Since RM Seafood opened on Valentine’s Day, 2005, Rick Moonen has set a new standard for seafood in Las Vegas. Located at the mouth of Mandalay Bay, an upstairs dining room with a yacht-club feel attracts a mix of high rollers and locals. RM Seafood Top,appetites restaurant in las vegas.Playful touches include portholes that peek down on tanks

Moonen Delivers Flawless Seafood For Posterity

of live crustaceans. A champion of sustainability, Moonen simply prepares Seasonal sea life to preserve their natural advantages. Beverage Director Jeff Eichelberger is similarly intent on maintaining the earth’s bounty for perpetuity, favoring organic, biodynamic wines. Top desserts utilize fresh fruit in tarts and ice cream.After building a reputation in Manhattan as a top-tier chef and tireless advocate for preserving North American seafood for posterity, Queens native Rick Moonen was courted by Mandalay Bay to open a seafood restaurant at their Las Vegas casino. Given the opportunity to brand his name in an emerging market, Moonen moved west and debuted his eponymous restaurant in 2005, on Valentine’s Day. Since then, RM Seafood has utilized impeccable seafood and inspired preparations in converting desert denizens to the wonders of the sea.

RM Seafood resides at the confluence of Mandalay Place mall and the Mandalay Bay casino. A wood, glass, and metal-fronted structure holds the casual R Bar Café and more formal Restaurant RM upstairs. A blue water wall with a sign that reads “RM Seafood” signals your arrival. Step inside the wide-mouth door and bathe in the watery shimmer cast by an overhead water-filled ceiling.

To shepherd the design, Moonen handpicked San Francisco architect Cass Calder Smith, who responded to Rick’s vision for a split-level “human aquarium” featuring “different points of excitement.” As you walk into R Bar Café, employees shuck live oysters and clams at the silver-topped raw bar. The main seating area sports a wood pegboard ceiling, white tile walls, plenty of dark wood, and white banquettes. In back, a sushi bar is tucked away next to a high-energy exhibition kitchen, highlighted by tanks of live lobsters and crabs. The café is popular with locals and casino-goers looking for a taste of oceanic comfort food: raw oysters served on the half shell, jumbo lump crab cakes, a bowl of New England style clam chowder, or a simply prepared cut of market-fresh fish.

A central silver elevator and staircase lead upstairs to Restaurant RM, transitioning from casual to upscale. A central mahogany bar is situated near a sumptuous lounge, which is populated by yellow chairs and low-slung tables. Just outside the glass-fronted kitchen is a walkway with glass portholes that look down on the kitchen action below, a playful touch more typical of glass-bottomed boats than restaurants. In the dining room, partitioned booths with yellow cushions line the mahogany walls and tables occupy the center of the room.  The walls are accented with artistic panoramic photographs of oceans and beaches. The dining room attracts locals celebrating special occasions and out-of-towners who just won big in the casino.

Inspired by the inviting atmosphere, I readied my palate with a glass of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, smooth-sipping Champagne known as “Yellow Label.”

For my amuse bouche, I was presented with a white soup spoon topped with rosy pink Columbia River King salmon tartare, fused with saffron mayo. The finely-chopped fish was “plated” with a dab of green micro cilantro oil and a single square potato chip to supply texture.