir Fried Noodles ($38), and Oxtail Fried Rice ($23). We also got a side of Green Beans in X.O. Sauce ($17) to round things out.

The walnut shrimp was heavenly – large, fried shrimp, tasting deliciously crunchy, with not too much mayonnaise dressing. The beef brisket noodle soup had huge chunks of beef, but they weren’t tender or melt in mouth and quite tough. The broth had a good flavorful taste, making the noodles tasty as well.

For the lobster noodles, there were large pieces of lobster that were very well cooked, where you can taste the “smokiness” of wok cooking. However, the noodles were just okay – and tough to chew in some cases. It felt as if they were cooked unevenly, as some were tough and some were soft. We only found a few pieces of lobster in the dish as well.

Lastly, I always have to evaluate a Chinese restaurant (and yes, I consider La La Noodle to be such) by their fried rice. Typically I go with barbeque pork fried rice, but my guest eyed the oxtail. It was simply in a word, fantastic. I would consider this better than the fried rice at Best Friend, which I raved about in my previous review. It was appropriately salty in some cases, with tasty, small bits of fat sprinkled throughout. The presentation could use some work, but I certainly care more about the taste. The green beans as a side were also nice, with good flavor from cooking and tasting fresh as well.

 

DESSERTS

There wasn’t a dessert menu to speak of, but the server brought us the two that were available – a mango sorbet, and a mochi ice cream. The Sorbet was very flavorful and robust, with a cherry as well. The mochi ice cream did not taste store bought and wasn’t too sweet, with two green tea and one mango. I would order the mochi ice cream again, as that’s easily sharable.

 

CLOSING

One point that we did notice was that it did take a while for us to be checked on – approximately seven minutes from the time were seated. It took about an hour and ten minutes from the point of ordering to the completion of our meal. Timing wise, Appetizers came out about 7-10 minutes after ordering, with dim sum taking another 7 minutes and entrees arriving after another 12 minutes, so approximately 30 minutes between ordering and entrees. Some of the dishes here were hit or miss, but I did like a couple of them like the Chili Wontons – they grew on me, as well as the Oxtail Fried Rice and Walnut Shrimp. I would consider this place “authentic” enough to take my parents, and my lady concurred. Were I given future dining credit at the Park MGM, it would be a tough battle between Best Friend and La La Noodle!

 

Gambling Wins!

Also, it doesn’t hurt to gamble a bit before or after eating. This was an epic conclusion to the 2019 year, adding $2260 to the haul for the year, pushing my total up to over $5500 in 2019! Normally I was picking up just $200-300 on a trip on average, but this one at nearly $2300 blew it out of the water. It was also the first time we bet big (>$5 per spin) and actually won big (more than 6x our bet), and it was an amazing experience.

 

 

Sponsored – this restaurant review is sponsored by the establishment and property in general. No additional compensation was received for this post other than the exchange of product.

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