Maroon – It was ok

Maroon is an extremely hyped Caribbean Steakhouse in the Sahara, Las Vegas, by a chef who has had a lot of success with other restaurants in NYC and DC. The place is popular with reservations booking weeks out in advance on Open Table. The restaurant is in the former Bazar Meat space and has completely transformed. They did an amazing job and the place is beautiful. We arrived a bit a early so our table wasn’t ready and we started with drinks at the gorgeous bar.

There were steaks on display and the aging looked amazing:

I was pretty impressed by the menu. First it wasn’t huge so I liked the focus, and second, a lot of items sounded really good…on paper.

Service was a bit slow, both from initial contact with our server and then for delivery of the food ordered. We started with the patties. I love patties and my benchmark for these is Juici Patty in Jamaica. The patties at Maroon sounded good on the menu, but the actual taste was just ok. I could smell the truffle but the bite was underwhelming. I was expecting big flavors.

Regular readers know I rarely comment on price, but for $40 compared to what a good patty costs is way off. Its kind of like trying to do fine dining pho. I’ve been to many places that have tried but the “normal” version is so near perfect, its hard to beat.

Next, we ordered the piri piri salad at the suggestion of a couple people. This was good. Refreshing and well balanced. It was a unique use of piri piri. Although I enjoyed it, I don’t think most people will think that $32 for a salad is worth it. The sauce was delicious with good use of acidity.

Next came the steak which I was really excited for because it is a steakhouse after all, and I saw the aging in the cabinet. The steaks had a kind of seasoning which I felt took away from the aging flavor. Otherwise, I would say it was ok. Nothing mind blowing.

The last two dishes I did enjoy a lot. The final savory dish was the fried rice with peas, oxtail, shrimp and chicken (though I don’t recall seeing chicken when it arrived). The rice was cooked well with each grain individually on its own and not stuck together. Each bite had a good amount of the ingredients so it felt hearty and there were some veggies to add freshness and acidity. Flavor had a lot of umami.

For dessert, a sour sop cake which was like a key lime pie and was well executed.

Overall, the atmosphere was incredible with a buzzy vibe and everyone having a good time. The restaurant is gorgeous and the food ranged from ok to very good. Drinks were good. Service was a bit slow but friendly. Because the menu is so appealing, I would still go back and give stuff a try. There is a whole jerk section (I should mention you are provided with 4 sauces including jerk) which I love and some seafood that looks interesting. There are also some share dishes that I want to try. I would recommend you check out for yourself.