Restaurant Review: Carnegie Deli at The Mirage

The Open-Faced Reuben...that is OBSCENE!

Note that this is only HALF of the Club Dear sandwich (tomatoes, bacon, turkey layers), and a chopstick is needed to hold it together.  Hayley finished it all.

Since we were at The Mirage to see LOVE, we decided to eat at Carnegie Deli for dinner.  When you enter from the Harrah's/Caesars Palace side, it's located just inside the casino, off to the right.  You can order food to go from a separate line, or choose restaurant seating from the hostess around the corner.

The restaurant is not very large, but it is open to the casino on two sides.  This makes it ideal for people-watching in my opinion, but it's intimate enough that you can still carry on a conversation with your table mates and not feel the need to yell.  The decor makes me think of a diner, but one from the early 1940's perhaps - no blinding aluminum on the walls, just lots of photos and a very diner black-and-white tile floor.

The menu is extensive; they offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, and their portions are huge.  The menu mentions that they charge $3.00 for sharing, but I definitely think it's worth it if you're not a big eater.  Even if you ARE a big eater, look around to see the size of the portions before you decide to get something for you.

You are given a plate of their house-made pickles to munch on while you look over the menu.  Given all the great reviews I've heard about these pickles I have to say I was a bit disappointed when I actually tasted them.  They were crunchy, yes, but the overall flavor wasn't my favorite.  I guess because they also added some extra garlic (in an effort to be more like Klaussen pickles?) they were supposed to be very flavorful, but I wasn't overly impressed by them, and I LOVE pickles!

Hayley ordered the "Club Dear", which has to be the TALLEST club sandwich I’ve ever seen!  It contained over 12 pieces of bacon (we stopped counting at a dozen) and at least a pound of turkey.  She ended up taking it apart to eat it in smaller bite sizes with the tomatoes because it was impossible to eat any other way.  She said it was really, really good, no matter the size.  It normally comes with lettuce, but Hayley left that off because it's her least-favorite sandwich topping.

I ordered the "Open-Faced Reuben" instead of a salad because Hayley talked me into it (“They’re famous for SANDWICHES, mom!  Have a sandwich.”), but I should’ve ordered a salad because it’s what I really wanted when I walked into the restaurant.  I swear the plate my ‘sandwich’ came on weighed at least 5 pounds and the mound of pastrami and corned beef topped with sauerkraut and melted cheese was enough to feed the entire country of Africa for a couple of days.  It was huge all the way around, and  I only ate about 1/10^th of it before I gave up – it was way too much meat.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I like corned beef and I like pastrami, but that much meat topped with other stuff and sitting on bread...it's too much for mere mortals such as myself.  I believe they have a smaller sandwich that's similar to it and about $5 less, but I didn't really review all of my options on the menu before I placed my order.  Shame on me.

We shared an order of fries, which were very good and crispy, and we each ordered an iced tea.  Our meal came to $65.91 before tip!  For sandwiches!  Our meal at Mon Ami Gabi later in the trip was less than that, and THAT meal included a glass of good wine for me!

Our waiter left a little to be desired because he was a bit slow-moving.  The restaurant wasn't crowded, but he took forever to get back to us and check on tea refills and see if we needed anything else.  I don't know if we came right before he went on a break or what, but we hardly ever saw him.

I would like to try the deli again, because I really want to try a smaller, more manageable salad and get a piece of pie or cake they are famous for.  Their cakes and pies are displayed in long, glass-fronted cases, and they all look fantastic.  It was just not a possibility for this trip, though.

I would rate the whole meal and experience a 7 out of 10.  Given the size of the portions and the selection, it's a great place to take someone for a sharing meal when you don't want to go anywhere too fancy.  Still, the price was a bit steep for me when I'm looking for a more casual dining experience in Vegas, especially for sandwiches.

Check out their menu here:  http://www.mirage.com/files/carnegie_menu.pdf