44 Best Restaurants in Las Vegas, Nevada

Fans of Thai food flock here for spot-on exceptional chow with few surprises—just expertly prepared curries, tom yum soups, fish cakes, and pad Thais. In particular, the shrimp "ginger ginger ginger" (or you can choose it with meat or tofu) has drawn raves; yes, it really is that gingery. Archi's was one of the first Thai restaurants in Las Vegas and still holds a reputation among locals as one of the best. Reasonably priced three-course lunch specials are served from 11 am to 3 pm weekdays. This original location has held its own for more than 20 years, but there are two other branches, in the Southwest part of town (6345 S. Rainbow Blvd., Summerlin and 9350 W. Sahara Ave.), and a fast-casual spot (9310 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson).

Caesars Palace completely revamped its buffet experience with the Bacchanal Buffet. It's a culinary extravaganza of more than 250 menu items daily, plus nine chef-attended action stations and the support of 10 kitchens, with an emphasis on seasonality. Made-to-order sushi, baked-to-order soufflés, pizza made in a wood-burning oven, and individual portions of dishes that are served in steam tables elsewhere are consumed in three distinct dining areas with glass, wood, and steel decor themes. As at most buffets, brunch is served—Bacchanal's features snow crab—which is served from 1 to 3 pm Mondays and Thursdays and 9 am to 3 pm Friday through Sunday.

Chocolate—dark, white, and milk—flows from a tall glass fountain at the entrance of this stunning pastry shop just off the Bellagio's famed conservatory. This artful homage to chocolate has decadent desserts, including cakes, cookies, macarons, gelato, hand-dipped chocolate candies, and particularly memorable crêpes (try the one with Nutella sauce inside and out, candied hazelnuts, and whipped cream), as well as salads and sandwiches Seating is limited. It's open late, until 10 pm daily.

Famed Los Angeles chef Roy Choi debuted in Las Vegas with this lively concept inside Park MGM serving Korean BBQ as well as a panoply of favorites from Choi's Koreatown experience. While a DJ spins tunes at a turntable in the corner, the meal starts with a sampling of banchan: tiny dishes that include kimchi, broccoli, cucumbers, spinach, and more. From there, try the slippery shrimp, the kimchi fried rice, the kogi short rib tacos, and the pork belly hot pot. Service is family style, meant for sharing. Decor brings to mind a colorful stop at a food truck. Before you leave, be sure to peruse the shelves at the working convenience store out front.

What warms the blood more swiftly at this down-home hang: the fresh-from-the-oven biscuits or the 80-plus varieties of bourbon? Find out at this unique addition to the ongoing refurbishment of the Water Street District in downtown Henderson, where you will find drinks served in Mason jars and a menu of smoked meats, from pulled pork to apple-brined chicken, in big portions. The biscuits are served à la carte with your choice of flavored butters, honeys, and jams. (You can't go wrong with the classic buttermilk biscuits topped with apple cider caramel butter, clover honey, and mango habanero jam.) The room is small, with a rustic-yet-modern, wood-grained decor. (Those with truly formidable stomach capacities can take on the "All In," which pairs three-quarters-of-a-pound servings of three meats with an equal number of large sides.) Brunchers would do well to indulge in the fried chicken waffle, as good a reason for getting up early on the weekends as any.

If you're looking for a type of place where the waitress calls you "honey," this locals' diner for more than 35 years has an old-fashioned, family-owned vibe. The food is better than most nearby chain places, serving up hearty Mexican specialties, fruit-topped pancakes and waffles, and senior specials. Blueberry Hill has four locations, two of them near each other on the East Side, a couple of miles apart on Flamingo Road. This one is closest to both the Strip and UNLV and is open 24 hours a day.

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are the popular, green-minded chefs who created this cheery, sophisticated outpost of their now-closed Santa Monica restaurant. Service is snappy, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a tastier margarita in town—particularly the blood orange and chili-citrus versions. Starters include three citrusy ceviches and plantain empanadas, and grilled sustainable fish and hormone-free meats, such as short ribs and marinated pork, make healthful, flavorful fillings for tacos and tortillas. The all-you-can-eat weekend brunch, served from 10 to 3, features creative small plates, such as horchata French toast, diablo chicken with a churro waffle, and cajeta churro tots with cinnamon and raspberry sauce.

One of the more recent entries in the Viva Italiano! culinary scene, the Milan-inspired restaurant at Grand Canal Shoppes is a creation sitting right on The Venetian's replica of St. Mark's Square. Taking its name from the Brera neighborhood of Milan, the menu focuses on Milanese favorites. Try these mouth-waterers: squash blossoms, braised beef cheek, lamb chops, calamari, branzino, pizzas, and pastas; there also are vegetarian selections. Top it off with premium Italian wines and cocktails for an experience that aims to be thoroughly and authentically northern Italian. Brunch selections augment the lunch menu, and during Apertivo Hour from 2 to 5 pm daily, pizzas, cocktails, beers, and wines by the glass are half-off.

Step into the regal dining room, tricked out with opulent chandeliers and elegant artwork, and any doubt that a buffet could meet Bellagio's standards vanishes. Even the most discerning foodie should find something to like among the bone marrow, pork belly, crab legs, oysters, shrimp and grits, made-to-order crêpes, and elaborate pastries. Some call the buffet overrated and overcrowded, but don't be put off by the naysayers—if you skip items that you could easily get at any Vegas buffet (such as pizzas from the wood-fired oven), you'll do well here. The staff does a first-rate job tending to everybody's needs. Beverage packages—offering two hours of mimosas, beer, margaritas, and more—are available.

The Wynn prides itself on doing everything bigger and better than others in town, so the fact that fans rave about this buffet is no surprise. The place boasts 16 "food kitchens" (or live-action cooking stations), with such specialties as eggs Benedict or Latin food. There are 90 choices in all, some of them made to order and including vegetarian and vegan selections. Dinner has an emphasis on seafood, including Dungeness crab, snow crab legs, sushi, oysters, clams, shrimp, and pan roasts, but meat selections may include prime rib, brisket, strip loin, steamship round, tri-tip, ham, and roasted duck. The dessert table, with highlights including crêpes and crème brûlée, never disappoints. Upgrade to the Ultimate Buffet Experience to get a 1.5-pound lobster served to your table, or indulge in the Unlimited Pour Package for unlimited wine, beer, or cocktails.

This East Coast transplant with locations all over the Valley satisfies Sin City's cravings for giant sub sandwiches, including a Philly-style cheese steak, a hot pastrami sandwich, and a divine creation called the Bobbie—basically Thanksgiving dinner on a bun. Numerous locations around town include outposts in a few outlying casinos, such as Red Rock, Santa Fe, and Green Valley Ranch.

This pub serves up some of the best comfort food Vegas has to offer, including a great "Hangry" burger and Baja fish tacos. A convenient space between the hotel and convention center, it's lively and casual but can sometimes get loud during peak hours. Citizens, as it's known, also offers a mélange of side dishes and signature cocktails. Try the chocolate stout milkshake or a maple bacon coffee cocktail.

Fried-chicken sandwiches are all the rage now, but this is the OG, having started back in San Diego in 2015. This more recent outpost in The Park, between New York–New York and Park MGM, serves the brand’s nearly irresistible sandwiches, such as the "Coop Deville" (chicken breast with pickled Fresno chiles, lime mayo, and Napa cabbage on brioche), and the "Cali Drip" (pollo asado piled with fries, chipotle-bacon mayo, pickled onions, jalapeños, and melty Oaxacan queso on a crunchy torta roll). Whole fried chickens in half or whole birds, sides including fries and Mexican poutine, and bowls and meals fill out the flock.

Locals and visitors alike were delighted when New York's cronut king set up shop in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace across from The Colosseum. The shop serves Ansel's cronut creations as well as French pastries such as the best-seller kouign-amann, tiger-striped pain au chocolat, huge nutty almond croissants, macarons, Liege waffles, and canneles. Mini-madeleines are piped to order and served warm. Ansel's signature chocolate chip cookie shots and frozen s'mores are made while you wait, and there's even a Thousand Layered Hot Dog Roll. Creative, beautiful pastries like the Blueberry Muffin—blueberry mousse and blueberry gelee atop a citrus almond financier cake with fresh blueberries—are another specialty, and sandwiches are available. There are a few seats inside if you'd like to sit while indulging in a croque monsieur.

You'll forget you're in Las Vegas after a few minutes in this relaxed and unpretentious Downtown cantina. All the combinations and specials are good, but the best play here is to order the house-made tamales. There are five tamale options in all: pork, chicken, beef, cheese, and a sweet dessert tamale with pineapple and raisins. You also won't go wrong with the Mexican sandwich, served with guacamole, tomatoes, and fries. Stop in on a Wednesday night, and you might see a crowd gathered for the fútbol game on satellite-provided Mexican TV. There is another area location at 3250 North Tenaya Way in Summerlin.

Every day is Día de los Muertos at this chic, skull-festooned cantina in Tivoli Village, where a pair of brightly colored calacas guard the entryway. Once inside, prepare to encounter a different kind of spirit: namely, a vast selection of tequila, with more than 100 varieties available in this eye-popping, high-end Mexican eatery. The menu is as inviting as the rose-covered walls, ranging from gourmet filet mignon tacos to lobster fajitas to signatures like their cedar chipotle salmon. Brunch is served all day, with bottomless bloody Marys and mimosas available to properly lubricate the festivities. The focus here is on using organic and non-GMO ingredients made fresh daily, meaning there's not a microwave in the house.

Food halls have replaced buffets in several Las Vegas casino-resorts, but nobody does it as well as Resorts World, which has one with more than a dozen mini-restaurants and even a pour-it-yourself bar. Famous Foods is inspired by the street markets of Southeast Asia, and the cuisine skews in that direction, with dumplings, hand-pulled noodles, clay-pot rice, ramen, sushi, and sashimi among the main offerings. But you’ll also find fish and chips, Mediterranean foods, Texas barbecue, and Marcus Samuelsson’s Nashville-style hot chicken.

Since Gordon Ramsay's been known to flame a contestant or two, it's only fitting that his burgers are cooked over a hardwood fire. Consider the Hell's Kitchen Burger, with asadero cheese, roasted jalapeños, and roasted tomatoes; or the Farmhouse Burger, with Dubliner cheese, bacon, and a fried egg. Salads include the "hellfire" chicken, and sides run to truffle Parmesan fries and beer-battered onion rings. Dig into one of Ramsay's rich desserts, or sip a cocktail while enjoying the roaring fire. There's another location at the Flamingo.

Three things stand out at this comfortable, casual restaurant, conceptualized by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey: the libations, the cheery across-the-pond ambience, and the elevated British pub grub. Cocktails have names like "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Boston's Inferno," or you can slake your thirst with a Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale. Hum along with classic Brit pop and rock tunes and watch football—soccer, to us Americans—on any of the numerous flat-screen tellies. Seating is easy on the bum, the place settings rich and rustic. Start with beef carpaccio or a jumbo lump crab cake. The beef Wellington, braised short rib and cabbage, crispy-skin salmon, oak-grilled meats, and mac and cheese are standouts. Warm sticky toffee pudding has fans aplenty. A four-course tasting menu and three-course menu are other options.

A branch of the legendary coal-fired pizza-baker nestled beneath New York City's Brooklyn Bridge, this casual little joint in Henderson doesn't quite conjure up the atmosphere of the original, despite exposed-brick walls and red-checked tablecloths, but it does have a wine list and an extensive beer menu. What counts, of course, is the pizza, and in this regard, Grimaldi's deserves high praise. The oven-hot pies come in three sizes and with such staple toppings as spicy sausage, meatballs, and ricotta cheese and more updated ones like baby spinach and jalapeños. Finish off your meal with a cannoli or some flavor-of-the-month cheesecake. There are four other outposts in the valley.

Hearty appetites will be richly rewarded at this quirky purveyor of so-called twisted farm food. Heaps of savory comfort food are cooked to order in this spacious restaurant done up in industrial, urban-farmhouse decor. Breakfast skillets runneth over, with tender, house-cured hashes, fresh eggs, house-made biscuits and jam, and sage-fried chicken and eggs. Non-breakfast platters include sage-fried chicken and waffles; griddled meat loaf, or a hot-chicken sandwich. This national chain has another West Side location inside the Rio (3700 W. Flamingo Rd.) as well as casino outlets on the Strip at The LINQ Resort & Casino, downtown at the Plaza Hotel & Casino; and another stand-alone building in Henderson (555 N. Stephanie St.). Only the casino outlets are opening evenings; most close by 2 or 3.

This busy eatery has developed a loyal following for its delicious, fresh seafood, where crawfish from Louisiana is delivered regularly and available with five seasoning choices at five heat levels. But other choices can be just as good. The shellfish (Dungeness, blue, king, or snow crab; lobster, clams, shrimp, black or green mussels, and, of course, crawfish), priced at the going market rate, is ordered by the pound. When your shellfish boil appears in its plastic bag, put on the plastic bib and dig in! Baskets of fried poultry and seafood are neater alternatives and come with Cajun fries. Sides include crispy pork skin, calamari, and sweet potato fries, plus a credible étouffée. There are five po'boy choices as well. The two West Side locations are fairly close to one another (the other is at 3863 Spring Mountain Rd.); other locations can be found n the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood on the Strip, downtown Las Vegas, and in Henderson (9560 S. Eastern Ave.).

This soothingly neutral Italian restaurant will satisfy carb cravings as well as yearnings for dishes that Grandma used to make. Crusty loaves of freshly baked bread, pasta, and dough for the excellent thin-crust, wood-oven pizzas are all made in-house. You can not only taste the love in your lasagna, but also feel the comfort that comes from watching it prepared in the exhibition kitchen, whence seasoned fish, grilled meats, and the specialty pollo alla Parmigiana are also created and plated with fresh ingredients. Tiramisu is a must and best enjoyed from the terrace, where you can watch passersby. Buy a loaf to go in the diminutive bakery, just steps away; other foodie finds are also available.  Il Fornaio is a great place for breakfast and brunch or for pastry takeout from the bakery.

Visitors won't need a car for their In-N-Out fix since there's a location at The LINQ Promenade right on the Strip. The simple menu of fresh burgers, just-cut fries, and milk shakes makes this affordable West Coast fast-food joint with 18 locations around town a cult fave. If you're extra hungry (and we mean seriously so), go "off menu" and order a "4x4" (four beef patties with four slices of American cheese on a freshly baked bun), and maybe order it "animal-style," with a mustard-grilled beef patty and extra spread with grilled onions.

If you’re looking for something a little more sit-down-and-relax than Eataly’s forage-style food hall, consider this mid-priced part of the Italian behemoth. Two towering, gold-tiled pizza ovens turn out Neapolitan-style pies in numerous varieties, while the pasta side offers house-made fresh pasta dishes, such as pappardelle al ragu di funghi, lasagna Emilia, and ravioli di zucca, and others made with dried pasta imported from Gragnano, Italy, such as bucatini cacio e pepe, and linguine alla scoglio. Antipasti and salads also are served. The prix-fixe Taste of Italy menu has three courses.

As casino companies relax their historically strict no-pets policies, canine companions are popping up with increasingly frequency on the Strip. While they're still no-go inside restaurants, they're frequently welcomed by those with patios, including this spot first established in Las Vegas at Town Square. The name's a clue, of course, as is the fact that LD has a special menu for dogs. As for humans, they'll find a varied menu including such starters of spicy tuna poke on crispy sushi rice, or Cajun fries with chipotle-ranch dipping sauce. Entrees include such homey choices as campfire pot roast, or a chicken pot pie, as well as steaks, burgers, sandwiches, and salads. There's a menu for human kids, too, as well as a gluten-sensitive menu; brunch dishes such as mountain berry pancakes and quiche are served on weekends. Suburban locations are in Summerlin and Henderson.

Javier Barajas, the congenial owner and host of this colorful cantina group, named this restaurant after his birthplace in Mexico, where he learned to cook while growing up in the culinary capital of Michoacán. Don't miss such outstanding specialties as the carnitas or cabrito birria de chivo (roasted goat with red mole sauce). Guacamole is made tableside, and the flan is a silken wonder. There's no reason to stick to Mexican-restaurant basics when the menu is so expansive—the lunch menu alone offers 37 choices. This local success story began in 1990 and now boasts three other locations—in Henderson, Summerlin, and in the Palace Station casino—but the original is a singular experience: a dense labyrinth of rooms (with a capacity of around 300) with arched ceilings and brightly colored walls covered in bric-a-brac, and table visits from strolling mariachis.

Walking distance from The Strat, this tiny take-out stand offers unbelievably delicious, velvety smooth frozen custard. The flavors change daily (check the website for the schedule), and sundaes are a popular offering. Those with larger appetites should certainly try the ever-popular Western, with hot fudge, caramel, and pecans, or a Fruit Boat, with peach, pineapple, cherry, banana, marshmallow, and peanuts. It's been goin' strong since 1973, and is open most days until 10 pm, 11 pm on Friday and Saturday.

Michael Symon, TV celebrity chef and the man who revived the Cleveland culinary scene, took his show on the road to Las Vegas with this meat-centric spot at the Palms. "Pig Parts" (crispy ears, tails and cracklin's) may seem like a novelty to some, but there's no doubting the seriousness of his pork, beef, poultry, and carefully conceived sides, as well as the long list of brews to go with them. The airy, two-level space takes on a sports-bar vibe for high-profile games, complete with a "Tailgate Menu."

Younger Las Vegans call this local success story "the pizza they grew up on," while the smell of dough when they walk in the door may trigger older patrons' own childhood memories of their youthful pizza parlors. Look for size and value on the deep-dish pies, not fancy salads or artisan experiments, on the family-friendly menu. Metro is more about big stuffed pizzas with names such as the Stockyard or the Zamboni that are as hearty and meat-filled as you might imagine, and it's been growing with the city since the 1980s. The modest Westside original still has a 1950s-style diner look in a strip mall next to a supermarket. As native Las Vegans grew up and went to UNLV, home base might have become the second, freestanding location near campus (1395 E. Tropicana Ave.). The large freestanding Henderson location (4001 W. Decatur Blvd.) may be chain's pride and joy, and the fourth arrival is north in the Centennial Hills area (6720 Sky Pointe Dr.).