Washing Potato Ran the Full Spectrum for Food and Service

Washing Potato is a new Chinese restaurant inside the also new Fontainebleau Hotel in Vegas. I recently tried their dim sum and here was the experience. The service started out poor with the hostess seating us in a high traffic and cramped area. I saw many open four tops and asked to move. The first hostess said she would check with another hostess and then came back and said all the tables were spoken for. This was obviously not true as there were many open tables AND ours was also a four top so it wouldn’t be hard to swap EVEN if it were true that they were fully booked. After I asked again, she told me that the table I requested was not fully set or clean which was also not true. Another hostess came over to explain again and then said she would see what she could do. Our server then came by to introduce herself and we told her we may move, and she told us to just move. Anyway, the rest of the service went without incident and our server was very good and friendly, as were all the wait staff. The only other thing non-food wise that was strange was the atmosphere. They were trying to create a high energy atmosphere, but it wasn’t well done. For example, there were bright disco-like lights throughout, but they freqeuntly shined in my eyes.

Foodwise, we started with the vegetable spring rolls. They were mediocre. Because they were vegetarian, they needed more umami, perhaps from mushrooms.

Next, some dim sum including har gaw and shumai. They were just OK. The last dim sum item were Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings). I would rate these above average.

Next, a half Peking Duck. This was more like a pulled pork. First, the dish came out whole like other places. This is done so they can present it table side, allow anyone who wants to take pics to do so, then carve the duck tableside. However, in this case, they simply brought it out, then proceeded to shred it pulled pork style.

The best part of Peking Duck is the crispy skin so serving it this way was very odd. It was average. The last dish we had was the rice boodle with beef. This was the best tasting dish here. The wok seasoning flavor was very strong and delicious.

Overall, I would rate this place as average. It was not amazing nor was it terrible. However, Vegas has Spring Mountain which is their version of a Chinatown with an abundance of amazing Asian places to eat. Against this background, that would be my first choice for Chinese food in Vegas. If I didn’t have time to go to Spring Mountain, and was close by AND craving Chinese food, I might consider Washing Potato. However, I would not recommend anyone make a special trip or put much effort to go. Only if convenient, and on a whim.