Discover the Mouthwatering Menu at Netflix Bites: A Culinary Adventure Awaits!

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If you’ve ever dreamt of savoring a piece of “Surfer Boy Pizza” from the world of “Stranger Things” or enjoying an Eggo with Eleven, your wishes can come true! Netflix Bites, a restaurant in residency at MGM Grand in Las Vegas for one year, is here to fulfill that craving.

Starting now for walk-ins, and from February 20th for reservations, the menu showcases unique dishes inspired by popular Netflix series, such as Beef, Bridgerton, Bird Box, Emily in Paris, Ginny & Georgia, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Inventing Anna, Is It Cake?, One Piece, Orange Is the New Black, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Queer Eye, Selling Sunset, Sex Education, Street Food, Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday, WWE RAW, Chef’s Table, and Dinner Time Live With David Chang. The interior is adorned with vibrant pop-art pastel hues and posters reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec’s artwork, featuring Netflix characters.

Josh Simon, Netflix’s Vice President of Consumer Products, explains that they approached the development of Netflix Bites much like creating a film or TV series. “It’s centered around storytelling,” he notes, “We start with our most popular titles, particularly those with intricate worlds, characters, and narratives that provide us a solid foundation for translating them into a menu format.” Over 30 distinct intellectual properties are featured on the menu. “Our selection is incredibly diverse, spanning the globe,” Simon says, “And Las Vegas, which attracts visitors from all corners of the world, offers an excellent match for our offerings.

After choosing the IP they desired, MGM Culinary started brainstorming to make the on-screen dreams come true as edible experiences. James McBride, VP of Food and Beverage at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, highlighted several “immersive” dishes. The Squid Game’s “Red Bite, Green Bite” presents a spinning wheel that determines which of three sauces you’ll dip your chicken nugget in. “The Dessert is Lava” recreates a mountain overflowing with molten lava for confectioners, simulating a Floor is Lava challenge. It took around five months to develop the Stranger Things’ “Surfer Boy Pizza” box, which includes a phone number to hear a character’s greeting.

In 2023, Netflix experimented with the Bites concept in Los Angeles for six weeks by setting up a temporary venue showcasing dishes inspired by “Chef’s Table,” some of which were also incorporated into the Las Vegas experience. Additionally, there was an interactive dessert station based on the TV show “Nailed It,” allowing visitors to create their own sweet treats.

Simon expressed, ‘If I were to join the cast of Nailed It!, given my limited pasty skills, I believe I could outperform those contestants based on their hilariously disastrous desserts.’ However, when the dessert arrived at his table, he acknowledged the complexity and difficulty involved in creating such masterpieces.

Presentations vary, ranging from extravagant (featuring personalized plates) to understated, and let’s not forget, these fancy touches don’t come without a cost. For $65, you can indulge in “Eleven’s Feast,” where you’ll get a two-tiered serving of crispy fried chicken and waffle sandwiches alongside spicy chicken and black sesame waffles, all reminiscent of Hawkins and the “Upside Down.” The $23 WWE Smash Burger boasts a special “Royal Rumble” sauce and a WWE logo etched onto its bun.

Russ Hurry, the MGM Grand’s head chef, explains that this new dining spot breaks away from the typical Vegas restaurant mold. “It’s a total change of pace,” he notes. “Usually, our restaurants are linked to a famous chef, or they follow a chain model, or they specialize in a specific cuisine. But this one is connected to an Intellectual Property (IP).” He anticipates that it might take roughly three to four months to gauge how things unfold, potentially tweaking the menu’s offerings during this period.

As a gamer immersed in the thrilling worlds of shows like “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Squid Game”, I’ve found myself transported to these realms not just through the screen, but also by the ingenious cocktails crafted to complement each dish. The “Mind Flayer” from “Stranger Things” is a storm-electrified bourbon concoction that brings the ‘Upside Down’ to life with blackberries, a cotton candy lightning cloud, and a blinking ice cube for good measure. On the other hand, “La Casa De La Sangria”, inspired by “Money Heist”, offers a lockbox brimming with gold bar and mint leaves, making you feel like the mastermind of the heist itself!

Zoey D’Arienzo, MGM Grand’s food and beverage executive director, admitted she hadn’t previously watched “The Fall of the House of Usher,” but found herself drawn to it when they started developing the drink. “I’m now addicted to it! It was a lot of brainstorming sessions followed by checking if our ideas worked in practice.” The Ripple Maker, a drink printer, produces the same symbols as those donned by the Pink Guards in “Squid Game” for the “Pink Soldier” cocktail, which contains gin, Korean soju, and prickly pear. If your drink comes out as a square, you’re a manager, while a triangle indicates you’re a soldier – it’s up to your server to decide.

Netflix Bites is open every day for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., except on Fridays and Saturdays when it’s open for dinner from 5 p.m. to midnight. Globally, Netflix is creating immersive events like “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” “Stranger Things: The Experience,” and “Squid Game: The Experience” which are currently available in New York, Madrid, Sydney, among other locations; with Netflix House slated to open in Dallas and Philadelphia in 2025.

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2025-02-13 23:56