Payard Patisserie & Bistro is a whimsical and fanciful bistro featuring three distinct dining components: a chocolate shop, a pastry shop and an intimate dining room. If you'd like to learn more about the particulars of each component, complete with tidbits like how to dress and where to sit, please read on.

Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by phoning the restaurant directly.

Seating at Payard is comfortable and includes a variety of options. You could take one of the cream-colored leather armless chairs at the counter surrounding the exposition kitchen, for instance -- they're comfortable at about 18.5 inches in diameter -- or you could take a seat at the luxurious semicircular white leather banquette that surrounds a portion of the restaurant. The wooden chairs have a fanciful cutout in the back while the banquette is made of diamond-shaped tufted leather. Seating at both is intimate, as tables for two in the full-service dining room are about 27 inches square. Every seat gives you a view of the action in the open kitchen. If you so choose you could sit next to the window and get the best of both worlds: a view of the kitchen and a view of the traffic outside. Alternately, you could grab a made-to-order crepe and a cup of hot chocolate and sit at one of the metal chairs outside of the restaurant, where you'll have a view of conventioneers scurrying about between meetings.

Payard offers a fun, casual dining experience with three experiences in one! The full-service dining room seats 46 for breakfast and lunch. Here you can view the open kitchen, watch passersby outside or simply enjoy your meal at a leisurely pace. In the chocolate shop, on the other hand, you can grab and go with some quick hot chocolate or coffee, which you can take with you to your final destination, whether it's a meeting in the convention center or a seat by the pool. Finally, you can choose the pastry shop, where you can get a made-to-order crepe and take a seat right outside the restaurant to watch all the action at Caesar's. No matter where you eat, the action is lively. It is not a quiet restaurant by any means. The atmosphere is whimsical yet upscale, reminiscent of a classic Parisian pastry shop, but with a modern twist and neither pretense nor fuss. Adding further to the atmosphere throughout is the entire lighting experience, which offers a buttery glow that's a nod, perhaps, to Chef Payard's buttery pastries. Your first experience, however, isn't visual at all; it's olfactory thanks to the delicious aromas of chocolate that reach you before you've even arrived at the restaurant, as if they're guiding you into it! Note that if you want a quieter experience, the best time to visit Payard is between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., although it's never completely quiet thanks to light background music that plays throughout the day. If you get a chance, say hello to Executive Chef Gregory Gourreau or owner Francois Payard. Both are incredibly lovely and will dazzle you with details about their cuisine.

The restrooms have same-level access and are outside the restaurant, in Caesar's Palace.

Although the dress code is casual, please use discretion.

Complimentary valet parking is available at the hotel, at the main entrance, as are multiple cabs. Additional parking is available at the self-park structure behind Caesar’s Palace.

Francois Payard is a James Beard Award-winning chef and his restaurant, Payard Patisserie & Bistro, has been nominated for James Beard Best Restaurant Design. Chef Payard's accolades include: James Beard Association Pastry Chef of the Year, 1995; Bon Appetite Food & Entertainment Awards, Pastry Chef of the Year, 1998; International Pastry Competition Committee, Beaver Creek Pastry Chef of the Year, 2001; The French Government's Ordre du Merite Agricole, Medal of Honor, 2004; Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, 2005; Relaais Desserts, "One of 85 of the Best Pastry Chefs in the World," 2006 – 2007.

*Please note that the restaurants featured at TravelsinTaste.com may have changed their personnel, menu, pricing, decor, hours of operation, etc., since our last visit. The competitive and creative nature of the fine dining scene virtually assures that changes will occur on a frequent basis in order to make diners happier, meals more pleasurable and visits more frequent. Given their frequent fluctuations, most restaurants welcome inquiries about their current hours, menu and more.