Pisces Opens at Wynn: Blue Lobster & Chocolate Fish Delight
By Swetta Kathuria
Stepping into Pisces Bar & Seafare at Wynn Las Vegas feels like diving into a stylish undersea retreat. Floor to-ceiling windows reveal the Lake of Dreams outside, complete with animatronic birds and a singing frog performing on the water nightly . Inside, designer Todd-Avery Lenahan has cloaked the former Lakeside space in moody Mediterranean tones – think deep navy walls, glittering bronze mosaics, embroidered velvet and 400 floating Murano glass orbs overhead . Every detail – from fish-skin-leather banquettes to the rust-colored ceiling orbs – hints at a seaside chic vibe that is glamorous yet relaxing .
In Pisces’s kitchen, Executive Chef Martin Heierling (whose résumé includes Bellagio’s Sensi and Vdara’s Silk Road) delivers exactly what the opulent setting promises. His new menu is a love letter to the Mediterranean coast , loaded with Greek olive oil, Tuscan pasta and savory seafood. I savor a perfectly al dente lobster spaghettini – house-made spaghetti from a Tuscan mill tossed tableside with a whole Czech lobster, fennel, tomato and fragrant extra-virgin olive oil . But the true showstopper is a pair of rare blue lobsters – icy-blue genetic anomalies with firmer, sweeter meat . Heierling serves these blue lobsters two ways: chilled tails brightened with a green-pepper chimichurri and the knuckles and claws in a spicy pepper sauce, served back in the shell like edible ocean treasure . “It’s a statement on our menu… a delicacy,” he notes, and indeed the sweet intensity of those blue-lobster bites is unforgettable .
One of the most fun features is a front-of-house raw bar display: diners can pick from whole fish on ice – branzino, dorado, Dover sole and even bluefin tuna – and have them prepared to order . The staff then fillets and flambés or salt-crusts these selections tableside, returning them head-on and tail-on for dramatic effect . Other shareable plates continue the theme of theater: I watch as a lobster-and-saffron paella arrives amid a cloud of fragrant saffron steam , and a side of sfogliato bread is brought to the table – layers of flaky, buttery lamination, crisp on the outside and tender inside – to spread with smoky whipped eggplant and tangy Greek feta . All the while, Wynn’s mixologists fuel the mood with Mediterraneaninspired cocktails – think yogurt-washed punches and Aperol spritzes – which keep the salty-sea spirit flowing.
Dessert at Pisces is pure theater. Executive Pastry Chef Jennifer Yee outdoes herself with a signature chocolate fish that melts away tableside. A hardened shell of olive-oil cake and chocolate is poured with warm sauce and cracked open to reveal a silky Basque cheesecake studded with Harry’s Berries strawberries . The interplay of bittersweet chocolate, citrus-kissed olive oil and tangy cheesecake is playful yet elegant – a whimsical end to the meal. Gazing back out at Wynn’s glowing Lake of Dreams, I realize Pisces has masterfully combined sumptuous flavor and showmanship. It’s a memorable splash of the Mediterranean on the Strip that even a salty skeptic like me couldn’t resist.
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