Sugar Factory Town Square is better for drinking than eating

The alarm bells started clanging soon after I asked our Sugar Factory waiter what kind of salmon was used in one of the specials.

I wasn’t looking for a lot here, just the basics: Atlantic or Pacific? Farm-raised or wild-caught? Fresh or in the freezer since the end of September?

His response: “I don’t know.” Which was fine, but it should have been followed with, “I’ll find out.” Instead: “Nothing high-end.”

Oh, dear. I know you’re busy, dude, but you do need to head back to the kitchen now and then.

I knew the Sugar Factory is mostly about the drinks. That’s obvious, from the name and because the drinks menu has pages and pages of large color photographs accompanied by detailed descriptions (though no prices), while the food menu is a one-sheet card with no descriptions (though it does have prices).

A reader had suggested I review the Sugar Factory at Town Square, and I tend to take reader suggestions seriously. And a few years ago I’d reviewed the Sugar Factory at Paris Las Vegas and found that the food held a surprising (to me, anyway) amount of promise. When the Town Square location opened a few years ago, I’d heard that it had an expanded menu. And the description of the salmon special was intriguing.

But a perusal of the menu suggests a shift to mostly bar food, plus a few special entrees each evening (like the aforementioned salmon), with attention mostly on the drinks. Well, not all drinks; when, in the absence of a wine list, I asked what they had, our waiter said, “We’re not big on wine.”

All right, then. (I did end up with a glass, after some give-and-take.)

Lest you think I’m castigating the waiter, I’m not; training is terribly important in these sorts of things. If management were paying attention — and, since a manager was going from table to table, I would assume she heard at least some of what he said — they would know that training, or retraining, was in order.

The food we did have was well-executed, but just didn’t offer much in the way of creativity, which we were hard-pressed to find on this menu. An appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip ($9.95) was warm, creamy and cheesier than most, accompanied by tortilla chips. Fettucine Alfredo ($13.95; shrimp or chicken also available) was a classic preparation, the pasta properly al dente, the sauce warm and creamy in what was beginning to feel like a theme.

The Western burger ($9.50) that was on special that night was about what you’d find in most of the valley’s poker bars (not that there’s anything wrong with that), topped with a generous amount of barbecue sauce and some bacon. The problem with this one was that the overall impression was “cold.” Yes, the lettuce and tomato were chilled, as we’d expect, but the sauce and bacon could have been warmed, which would have added much to what otherwise was a pretty decent burger.

And a side order of onion rings ($3.50) were hot and crisp and accompanied by a couple of pretty good sauces — classic bar food.

The Sugar Factory’s location may be a bit of an elephant burial mound, with at least one restaurant, maybe two, in this footprint dying before it. I’ll never understand the dynamics of restaurants at Town Square, where some really worthy independents have died while so-so chains have enjoyed roaring success. All of that would explain the dumbing-down of the menu (and service related to the menu).

We tried one of the Sugar Factory’s sugary drinks, the S’mores Martini ($9), and it was really pretty good as these things go. And it seemed everyone around us was leaning over a big fishbowl cocktail and looking quite happy.

So it appears the Sugar Factory Town Square is a good place to gather with friends and enjoy a drink or two. Just don’t expect too much from the food.

Send information to Heidi Knapp Rinella, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125. You also can send faxes to 702-383-4676 or email her at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.