The fact was, I was tied over until dinner.
Dinner had been planned a week before I even arrived in Las Vegas. I had reservations at the Excalibur's Tournament of Kings, which is a dinner and a show featuring medieval actors and medieval dining. I was surprised to have front row seats, which were amazing.
Walking in, everything seemed a bit familiar. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I've been to two Medieval Times dinner & shows. If any of you are lost, go ahead and pop in the movie: The Cable Guy (1996) starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. There's a short scene taking place at a Medieval Times dinner show. Or you can just YouTube it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou1EBRxLQJs <-- *Note* that they don't actually let you dual with a buddy at Medieval Times, but it's still a funny scene.
Anyway, stepping into the Tournament of King's room, things felt familiar, in a good way. I entered the seating area in an arena and looked at my surroundings. The lights were dimmed and sections of the room were lit in different colours representing the various teams as part of the show, go Norway. The seats are arranged in an oval shaped semi-circle with the sand filled grand arena at the center. As I walked towards my seat I thought, maybe I'm back here. Nope, one more row down, this one? Nope, keep going. This one? Nope, keep going. Low and behold I'm seated at the very front! Sweet! Now the show is really in front of my face.
After everyone was seated, the show soon began. It's very entertaining and the acting and choreograph weren't too bad. But I won't get deep into all of that. I'm here to tell you about the food.
Keeping up with as much medieval "authenticity" as they could, they serve you your food. First is a blow of hot tomato soup. Now, they do not give you any silverware what so ever. So how do you eat? With your hands of course. The soup was very delicious. It wasn't too thick nor was it runny. It had the right amount of flavour and left you with a bite of spice after each sip.
As the show progressed, the main course came. A filled plate with a whole roasted chicken, steamed broccoli, and a biscuit. Now the real eating could commence. I dove right in and started with my favourite part, the legs. The meat was juicy and flavourful and the skin also gave you that pinch of the spices they used. However, I do have to point out that towards the middle of the chicken, where the thighs were, things got kind of dry but let's face it, cooking chicken whole perfectly is very difficult to do.
The steamed broccoli complimented the chicken and the biscuits were tasty when dipped into the remaining soup I had. The actual dining experience was well worth it and nearly parallels that of Medieval Times. The differences were:
Medieval Times used real pewter plates, bowls and cubs and the "wenches" dressed up in medieval dresses as opposed to Excalibur's waiters & waitresses dressing up in, well, modern restaurant dining wear.
Wait what about the drinks? Well, you had your choice of Pepsi, water or Sprite. All good choices, although I preferred a Coca Cola, but we'll have that debate later. Also, Excalibur did not have mead, which was a popular medieval drink of honey wine. Sad but acceptable.
Overall, the Tournament of Kings was fantastic. Delicious food and a good show, even though the show was Vegasfied with a well choreographed song and dance.
Excalibur's Tournament of Kings: Approved
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