Treasure Island Dining Choices Change

Under the new ownership of Phil Ruffin, several changes have already been made at Treasure Island. Among the most recent are some of the culinary offerings.

Social House, the celeb-loved Asian eatery abruptly closed its doors at the beginning of July, and TI hasn’t wasted anytime finding a replacement to fill the space, which offers indoor and outdoor dining with views of the Strip and Sirens Cove.

On August 10th, 2009, TI will open Khotan, a pan-Asian restaurant. Yup, the resort is replacing an Asian cuisine restaurant with an Asian cuisine restaurant. I haven’t seen any menus except for a sample dessert one, but I’m told the main offerings will meld Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indonesian influences.

As for the decor, I have no idea how much that will change, as all references I’ve seen to the new restaurant are still of Social House, even on the Treasure Island website. I am told, however, since the name of the restaurant is a reference to the legendary city of jade, Ruffin will be outfitting the decor to reflect that.

Hours of operation for Khotan will be 5pm to 11pm daily, with an adjoining lounge open from 1pm to midnight daily. I’m told the restaurant is being considered “fine dining” so dress code will be semi-formal and reservations are suggested (call 866-286-3809).

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Meanwhile Francesco’s, the former fine dining Italian restaurant at TI, has been downgraded to the casual dining eatery, Pizzeria Francesco’s. The menu has changed to basically just pizza, sandwiches, paninis and pasta. Vegasandfood.com was kind enough to offer a scan of the current menu. The hit-and-miss quality of the food remains the same.

Hours are lunch daily from 11am to 4pm. Then the eatery reopens for dinner at 5pm and is open Sunday through Thursday until 11pm. Fridays and Saturdays enjoy extended hours until midnight.