A classy dining experience with good food at Mohegan Sun - Bamboo Forest
Written: May 31 '07
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Pros: Everything tastes good, Large selection, Great service, Nice ambiance
Cons: Pricy, Spicy dishes aren't that spicy
The Bottom Line: If you are at Mohegan Sun and looking for a classy place to eat, consider trying out Bamboo Forest – you most likely won’t be disappointed
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| jps246's Full Review: Bamboo Forest |
I’ve managed to find another restaurant I won’t mind eating at when I visit Mohegan Sun. Bamboo Forest turned out to be a very enjoyable experience that offered a wide variety of meal choices, great service and for Mohegan Sun, reasonable prices. It’s just that you’ve got to like Chinese food.
I discovered Bamboo Forest by accident too. I had been trying to make reservations at the neighboring restaurant, Pompeii & Caesar and they weren’t able to accommodate the large group of us (there were 8 of us) so I asked what reservations were available and Bamboo Forest was the first restaurant that could accommodate us at the time we wanted to eat so I went ahead and made the reservation. It turned out to be a good thing, even though I do enjoy Pompeii & Caesar, since I now have two restaurants I will enjoy eating at when I’m visiting Mohegan Sun.
Where’s Bamboo Forest?
Bamboo Forest is tucked away behind The Cove Restaurant in Mohegan Sun’s Casino of the Earth, Pompeii & Caesar is just to the left and the Longhouse steak restaurant is to the left of Pompeii & Caesar. All three (Longhouse, Pompeii & Caesar, and Bamboo Forest) are located behind The Cove Restaurant, which is a more casual dining area that serves dishes inspired by the three restaurants.
To get to Bamboo Garden you have to walk through the Cove and go to the desk that is located directly underneath the arch that covers the entrance to Bamboo Forest. You’ll either be seated if you have a reservation or there’s an opening, or you will be asked to leave your name and they will give you a time for your seating.
Pompeii & Caesar serves dinner every night. On Saturdays it is open from 5pm to 11pm, while on the remaining days it’s open from 5pm to 10pm.
Reservations are almost always needed. The easiest way to do this is to call Mohegan Sun’s reservation line at 1.888.226.7711 and make your reservation. You can make a reservation several days in advance and it’s a great way to be sure that you’ll have the dinner you want when you want when you are visiting Mohegan Sun (just call well ahead if it’s a busy holiday weekend).
Fine Dining?
Bamboo Forest is included in Mohegan’s list of fine dining establishments and while it’s definitely a step above the buffet or several of the other restaurants, this is by no means high class dining – if you have the money to eat here, they aren’t going to turn you away. That said, the vast majority of the folks eating here are well dressed, the service is very good and overall, it is a fine dining experience. Not only that, the price of meals is probably enough to keep only a certain kind of clientele coming back.
A nice touch is the hot towels that are brought out before and after each part of the meal so that you can wipe and clean your hands. The towels are passed out to each person at the table and then recollected as you finish wiping your hands. It’s great when you’ve got something messy like spare ribs.
Expensive?
If you’ve never been to a casino (or a big city) before and you go to eat at Bamboo Forest, it’s very likely that you are going to think that the prices are very high. Appetizers run anywhere from $8 to $75 (that’s for the Braised Whole Abalone in Oyster Sauce) with an average around $15. There are a number of different soups, beef, seafood and pork dishes. Our group got a wide variety of appetizers and all were of a good size. The soups came out in very large bowls – with almost enough for two people and the other appetizers were generally enough for at least two people. My Chinese BBQ Spare Ribs were excellent (if not a bit messy) and my boyfriend raved about the pork and shrimp wonton soup.
The entrees are broken down into three major sections, poultry and meat, seafood, and noodles and rice. These dishes run from about $20 to about $50 with a few (the Lobster dishes) that go up to $70. All of the entrees come with white rice. The rice and noodle dishes run anywhere from about $12 up to $20.
Desserts are around $10 each and there is a full service bar available, so you can get any kind of drink that you would like, which will add significantly to the cost of the meal.
With eight of us, our bill worked out to roughly $50 a person (before the tip) and that was with almost everyone getting an individual appetizer, each person getting their own entrée, a few orders of rice and noodles, just about everyone having one or two drinks and finally just about everyone having a dessert with coffee. It’s definitely not inexpensive but compared to the other ‘fine dining’ choices at Mohegan it falls into the realm of what is expected.
How’s it Taste?
Out of the eight different meals we all had, there weren’t any complaints about any part of the meal that I heard. The only thing that was close to a complaint was that a few of us had gotten dishes that were marked as ‘spicy’ but they weren’t that spicy. Otherwise, if anything, we all ate too much.
I started off with the Chinese BBQ Spare Ribs and then had the Tangerine Beef along with the Bamboo Fried Rice (a house rice that you can get chicken, pork and shrimp in – or any combination of the three) that I shared with my partner. He got General Tso’s Chicken and had started with wonton soup. Others got fish and beef platters and there were a number of different soups and dumplings that folks had for appetizers.
My only real complaint was that my beef dish was supposed to be spicy and there was only maybe a hint of spiciness in it. The spare ribs were very good, if not very messy and the Bamboo Rice was perfect too me, though my boyfriend complained that it had too many bean sprouts in it.
Following dinner, even though we were all stuffed, we looked through the dessert menu and almost all of us got dessert and coffee. I went with the Chocolate Decadence which was just a wonderful combination of different chocolates. Sadly, I just didn’t have the room to finish it all, but it tasted wonderful. My partner had the cheesecake while others had the apple crisp, pineapple upside down cake, the tiramisu and the crème brule. I think we actually had every dessert that was available. There weren’t any complaints besides bemoaning the fact that most of us couldn’t finish them since we had so much beforehand.
Service
This was the 2nd best part of Bamboo Forest after the quality of the food. The service was excellent with our waitress handling our large group efficiently and very politely. She explained dishes to us, helped out with suggestions and made sure that we were always okay with everything. Not only that, the other staff made sure our drinks were always full and any extraneous things were cleared off the table.
I have to say, Bamboo Forest runs right up there with my experiences at Pompeii & Caesar for best service at a restaurant in Mohegan Sun. Other restaurants there fall far short of the quality of these two restaurants.
Ambiance, Design and Noise
If you want to smoke while you are at Bamboo Forest, you will be seated in the Cove dining area where you will be exposed to the noise of the casino floor. However, while the entrance to Bamboo Forest is only about 50 feet from the casino floor, once you’ve entered into the restaurant and been seated, it’s almost impossible to see the playing floor and the sounds of the slot machines and gambling are distant and not loud at all.
That’s because, like the other two adjacent restaurants, the overall shape of the restaurant from its entrance is a slightly oxbow in shape. That slight bend, along with the floor layout of the restaurant, creates a cozy, quiet and very comfortable area for eating. It is very easy to have an intimate 1-on-1 dinner here – either at the large booth seating along the wall or at the tables with incredibly comfortable chairs.
Even with our larger party of eight, we had a table where we were all were able to easily talk to one another and even though there were other tables near us, it felt like we were in a cozy little corner of the restaurant.
Final Thoughts
Bamboo Forest has been added to my short list of potential restaurants to eat at Mohegan Sun. They have good food that is served in a nice atmosphere with great service. While the prices may be a bit high, I’m willing to splurge a bit when I’m at Mohegan and anyway, if the result of having to pay a bit more is the good service and the good food, it’s a fair trade-off to me.
If you are at Mohegan Sun and looking for a classy place to eat, consider trying out Bamboo Forest – you most likely won’t be disappointed.
More info on the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: No
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Make sure you make a reservation ahead of time - otherwise you could be waiting a long time for a table.
Best Suited For: Trendy Crowd
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