Las Vegas has come a long, long way from the heyday of bargain shrimp cocktails and all-you-can-eat buffets. While those fabled buffets and restaurants will always be around—and they remain justifiably popular—more than ever, the city is a hot spot for global cuisine and the cutting-edge talents of world-renowned chefs.
It's heaven for foodies as well as those with money to burn while on vacation. The Las Vegas Strip is the heart of this sophisticated dining scene. Tip: Try to visit at off-peak times for lower crowds and easier reservations.
If you’re planning an upcoming visit to this travel destination, read on to discover the best restaurants in Las Vegas.
Best Fine Dining Restaurants in Las Vegas
1. Joël Robuchon
Type of cuisine: French
If you happen to get really lucky at the gaming tables, consider taking our advice: Quit while you're ahead, cash out, dress to the nines (you did pack at least one dressy outfit, didn't you?) and head to the AAA Five Diamond-designated Joël Robuchon for a sumptuous celebration.
The French restaurant at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino is traditional in every way. Robuchon, anointed France's “chef of the century” by none other than the esteemed Gault Millau restaurant guide, came out of retirement to open his first restaurant in the United States.
One taste of specialties like Le Caviar—a trio of couscous and Oscietra caviar, cauliflower cream and a king crab and crustacean gelée—and you know you're not eating in a casino coffee shop during your trip.
You could order a la carte, but one of the multi-course tasting menus is the best way to savor creations like truffle langoustine ravioli or French hen with roasted foie gras and confit potatoes.
Seating is limited and reservations are strongly recommended, so keep that in mind while planning your itinerary.
2. Le Cirque
Type of cuisine: French
A longtime standard for Big Apple fine dining, Le Cirque pitches its vibrantly colorful, swooping silk-dome tent at the Bellagio. The Maccioni family's attention to detail is what allows this Las Vegas restaurant to push the sensory envelope and it doesn't hurt that diners also have a prime view of Lago di Bellagio's lovely dancing fountains.
3. Bazaar Meat by José Andrés
Type of cuisine: Steakhouse
Situated in the Sahara Las Vegas, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés is a carnivore’s paradise. The meat bar features various cuts of steak, lamb, pork, chicken, lobster, shrimp and octopus. Round out your meal with a side of vegetables and potatoes.
4. Braseria By EDO
Type of Cuisine: Authentic French
Braseria by EDO is noted as one of the most authentic locations for bona fide French cuisine, though it's also known for its Spanish tapas. You're greeted by a stunning crystal chandelier and sky-high ceilings when you walk into this upscale location. The tasting menu offers fabulous options such as patatas bravas and croque-monsieur croquetas. There are vegetarian options on the menu; just make sure you don't pass up the creative cocktails. There's a private space for up to 30 people if you're hosting an event. The bar itself is separated from the dining room, offering a French-inspired theme.
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5. Vintner Grill
Type of cuisine: Contemporary American
Don't let the location—an industrial park in Summerlin, a West Las Vegas neighborhood—fool you; the Vintner Grill is seriously chic. The focal point of this casually elegant American bistro is a strikingly designed outdoor patio sheltered by two large canopies and furnished with custom-made couches and drapery.
It's the perfect setting to savor executive chef Matthew Silverman's menu, which features killer appetizers like white bean hummus with a spicy olive relish and a rotating selection of entrees that take full advantage of seasonal ingredients.
Chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat provides divine and decadent desserts and they are not to be missed. No less an authority than the Food Network's Rachael Ray gives this place a rave.
6. Esther’s Kitchen
Type of cuisine: Italian
As one of the best Italian restaurants in Las Vegas, Esther’s Kitchen by Chef James Trees features a menu full of homemade pasta, sourdough pizza and seasonal entrees. The restaurant is named after the chef’s aunt, who inspired his love for cooking.
7. Lindo Michoacán
Type of cuisine: Mexican
Year after year, local newspaper polls rank Lindo Michoacán the best sit-down Mexican restaurant in Vegas. Family recipes fill the huge menu, which has everything from burritos and tacos (to south-of-the-border seafood specialties and dishes incorporating lengua (beef tongue). The tortillas are freshly made, the margaritas pack a nice punch and there's a wicked-hot salsa for heat freaks.
Prices aren't dirt cheap, but still a welcome relief from the high meal tabs at the resorts. The original Lindo is on Desert Inn Road a few miles east of the Strip (free shuttle service is provided if you make reservations). For a knockout view to go along with your carne asada nachos, try the La Loma location, which is high on a hilltop in the suburb of Henderson.
8. Ping Pang Pong
Type of cuisine: Chinese
Judging by all the $25 Kung Pao chicken and $35 Mongolian beef entrées you'll find on the Strip, there must be an unwritten Vegas law requiring every major casino resort to have an ultra-chic Chinese restaurant. Fear not, penny-pinching wonton fanatics, here’s a tasty exception.
Ping Pang Pong, in the off-Strip Gold Coast Hotel & Casino (across the street from the Palms Casino Resort), serves the classics like pot stickers, tiger prawns and gobo beef. Not to mention, the dim sum is some of the city's best.
9. Cantina Contrama
Type of Cuisine: Mexican
Located on the Las Vegas Strip, Cantina Contrama is an excellent choice for those looking for upscale Mexican cuisine. Its menu is "made for Las Vegas", meaning it's a unique blend of cultures, spices and goodies. You'll find options like seared beef with salsa Negra, tacos de gaoneras and beautiful whole red snapper on the menu. Noted for vibrant flavor and Mexican-inspired cuisine that isn't your normal dish, Cantina Contrama is a cantina worth exploring after a long day. It's sophisticated, but welcoming.
10. Jipata
Type of Cuisine: Thai
Perhaps one of the best global restaurants in Las Vegas, Jipata is a Thai restaurant with a wine bar. It's a smaller, intimate and upscale destination with one of the best wine selections in the area. Dark and dim, it's one of the best-kept secrets for private meetings and beautiful surroundings. It's also one of the best late-night restaurants in the city. If you're looking for options like pastrami, basic fried rice or oysters and shrimp sashimi, this location will not disappoint. But the spice is on with most dishes offering incredible flavor and heat. Good thing that cool glass of wine is by your side.
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11. Coffee Pub
Type of cuisine: California cafe
In pursuit of celebrity chefs and glittering elegance, Vegas hasn't completely forsaken its affordable steak dinner and 24-hour coffee shop roots head on over to the Coffee Pub, which—unlike many of the hotel restaurants that are only open for dinner—serves only breakfast and lunch.
This casual, California-style cafe has a basic menu of salads, sandwiches, wraps and breakfast items that are decent enough to draw a regular crowd. Along with that all-important morning jolt of java, the Big Wally omelet—stuffed with cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and scallions—will (depending on the circumstance) help get your day off to a well-fueled start.
Also earning high marks are the smoothies (Peach Pizazz, Strawberry Bear and other refreshing flavors) and the frozen coffee drinks, just the thing to take with you if the weather's sizzling.
12. Lotus of Siam
Type of cuisine: Thai
Thai lovers can thank Lady Luck because Lotus of Siam has what many consider to be the best Thai food in Las Vegas. It doesn't look like much from the outside—an unassuming strip center storefront along a stretch of Sahara Avenue littered with commercial sprawl—and the interior is an odd combination of upscale wine bar and down-home Asian restaurant.
It's the food that takes center stage here. The menu is huge, but dishes are numbered, so first-timers can point to what they want. Tom kha kai is a richly flavored soup full of tender chicken, vegetables and herbs in a coconut-laced broth. Papaya salad has a fiery chile kick. Garlic prawns, duck curry and mango sticky rice are all savory examples of Thai cookery.
Be forewarned that spice levels (which range from 1 to 10) are incendiary at the upper end, so order accordingly or you might find yourself repeatedly draining your water glass.
13. The “Secret Pizzeria”
Type of cuisine: Pizza
One of the best hotels in Las Vegas, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas houses an enviable collection of restaurants. Among the dozen or so establishments, you'll find a hip sushi bar, the requisite high-end steakhouse and the gourmet burger restaurant Holsteins Shakes and Buns. But one eatery you won't see in the casino directory is what's known as the “Secret Pizzeria", one of Las Vegas' hidden gems.
To find it, head up to Cosmo's third level. Directly across from the escalators is what appears to be an employee service hallway. The unsigned passageway, lined with old Italian record album covers, leads to a tiny, brightly lit pizza joint with a half-dozen stools, a pinball machine and blasting rock music.
Tasty, thin-crust slices go for $5 to $6. Wash a couple down with a soda or beer and you're out the door for under $15—a relative Strip bargain and the perfect item to strike off your list of local restaurants to try.
14. Alexxa's
Type of cuisine: Upscale American
Alexxa's, located in front of Paris Las Vegas, is a café, cocktail lounge and restaurant all rolled into one. The restaurant serves up comfort food for breakfast, lunch and dinner well enough, but the real stars here are the desserts. Appease your sweet tooth with berry mousse, an oreo waffle sundae or perhaps a sponge cake with a whopping 25 layers of chocolate.
15. Noodle Asia
Type of cuisine: Asian
Over on the Strip at The Venetian Las Vegas, leave the excellent yet pricey Tao-Asian Bistro to the nightclubbing crowd and head for Noodle Asia, a casual spot next to the casino's sportsbook. Order the scrumptious spring rolls, a steaming bowl of Szechuan beef soup and a frosty Tsingtao beer and you'll still have coin left over for the blackjack tables.
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16. Battista's Hole in the Wall
Type of cuisine: Italian
Although old Vegas is rapidly disappearing, some outposts remain. Battista's Hole in the Wall is one of them. Celebrity photos plastering the walls tell the story—Betty Grable, Johnny Weissmuller, Clint Eastwood, Ed Sullivan and Robert Redford are just a few of the stars who have broken bread here.
This family owned and operated joint is old school all the way, right down to the roving accordion player. And dinner is a deal; it includes minestrone soup or an Italian salad, garlic bread, a side of pasta, a homemade cappuccino and all the red or white house wine you can handle. You can't really go wrong with something like cheese manicotti, sausage cacciatore or steak pizzaiola; pony up a few more bucks and dig into veal piccata or garlic butter shrimp.
17. Golden Steer Steakhouse
Type of cuisine: Steakhouse
Another longtime watering hole (it's been around since 1958) is the Golden Steer Steakhouse. The wood-paneled walls, red leather booths, waiters in formal wear and fishbowl-size martinis epitomize old-school Vegas and indeed this was a Rat Pack hangout.
It's a steakhouse that also serves Italian mainstays like chicken parmigiana and veal Francaise (dipped in egg batter and then sautéed in butter with artichokes and lemon). The steaks—from a petite filet mignon to the 24-ounce prime rib—aren't the best in Vegas, but they're still darn good.
Finish in grand style with bananas Foster, prepared table-side. Some of the servers have been here for decades and their polish and professionalism shows.
18. Bacchanal Buffet
Type of cuisine: American and various
Vegas buffets are the stuff of gluttonous legend. And if you only have the stomach space to try one, get your grub on at Bacchanal Buffet, a Caesars Palace mega spread that's top of the line in both quality and price.
Plate in hand, you'll go to hot food stations dishing up outrageously tender brisket, prime rib and pizza. On the cold side, you'll find a salad bar, chilled king crab legs, sushi and ceviche.
19. Sinatra
Type of cuisine: Italian
If you can use a drink, slip into the bar at Sinatra in the Encore Las Vegas and order the signature Sinatra Smash cocktail—a concoction of Jack Daniels, muddled blackberries and vanilla syrup over crushed ice.
Next, head over to the restaurant, which serves some of the best food in Las Vegas. Chef Theo Schoenegger flies you to the moon with knockout appetizers (Frank's clams Posillipo) and mains like osso buco “My Way.” Don't miss the Chairman's genuine “From Here to Eternity” Oscar trophy, on display near the hostess stand.
20. Oscar's Steakhouse
Type of cuisine: Steakhouse
Rounding out our list of the top restaurants in Las Vegas is Oscar's Steakhouse, owned by former city mayor and once-upon-a-time Mafia attorney Oscar Goodman. Oscar's boasts what is arguably the best dining view downtown (its only real competition is the Top of Binion's Steakhouse).
In a classy, glass-dome dining room fronting the hotel, you'll feast on primo steak (the filet mignon and New York strip are tops) as you gaze at the glittering lights of Fremont Street. Hostesses make the table rounds and ask if you're enjoying the evening. Which, of course, you are.
Plan Your Trip to Las Vegas With AAA
In addition to the world-class food scene, there are many other fun things to do in Las Vegas that make it a great place to visit. Plus, your AAA membership can help you save on dining, hotels and more.
