Wing Lei: A Review of the Michelin Star Restaurant

Although foodies and high-end Asian casino players know Wing Lei, it is not at the tip of many people’s tongues when it comes to the best restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip.

Still, it is very popular since it’s number six on our list of the nine hardest restaurant reservations in Vegas.

Wing Lei is an enclave tucked away at Wynn.

Upon entering the restaurant, there is a small bar with a handful of seats.

The atmosphere is elegant—spiritual even—overlooking a garden of pomegranate trees and Chinese decorations. It creates a very relaxing environment. We imagine that high-rollers like to eat here not only for the great food but also to reflect and recharge prior to hitting the baccarat tables.

If you are a woman who likes to dress to match the decor, yellows, browns, and greens will suit you well.

• Field Greens with Duck (5/5)
• Marinated Jellyfish (5/5)
• Mapo Tofu (5/5)
• Cantonese Chow Mein (4/5)
• Pomegranate Honey Cake (5/5)

Our first appetizer was the field greens with Peking Duck. Wing Lei is most known for its duck dishes, and since we didn’t want to get the Peking Duck entree (which is basically an entire entree for two), we got this instead.

There were only a few pieces of duck spread over some greens, almonds, and a light peanut vinaigrette dressing, but the few pieces were phenomenal. The choice of ingredients in this dish all nicely complemented one another.

Based on those few bites of duck, we would imagine that the Peking Duck entree is spectacular.

The other appetizer we had was the marinated jellyfish. For the uninitiated (like we were), jellyfish have a gummy outside and chewy inside.

Although that may not sound great, it was extremely tasty especially with the soy vinaigrette sauce and tomatoes. We are definitely glad that we ordered it.

We strategically ordered light on the entrees to have room for dessert. For our main course, we got the mapo tofu and Cantonese chow mein.

The mapo tofu (vegan) comes with two different types of mushrooms in a very light chili soy sauce. While a few bites were a little spicy, the flavors complemented each other well. The choices of the mushrooms in combination with the tofu were spectacular.

As far as chow mein goes, the Cantonese chow mein was really good. The noodles themselves tasted nice, with no hint of grease. The mushrooms and veggies that came with the noodles were great. We couldn’t give it a five because there are limits to how good chow mein can be. This is the only noodle dish on the menu.

For dessert, we ordered the pomegranate honey cake. In these reviews, we don’t like to regurgitate the description on the menu, but we have to here. It is an olive oil cake with vanilla cremeux, pomegranate coulis, and chocolate crumble on the side.

What the menu doesn’t say is there is a chocolate tree that ‘grows’ out of the chocolate crumble. It is basically three desserts in one.

The cake with the vanilla cremeux was bursting with flavors. The pomegranate coulis and chocolate crumble bites were like a second dessert.

Last but certainly not least, the chocolate tree was a third dessert. This one dessert had so many flavors, and it was so good that we want to add it to our list of the best desserts in Vegas.

After dessert, each diner is given a gift box with a hard pomegranate frosted cake. Nice touch!

• Seven Sages of Bamboo Grove (5/5)
• River Goddess (3.75/5)
• Espresso Martini (4/5)

The three drinks we ordered were truly spectacular.

We were on a vodka kick, so each drink we ordered had vodka in it. I guess it’s not the most traditional, but it’s certainly tasty!

Seven Sages of Bamboo Grove is vodka with jasmine pearl tea, Sichuan pepper honey, passionfruit, lemon, persimmon, and Sichuan gold dust. It was so refreshing, especially in the Summer, and with all the flavors, one could hardly taste any alcohol.

River Goddess is watermelon vodka, kai lemongrass ginger shochu, Ming River baijiu, cucumber, and watermelon juice. This cocktail was very interesting and tasted almost like a sour patch kid, so you must like sour to enjoy it.

For dessert, you guessed it. We got an espresso martini. It was not as sweet or chocolatey as other places—it was a bit more vodka-ey. That said, the temperature was perfect, and we liked that it didn’t come with espresso flakes like most places. It was refreshing!

Because we know prime-time reservations are not easy here, we made our reservation for 6:30 pm on Saturday about one month out.

Like other Wynn restaurants, Wing Lei emails to confirm a reservation a few days out and then sends a text reminder a few hours and then again within 30 minutes of the reservation time.

Upon entering Wing Lei, the host greeted us and whisked us to our table upon confirming our name.

The service was attentive and pleasant. When we asked about the jellyfish (we haven’t eaten it before), the server gave us an honest assessment of what to expect. In other words, he didn’t ‘sell’ us like it was the best dish ever like they do at many Strip restaurants – no matter what dish one asks about.

The food was all brought in timely, and requests were addressed quickly.

There are two palette cleansers brought before the meal–one tea and a watermelon bite.

Wing Lei offers diners a plate of different-flavored chocolates with the dessert course. We were too full to eat them all, but they were fantastic.