Category: Las Vegas Advisor

We first bumped into Flower Child, completely by accident, on a trip to Phoenix. We liked it so much that we got to wondering if it was a chain and if so, where else it might be located. Imagine our surprise when we found one in Las Vegas, out at the corner of Rampart and W. Charleston. It’s become one of our go-to eateries for healthy, simple, and soul-satisfying meals at surprisingly inexpensive prices. Flower Child’s parent company, Fox Restaurant Concepts, also owns and operates the Henry brand, with a location at the Cosmopolitan.

Phoenix’s four locations all have walk-up to-go windows, but Las Vegas’ doesn’t enjoy the convenience. You can order online or through the app and pick up inside; otherwise, you stand at the cash register to order and pay and the process sometimes takes awhile. If the line gets too long, a second register opens, which moves things along.

Otherwise, Flower Child is well run. Once you order, you take a number and a server finds you when your food is ready, usually in a matter of minutes, which is impressive, since everything is made to order.

The menu features six kinds of salads ($11-$15), seven bowls, such as Peruvian braised beef, chicken yakisoba, and chicken kabobs ($12-$17), and wraps (grass-fed steak, black-bean falafel, bbq chicken) for $11-$13. But the best deal, at least according to us, is the selection of build-your-own entrees. With these, you specify your protein, starting with tofu ($13) and including chicken ($14) and salmon, shrimp, and steak ($16 each), then add two sides, such as sesame noodles, mac n cheese, three kinds of potatoes, quinoa, cauliflower risotto, grilled asparagus with white beans, and roasted broccolini.

We got the chicken, asparagus, and mashed potatoes and a turkey and avocado Cobb salad. Along with a lemon olive-oil muffin, the total bill came to $43.46 with tax. We had two full meals left over and they were just as good as when they came out of the kitchen.

Flower Child is a special place, especially for a chain, and we recommend it highly.

Gjelina was a restaurant we’d been curious about since it was announced in 2023 and opened the day after Christmas last year.

The first Gjelina, named for the owner’s grandmother, debuted in Venice Beach, California, in 2008 and since then has expanded into a diverse business, with Gjusta Bakery, GTA (take-out), Gjusta Goods (retail), Gjusta Grocer (market), Gjusta Flower Shop, and Gjelina Hotel. The restaurant in the Venetian is their third Gjelina; the other is on Bond Street in Lower Manhattan.

Gjelina touts its menu as “guided by conversations and long-standing relationships with southern California farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and co-ops.” The Las Vegas venue serves lunch, dinner, and a weekend brunch. The three menus are similar, though dinner has more vegetables, plus “plates” (entrees). Dinner features a raw bar and charcuterie ($10 for marinated olives up to $50 for a dozen oysters); four salads($20-$24) and a soup ($12); a dozen or so vegetable dishes, such as roasted oyster mushroom, Japanese sweet potato, and broccolini ($17-$23); and entrees, including beef tartare (the least expensive at $25), PEI black mussels, wood-roasted prawns, lamb chop, and rib eye (the most expensive at $89); and eight pizzas with gourmet cheeses and mushrooms, plus lamb sausage, chorizo, and guanciale (cured pork) for $21 to $28.

For lunch, the menu is essentially the same, with the same prices, though fewer raw-bar, salad, plate, veggie, and pizza selections. There are also four sandwiches. We went for lunch and tried an appetizer: the English pea and cipollini onion in a chickpeas miso butter sauce appetizer, which the waiter said was “really good.” And it was: barely cooked fresh peas and sweet onion in an outstanding sauce ($18).

Our lamb burger ($24) and blackened sea bass sandwich ($23) were fine as far as they went, though we estimated perhaps three minimal ounces of sea bass. Both came with “giardiniera” pickled vegetables, which, like the peas, were excellent.

All in all, however, the experience left us a little wanting. First, we were upsold an $8 bottle of spring water (one of those deals where the server ran through her spiel about drinks so fast that we didn’t hear that the “water” was for sale — or she didn’t mention it). Second, Gjelina is one of the few restaurants in Las Vegas that tacks on an autosuck 20% gratuity. It’s clearly stated on the menus and the servers made a point of communicating it as well. Still, we don’t like it for a number of reasons. Third, for a $100 lunch ($78 for food and drink, $15.60 “mandatory service charge,” and $6.53 tax), both of us were hungry an hour later. And fourth, due to circumstances, we valet parked at the Venetian, which cost another $45.

The verdict: yet another very expensive and less than satisfying couple of hours on the Strip.