Aria Patisserie, Las Vegas

When in Las Vegas, there is no shortage of tempting food around, ranging from quick food courts to celeb chef branded fine dining, and everything in-between.  When it comes to sweets, again, no shortage. If you want something ice cream adjacent to beat the heat, you can easily grab DQ from the food court (which, of course, I did), you can wait in long lines at Milk Bar (yup, also did, review coming soon), or you can stop at any of the generic unloved gelato stands.  If you want pastries, again, grab something quick from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, opt for higher end items at Dominique Ansel's Las Vegas outpost (which I nearly did, given how much I've loved his NY locations), or just grab from whatever hotel cafe you happen to be walking past.  Or, follow the crowds to a place that has it all: Aria Patisserie.

"At ARIA Patisserie, everything you crave is handcrafted daily with the freshest seasonal ingredients. Rise and shine with delectable pastries and perfectly brewed draft coffee. Enjoy wholesome sandwiches, salads and freshly squeezed juices. And sweeten any mood with an exquisite chocolate or gelato selection. Whether you’re seeking an early morning treat, a late-night snack or anything in between, ARIA Patisserie has something for you."

Aria Patisserie is located, as you may have guessed, inside the Aria resort casino.  I didn't really look into the savory lineup, but I did see fairly high prices on items such as basic salads, overnight oats, and simple breakfast/lunch fare. They also make fresh crepes, both sweet and savory, and that section seem to draw crowds.

 
The Patisserie is divided into two main areas, one exclusively for gelato, and one for everything else. It seemed busy at many times of day - the cafe side extremely busy in the morning for breakfast/coffee/pastries, and later in the evening for cakes and sweets. The gelato line was always long by mid-day, and even at 11pm, it was as long as ever.  They are open 24 hours a day, so your sweet tooth can always be satisfied.  It was nearly always buzzing, but I'll admit I never checked out the crowds at 3am.

Tip: if you just want a cake/pastry, the Market Cafe next door at Vdara carries the Aria Patisserie cakes and pastries, and is never busy.  Pricing is consistent between the two locations.

Goodies, Caramel Corn.

For those just looking to spend some MGM F&B credits, the pricey packaged confections could be a good option.  Lots of chocolate covered things, crispearls (!), and drizzled caramel corn.  I was certainly tempted.

More Goodies.

Different displays with packaged items abound, there to catch you while you wait in line, and just can't resist.  Think, grocery store checkout candy displays, just, upscaled.

Chocolate Bars.

They also had a large lineup of chocolate bars.  I'm not sure if they actually make any of these in-house, or if they are known for them, but, there really is an extensive amount of chocolate available.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Macaroons.

People rave about the chocolate covered strawberries in particular, which I thought was strange when I saw so many reviews of them, but perhaps does make sense if they are known for their chocolate work.

Pastries.

And then there are the pastries.  This is just one section, but, there were all sorts of croissants, monkey bread, cinnamon rolls, muffins.  All looked slightly above average, better than a generic cafe, but not exceptionally amazing (go to Dominique Ansel or Bouchon Bakery for those!).

Cakes.

The cakes however really did draw me in.  The first one in this case, a brilliant purple ube creation (with ube chiffon, coconut mousse, ube cream, coconut meringue), and the huge slices of flan were hard to walk past.

Cakes.

The carrot cake gets rave reviews (it has a layer of crispy pecan nougatine within!), and the others all look pretty top notch too.  The cheesecake was very inviting with the huge mound of raspberries on top.

Gelato Menu.

However, I was there mostly for the gelato, which is available as single or double size, in cup or cone.  They also have a trio sampler, which is $1 more than a single, but allows you to pick 3 flavors (all mini scoops, equivalent to a single scoop, basically, pay $1 more to try more!), and I love that they have an option like that.

Gelato.

All gelato flavors are very attractively displayed, with really quite vibrant colors and toppings.

Birthday Cake & PB&J Gelato.

I sampled the PB&J which was excellent, very rich peanut butter flavor, a little bit of berry swirl.  Definitely more PB than berry though, and very rich.  I think it would be great either paired with a scoop of something chocolate or perhaps berry flavored, or with a chocolate dessert.  A full scoop of just that might be a bit much.

The birthday cake was a looker, with big hunks of cake perched on top.

Donut & Campfire S'mores Gelato.

The donut flavor was even more ridiculous looking, with full size donuts perched on top.  A person before me got the Campfire S'mores, and requested one of the giant marshmallows in their serving.

All flavors here at Aria Patisserie looked soooo much better than the generic gelato shops that were every few stores along the Strip, I find it hard to imagine why someone would go to one of those instead (unless they truly didn't want to wait at all).

Ube Gelato (and Birthday Cake).  Single. $6.50.

I asked to sample the birthday cake flavor as I knew it was one that can easily trend way too sweet, but was told they don't do samples during peak hours.  However, my server was cute and snuck a tiny baby scoop into my cup, so I got to try it after all.  <3!

The birthday cake flavor had sprinkles in it, and tasted like yellow boxed cake mix, by which I mean, yes,  super processed and fake tasting.  So they actually really did nail the "classic American generic yellow birthday cake" flavor, but I'm glad I had only the sample and not a full cup of this.  ***.

Since I couldn't sample anything this visit, I decided to just get a single, and opted for ube, as, well, I love ube (that's why I have a blog label devoted to it!), and thought that even bad ube gelato would likely still be pretty great.  I didn't worry though - it was fantastic, among the best ube ice cream/gelato/etc that I've ever had.  Very strong ube flavor.  Really quite enjoyable.  It was very smooth, more dense than creamy, and just overall a nice gelato.  Nothing I'd really change.  ****.

White Chocolate Strawberry.  $3.50.

I also got a chocolate covered strawberry to enjoy later.  I struggled to pick between the dark chocolate or white chocolate options, but ultimately settled on white since I was planning to eat it after my caffeine cut-off time.

It was massive, as I could see in the display case, but it was even more apparent once I sat down to eat it.  The berry within was nicely ripe, juicy, flavorful.  They definitely do pick good berries to use for these.  Base berry: high quality, giant, excellent.

The white chocolate coating was thick, sweet, and didn't break off too easily (although obviously once you bite in, it loses structural integrity).  It had a creamier mouthfeel than a lot of white chocolate, which I assume means it had a higher cocoa butter percentage?  It was very good, but definitely very sweet.  In retrospect, I think I would have enjoyed a dark chocolate covered berry more, as the less sweet chocolate would pair better with the sweet berry within.  Still, I do enjoy white chocolate, and liked this quite a bit. 

****.