Las Vegas' latest, greatest dining destinations
The scene: Year after year Las Vegas breaks its own tourism records, counting close to 43 million visitors in 2016. Many come for the food scene, which is amazingly diverse, at all price points and available around the clock. Sin City remains one of the world’s most popular dining destinations, with travelers always looking for advice on where to eat. Great American Bites has visited many times over the years, and put together this updated guide to the Las Vegas dining spots we have reviewed.
Breakfast/brunch: Few cities celebrate the morning meals as passionately as Las Vegas, where many places serve this fare all day — and all night. A perennial favorite is Hash House A Go Go, a small chain with outposts elsewhere that thrives at its four Vegas locations, all open for early breakfast through at least lunch, some late night, and The LINQ Hotel location in the middle of the Strip is open 24/7. Repeatedly named Vegas’ Best Breakfast by sources such as the Las Vegas Review-Journal and AOL, house specialties include hashes (corned beef, meatloaf, spicy chorizo sausage and even salmon) served in large, square cast iron pans, featuring large portions topped with two eggs, crispy potatoes, biscuits and fresh fruit. Also very popular are Farm Scrambles, Farm Benedicts, and weirdly flavored waffles and flapjacks (Brown Sugar Banana, Blackberry Granola, Snickers, Mango Coconut, etc.), along with lots of big Bloody Marys.
For pure only-in-Vegas decadence you cannot beat the long running Sterling Brunch at Bally’s, one of the only “Champagne” brunches in the world that serves actual Champagne, and lots of it. For 40 years the restaurant has been pouring Perrier Jouet Grand Brut like water, averaging 120 bottles per brunch, unlimited, as well as in mimosas with fresh squeezed orange juice. The food is also unlimited and upscale, with signature large, whole split lobster tails, Muscovy duck breast, and caviar and sushi stations. The Sunday brunch is wildly popular and since we visited has been expanded to Saturdays as well.
Of course, when it comes to Vegas-style breakfasts, one of the most popular ways to go is the all-you-can-eat…
Buffets: No meal is more synonymous with Las Vegas than the endless buffet, and these have gotten much better in recent years and shifted focus from low-cost quantity to higher quality ingredients, more international choices and fresher, more artful presentations. The first of the “next generation” buffets was Wicked Spoon at The Cosmopolitan, which kept the Asian, Latin and Italian stations, but focused on individual dishes rather than serving bowls. Instead of the traditional taco bar with heaping bowls of cheese, lettuce, salsa, onions and meats to make your own, here they serve a daily option such as tacos al pastor (marinated pork with onions and cilantro), individually and continuously made and plated fresh by the chefs, which has resulted in better taste and more authenticity. Individual servings of fried chicken are put out artfully in mini-fry baskets, and there are a lot less communal dishes.
This sparked a revolution that was quickly picked up by a remake of Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace, arguably the city’s most popular: the 600-seat, 25,000-square-foot space is divided into three dining rooms, and serves around 4,000 meals daily, and more than 5,000 on holidays. Bacchanal wins for sheer variety, with more than 500 dishes at every meal, including about 10 notable daily specials, and a selection of vegan and gluten-free dishes. There is elaborate dim sum, charcuterie and a standout southern-style barbecue station, and despite the immensity, food is prepared constantly, much of it carved or cooked to order in front of you.
The posh Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas was the most recent big renovation, and a lot of money was spent redesigning the space to make it look more festive, airy and welcoming — less like a typically cavernous Vegas buffet. A notable addition was an open-flame Argentinean-style parilla grill where meats are cooked over live fire in plain view, and Wynn has the most extensive carving station on the Strip. Other notable touches include an “All American” comfort food section with things like matzo crusted fried chicken, mac and cheese, and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, and a very large Asian zone with multiple stations for sushi, entrees, ramen and dim sum steamers of pork buns, spring rolls and shrimp dumplings. In keeping with the all you can eat and Vegas decadence themes, Wynn also offers an Endless Pour drink option, which includes draft beer, house wines, sangrias and rotating seasonal signature cocktails.
International specialties: Because employees and guests hail from all over the world, Las Vegas has an extremely broad offering of ethnic culinary specialties, many of which you would have trouble finding elsewhere. Great American Bites most recently visited Flock & Fowl, a very specialized eatery in a strip mall near the SLS and Stratosphere hotels. The focus of this beloved local and very casual favorite is Hainan Chicken Rice, the signature dish of China’s only island province, also wildly popular in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and especially Singapore. The chicken is poached in simmering stock, which is then seasoned with spices, garlic and ginger, and used to cook the rice, giving it a rich, flavorful and unique taste. This is probably the only restaurant focused on this one dish in the country, and it does a great job, with a few other options like delicious wings.
Another extremely popular choice is Market Street Café in the California Hotel. While it is a 24-hour coffee shop with a full diner-style menu covering all genres, the special focus here is on Hawaiian classics such as oxtail stew, Chinese fried chicken, combo noodle soup and especially the oxtail soup, which is only on the late-night menu. The soup is available at 11 p.m., and regulars begin lining up two hours earlier.
Yusho is a relative newcomer, part of the redevelopment of the front of the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino into an open-air plaza, and focuses on authentic Japanese street foods and small plates, such as pork ramen, assorted buns, crispy chicken and lots of sake options including cocktails. Firefly is a local favorite, serving a large menu of Spanish-inspired small plates that includes the most quintessentially traditional tapas, such as tomato bread, white anchovies on toast, tortilla a la Espanola, patatas bravas and Padron peppers. Another newcomer is Beerhaus, a modern riff on a classic German beer hall that's part of MGM's open-air entrainment district, The Park. While Beerhaus has some great non-traditional offerings (rotisserie beef brisket, roast chicken and porchetta) there are classics like custom-made bratwurst, locally made artisan pickles, Vienna-style hot dogs, roast potatoes and onions, pretzels with cheese dip, and lots of beer — more than a hundred choices, including many local brews. What makes Beerhaus really stand out is that the food is delicious, the prices low and the ingredient quality very high — virtually everything is made from scratch or custom made, and all-natural, antibiotic and hormone-free beef, pork and chicken are sourced.
Pizza: Las Vegas has no shortage of pizzerias, and seems unusually preoccupied with temperature and cooking methods, something all of the places we’ve covered are fixated on. Five50 in Aria is a casual concept by star chef Shawn McClain, who runs the Aria’s fine dining eatery Sage and was named the nation’s Chef of the Year by Esquire magazine and nominated for a James Beard Award. The name reflects the temperature at which McClain believes pizza should ideally be cooked, 550°F, and he feels so strongly he had consistent temperature ovens custom made using a combination of gas and wood. The pizza is very good, and Five50 has great salads and starters, a cool mozzarella bar and awesome specialty milkshakes. It also has a slice counter, one of the few places in Vegas you can grab a high-quality slice to-go.
800 Degrees Pizza is also named for its preferred cooking temperature, and is part of a fast-growing, Los Angeles-based chain that takes a fast food approach but does it with gourmet flair that sets it apart. Diners move down the counter and see their heavily customized pizza made right before their eyes with an assembly line process that starts with choice of dough to be hand tossed. It’s good pizza made quickly and a good value, with locations at the Monte Carlo and SLS casino resorts.
Finally, old Downtown Las Vegas is home to Pizza Rock, a smaller spinoff of Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco. While we haven’t reviewed Pizza Rock yet, Great American Bites emphatically considers Tony’s to be America’s best pizzeria, with seven ovens using coal, wood, gas and electric at varied temperatures to replicate the best and most authentic versions of nine regional styles of pizza, from New Haven to Detroit to Naples. Pizza Rock scales this passion back just a notch and “only” has four kinds of ovens for its litany of regional styles — or three more than all other pizzerias, and it annually wins the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best Pizza in Las Vegas poll.
Finer dining: Las Vegas has arguably the best fine dining scene in the USA, and sometimes you want to splurge. Great American Bites doesn’t usually cover expense account eateries, but we have checked out a few more upscale Vegas options, including the city’s oldest and most classic steakhouse, The Golden Steer, where Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were such regulars that both had their own booths. The Golden Steer would be worth visiting just for the frozen in time atmosphere, with uniformed captains and tableside preparations like made to order Caesar salad, hand-deboned Dover sole and flaming Bananas Foster, and the food is excellent, including steaks, seafood, and pork and veal chops. The owner hails from Rhode Island so it also has some uniquely New England touches, like spicy Rhode Island-style calamari and lots of shellfish. Dinner here combines Vegas history with first-rate cuisine.
Border Grill in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace is an outpost of the Santa Monica eatery made famous by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, from Food Network's Too Hot Tamales show. The menu is ostensibly southwestern and everything here is awesome, from empanadas and margaritas to whole fried fish to steak. Sourcing is like a religion to the owners, and everything is made painstakingly in house from scratch, including juices and mixers, and the drinks are amazing. The guacamole is likely the best you have ever tried, and the steak, sourced form an all-natural ranch in Aspen, Colo., is better than most high-end steakhouses at half the price. This spot is one of those rare places where you cannot go wrong, and won our coveted OMG! rating, yet remains one of the city’s hidden gems.
Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse combines two things people visiting Vegas love: all you can eat and meat. It’s a higher-end national chain that came from Brazil and specializes in an unlimited tableside skewer style of dining popular in Brazil, called riodizio, where more than a dozen rotisserie meat dishes are served tableside, accompanied by huge buffets of sides, salads and other main courses, and for a pricier restaurant, it is still reasonable and a good value — especially for big eaters.
Burgers: This is perhaps the biggest culinary battleground in Vegas, with lots of standalone options as well as outposts of just about every national chain. We’ve reviewed In-N-Out, Fat Burger, Smashburger, Shake Shack, Five Guys, White Castle and Bobby’s Burger Palace, and all can be found here. Of these, the standouts are White Castle, the most unique, and for fans of its unrivaled fast food burger (also the oldest of these chains, predating even McDonald's). Among the standard fast food-style choices, Five Guys is the best, while star chef Bobby Flay’s concept, Bobby’s Burger Palace, beats out Shake Shack for the higher end of fast-casual concepts.
But for great only-in-Vegas burgers, our top find to date has been Gordon Ramsay BurGR in Planet Hollywood. The famous Michelin-starred chef cooks over fire, using first-rate fresh ingredients, starting with a custom blend of ground brisket, chuck and short rib, brushed with imported English Devonshire butter while on the grill. Brioche buns are excellent and baked fresh daily. The burgers are juicy, flavorful, meaty and perfectly cooked to order. The unique and varied combinations offered are very well choreographed in terms of flavors, and specialty burgers are offered as single or “stacked” two patty versions.
Hash House A Go Go, listed above for brunch, also makes excellent (and enormous) burgers.
Other: Places Great American Bites has visited that don’t fit the above sections include historic Hussong’s Cantina in The Shoppes at Mandalay Place. It turns out pretty good, casual Mexican dishes and excellent chips, but the reason to visit is because in 1941, the original Hussong’s in Ensenada, Mexico, which opened in 1892, invented the country’s most famous cocktail, the margarita. This is the only other branch in the world, and a place to drink a bit of history.
Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is a chain famous for its roast turkey sandwiches, serving up a bit of Thanksgiving each day, with whole turkeys roasted and carved in each location. Despite the fast food flair, it’s a much better turkey sub than you can get at any other similar sandwich chain.
Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, recently opened in The LINQ Promenade near the High Roller observation wheel, is one of the best places in Vegas to quickly grab something good to-go at a reasonable price without entering a casino. Ramsay uses his mother’s beloved recipe, along with certified wild-caught Pacific cod from Alaska. It’s excellent fish and chips, but the fish sandwich and artisan sausage, made to Ramsay’s recipe and studded with little chunks of Fontina cheese, are also excellent. So are the “dirty fries,” with topping options like chipotle, jalapeno and crispy chorizo, or cacciatore spice with fresh basil, and it is one of the few places in this country that serves one of the world’s best beers, Ramsay’s favorite, Innis & Gunn from Scotland.
Finally, while New Yorkers are still lamenting the closing of one of the Big Apple’s most famous restaurants, pastrami and corned beef king, Carnegie Deli, the Vegas outpost in The Mirage lives on, and still gets its meats from the same New Jersey curing operation that supplied the original.
Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.
