Courtesy of PublicUs
1126 E Fremont St., (702) 331-5500
Vegas has a really good homegrown coffee scene, and this airy, spacious cafe in the Arts District is my favorite local spot for breakfast, espresso drinks, filter coffee, and an hour of getting shit down on my computer. The brekkie sandwich at PublicUs is delicious, the Loco Moco is as good as any I’ve had on the mainland, the vegan patty melt hits the spot, and all the drinks—including teas from Song Tea and mochas made using Askinosie chocolate—are some of the best in Vegas. Go once or go often, and become a regular during your stay.
Inside The Wynn
My favorite place to laptop at the Wynn, this spot is an outpost from the decidedly old-school health food brand Urth Caffe, originally founded in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. I like the breakfast burrito here, and the acai bowl, and the coffee is always hot and fresh and not too involved. There’s ample room here for laptopping, stretching out, and working, and the people watching is top-notch, too, because it’s the Wynn.
252 Convention Center Drive, (702) 369-3322
Is this the best bagel in America outside of New York? That depends on how you feel about the whole California savory salad muffin craze, I suppose; but for an actual bagel, boiled and flipped on a bagel board, served with your choice of schmear or maybe a little lox, Siegel’s Bagelmania place delivers the truth and then some. Its full-service restaurant is right near the convention center, which makes it an ideal escape if you’re stuck there for work; it’s huge and brightly lit and no one will blink twice if you pull out a laptop over your everything bagel with veggie schmear (the correct order). It’s also a full-service deli in case you want a lunch sandwich, and the diner-style coffee is satisfying and plentiful (there are also numerous flavored iced coffee options if that’s more your thing). Once you visit Siegel’s Bagelmania for the first time, you will go back every time you’re in town.
Where to Eat
Las Vegas is one of the best restaurant cities in America, full stop. If you’re not eating well here, you are doing it wrong—food in Vegas cuts across a broad swath of needs and situational decisions, and there’s a “best choice” for nearly every moment. I’m separating this section into three distinct categories, including delicious Vegas food on a budget, original restaurants you can only find here, and the truly epic, bombastic dining rooms that help anchor the Vegas experience as singular and essential. I could have listed 30 more restaurants on this list and still not come close to being complete.
Inside The Venetian
A repeat must-do for me in the Venetian Palazzo, Miznon is a quick-service, low-cost Mediterranean restaurant that makes outrageously good falafel sandwiches, lamb kebabs, and an unusually compelling “Bag of Green Beans” with tangy garlic-lemon vinaigrette. This is the little sibling to HaSalon, chef Eyal Shani’s Vegas fine-dining restaurant located just down the hall.
Courtesy of the Peppermill
2985 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 735-4177
A glowing neon vaporwave diner near the convention center, Peppermill is uniquely iconic. It looks like the Drive soundtrack come to life (or something out of GTA Vice City), yet it is beloved by locals and hospitality workers. People go just to take photos, yet it has a James Beard Award. I’ve been there just to drink a beer and hang out, but the onion rings might be my favorite on earth. If a Denny’s dropped acid, went back in time to the set of Scarface, and hired the diner chef of your dreams, you’d arrive at something like Peppermill. I cannot recommend it enough.
3041 S Las Vegas Blvd. (multiple locations)
It’s late on the Strip and you need something to eat—maybe the casinos wiped you out, or maybe you won big, or maybe the constant mega-stim of Vegas itself has got your synapses fried. Take it from me—I’ve been there, friend—what you need is to go walk down the Strip, or hop in a car, and arrive at the glowing halogen salvation of Tacos El Gordo. This place is famous for a reason; a battalion of carving stations, not unlike how they run things at Katz’s, ring a central dining area, in which you are surrounded by your fellow Vegas survival cases. You need tacos, of course—the buche is good, and so is the asado—and you want loaded fries with your choice of meat (perhaps chorizo, you’ve earned it). Eat everything immediately and drink something cold and hydrating. You’re gonna make it.
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Courtesy of Tamba
6671 S Las Vegas Blvd, (702) 798-7889
One of the best Indian restaurants in 2026—not just in Vegas, but nationwide—Tamba is genre-defining in its contemporary approach to cuisine from the subcontinent. There’s live-fire cooking here four ways (charcoal manghal, traditional tandoor, state-of-the-art Josper grill, and Chinese wok) and a riotously inventive raw bar menu that collides the flavors of India with global fresh fish traditions (the caviar puri is a must). Get the lamb chops, the lobster green curry, and the black truffle naan. I cannot say enough good things about this place—it’s probably the best restaurant in Las Vegas that’s not on the strip.
Courtesy of Casa Playa
Inside The Wynn Encore, (702) 770-5340
Surprising, stunning, thought-provoking, Chef Sarah Thompson’s coastal Mexican restaurant Casa Playa (a 2026 James Beard Foundation nominee) would be destination-worthy in any city’s dining scene in the country. The fact that it’s smack-dab in the middle of the Encore wing of the Wynn hotel complex makes the high-wire act here that much more impressive. From the transportive decor to the deeply stocked bar (including a particularly ridiculous selection of rare small batch mezcales and tequilas) to the food: bites of hamachi crudo in zingy tomato dashi studded with popping finger lime pearls, maitake mushrooms in mole blanco with layers and crunch and texture, beautiful whole roasted fish or all-day duck pibil or wagyu strip steak in a 30 ingredient mole. Casa Playa shines at dinner, but it does a late-night menu as well with tacos and small bites, as well as a newly launched breakfast I’m eager to try on my next visit. This is one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas, full stop.
Inside The Wynn, (702) 770-3310
The Las Vegas obsession with fresh seafood has a sort of “shake your fist at God” connotation—after all, here we are in the middle of the desert, 300 miles from the coast. And yet this city has become famous for its omakase sushi bars, shrimp cocktails as far as the eye can see, and a competing Roman holiday of seafood platters on offer at seemingly every restaurant in town. I adore a seafood platter, let it be known, and will almost always try to nudge my dining guests toward splitting one. And so please take me seriously when I tell you that perhaps the greatest seafood platter of my entire life was served to me at Pisces, Chef Martin Heierling’s over-the-top seafood restaurant at the Wynn. You can order other things here: the pastas are quite good (lobster spaghetti, black truffle tagliatelle), as well as the bluefin tuna wellington and the salt-baked loup de mer, which arrived to town just as you did fresh from the Mediterranean. But oh my God, the seafood platters; they arrive fuming with puffs of dry ice and loaded with fresh seafood, arrayed like living edible works of art, and include creative ceviches and tartare presentations as well as glowing Oishii shrimp of staggering size and quality. In a city with an embarrassment of seafood platter riches, Pisces is the one seafood platter to rule them all.
Inside The Plaza, (702) 386-7227
I like a little bada-bing with my Vegas vacation, know what I mean? This deeply historic steakhouse on the second story of the Plaza is connected in more ways than one: Oscar’s Steakhouse proprietor Oscar Goodman served as the mayor of Las Vegas from the late ’90s til the early 2010s; before that, he was the go-to defense attorney for a coterie of legitimate businessmen who built this town from nothing, including Meyer Lansky, Phil Leonetti, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, and many more. Make a reservation and sit inside Oscar’s glittering glass bubble dome looking out over Fremont Street; this was a filming location for Martin Scorsese’s Casino (the best Scorsese film, imho), and it’s one of my favorite dining rooms anywhere in the city. The food is great, happily, and quite reasonably priced if you’ve been eating on the strip prior to coming down to the Plaza: get the burger (some say it’s the best in Vegas); get the meatballs; and order one of the steaks “Oscar”-style, with crab, asparagus, and hollandaise.
355 Convention Center Drive, (702) 369-2305
Another Vegas classic, Piero’s opened in the early ’80s and has seen the city grow up all around it. Today it has a really enviable location—super close to the convention center, right near the strip but not on the strip—and inside it’s like a time capsule, walking the line between kitsch and elegance. Order Italian-American classics here: clams casino, Sunday gravy, eggplant parm, jumbo shrimp scampi, a slice of tiramisu, and an espresso for dessert. The vibe is immaculate; all leather booths, brick walls, low lights, and proper tablecloths, with old-school service and hospitality to the fore. This spot is great for a solo bite at the bar, but even better with a big group reservation. This was another filming location for Casino.
LAS VEGAS, NV – SEPTEMBER 15: The open fire grill is seen during the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival at Bazaar Meat at SLS Las Vegas Hotel on September 15, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Barcelona Enterprises)Photograph: Bryan Steffy/Getty Images
3325 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 607-6328
Where’s the beef? It’s here, at the new location of Bazaar Meat, which left The Sahara for the buzzy food scene at The Venetian in late 2025, and has now established itself as perhaps the premier carnivore bacchanal in all of Las Vegas. There’s an entire section on this menu dedicated to bone-in ribeye; there is a “Jamon Experience” serving multiple cuts and styles of iconic Spanish acorn-fed pig; there is a tasting menu with caviar cones and El Bulli-style olives and buffalo-style bison. Tell yourself it’s all keto and dig in.
Courtesy of Bouchon
Inside The Venetian, (702) 414-6200
Thomas Keller’s Vegas restaurant Bouchon opened at the Venetian more than 20 years ago, helping sound the firing gun for serious chefs from around the world to set up shop in this city. This is a classic multi-use brasserie in the style of countless places in Paris, or perhaps closer to home somewhere like Balthazar in New York or Cafe Campagné in Seattle. You can go for dinner and get perfect steak frites, poulet roti, and gnocchi a la Parisien—and raid the restaurant’s outstanding wine list—but my favorite time here is weekend brunch, where you can order a basket of Bouchon’s outstanding house baked pastries, sip coffee, and contemplate something from the raw bar (or perhaps a croque madame). Make a reservation regardless of when you try to go, and pro tip—there is a Bouchon Bakery counter located on the main floor of the Venetian, in case you need some croissants.
Inside The Venetian, (702) 414-1270
Not enough awesome restaurants in Vegas are open for lunch, which makes Estiatorio Milos at the Venetian highly worth your time for a midday visit. A $45 lunchtime set menu lets you pick and choose from three courses—say, a nice fresh Greek salad, a lovely tuna burger with zucchini fries, and spiced Greek walnut cake with honey ice cream.
Courtesy of KYU
Inside The Fontainebleau, (702) 678-7777
Modern and beautiful and very much at home at the Fontainebleau, Kyu’s blend of fusion cuisine has locations in Miami, New York, and Mexico City. There’s bao buns and Thai rice in a stone pot and Korean fried chicken and duck breast burnt ends, and a cocktail menu with flavors from Japan, Mexico, Champagne, and Scotland. This genre of borderless inventive eating and drinking feels just right here in Vegas.
Inside The Venetian, (702) 665-8592
There are two ways to dine at Chef Tetsuya Wakuda’s signature restaurant Wakuda, inside The Venetian: a sumptuously appointed a la carte dining room, amid platters of unbelievably fresh sashimi and nigiri, imported Japanese wagyu, and creative makimono rolls; and a hushed, reverent eight-seat omakase bar that begins at $300 per person. If this is in your bandwidth, and you’re an omakase fan, you know what to do.
Inside The Wynn, (702) 770-3320
Another homage to Japanese cuisine with multiple dining options, Chef Jeff Okada Ramsey’s Mizumi features two ways to play: a gorgeous modern dining room overlooking gardens and ponds (watch out for the occasional visiting crane), and a roaring-fun teppanyaki room where all the action happens right in front of you. The teppan-style dining is great for a group; the main room is perfect for a date or party of four, snacking your way through both contemporary and classic sushi preparations, perfect tempura, chawanmushi with Santa Barbara uni, and grilled skewers from the robatayaki. The wine and sake menus are particularly thoughtful here, with a focus on elegant Junmai Daiginjo bottlings as well as well-chosen selections from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, and beyond.
Inside MGM Grand Resort and Casino, (702) 891-1133
With three Michelin stars and a battalion of awards and plaudits from the likes of Forbes and Wine Spectator, Joël Robuchon helped redefine dining in Las Vegas when it opened in 2005. The great chef died in 2018, but his namesake in Vegas lives on, situated in a townhouse within the MGM resort property, decorated like a Parisian baronial atelier in swirling creams and blues, with chandeliers overhead and a hushed refinement all around. This is formal and serious French Fine Dining (with two capital F’s and a capital D), and the degustation menu starts at $525—that’s before you add a wine pairing, or raid the extensive wine list. Maybe you hit it big at the tables; maybe your tech startup just closed a huge account, or needs to truly impress a client. (You’re on a work trip, remember?) Look at it this way: This is cheaper than a trip to Paris.
Courtesy of Don’s Prime
Inside The Fontainebleau, (702) 678-9000
More bada bing, but make it bling—Don’s Prime is another gorgeous brand new restaurant inside the Fontainebleau, with prime cut steaks from Pat LaFrieda and global wagyu options (check out its A5 Wagyu with Okinawa sweet potato pairing). I love a steakhouse that manages to lean classic while still feeling contemporary, and that’s very much the scene here. Solo diners should check out the lounge for a burger or lobster roll; big groups can book private dining, or host a party of up to 150 people. The wine list is otherworldly, by the way, in particular its focus on North American red wine, featuring extensive back vintages and deeply cult selections. Hand the bottle book to the wine geek in your party and watch them gawk in delight.
Where to Drink
The short answer here is “you can drink everywhere in Vegas,” but it really is true. The tougher solve, then, is how to drink well in Vegas, for which we’re happy to offer the following quick-service advice.
Courtesy of Nocturno
1017 S 1st St. #180, (725) 205-1342
An outstanding new cocktail bar in the Arts District, nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in 2026 with a program overseen by Luis “Lu” Lopez. Go here for serious cocktails at a level you’d find in Manhattan, London, or Mexico City.
The Bellagio Hotel & Casino
Hidden behind the cashier’s room at the Bellagio, this speakeasy-style bar offers an immersive deco decor, limited seating, and cocktail artistry with a focus on vintage and rare spirits. Go here for craft mixology with a side of alchemy.
3460 S Arville St. #7, (702) 330-0194
One of the great food-and-wine pairings known to man on planet Earth is vintage Riesling and Thai food. Jipata executes this concept with stunning brilliance, and its beverage director has rightly been nominated this year for a Beard Foundation award. Go here to plunder rare bottles alongside corn som thum and brisket kung pao.
Caesars Palace, (702) 731-7286
I am slightly taking the piss including this as a drinks recommendation. The food at Guy Savoy is very serious, at the same level of highest-heights of Fine Dining you’ll find anywhere else in the city (or for that matter, the country). But it is the wine list, and the unique lens of sommelier Andrew Hurley (@vegas.wine), that make this place feel so essential to me. If you are in Vegas with someone who absolutely loves wine, with the budget to explore and enjoy, going here should be a major priority.
The Wynn Las Vegas, (702) 770-7000
Mariena Mercer Boarini oversees the drinks programs across the Wynn’s many bars and beverage dens, but this little bijou jewel box room overlooking the main casino floor has become a must-visit for me every time I’m through the doors. Here you’ll find my dream version of a dirty martini—technically a hot & dirty martini—served with spicy olive brine, good Belvedere vodka, and a black truffle salt rim. Go here for an iconic Vegas cocktail, and for thoughtful mocktails as well.
The Wynn Las Vegas, (702) 770-3300
Live music, crazy energy, the occasional table dancing showgirl, and for whatever reason, some of the best chicken fingers I’ve ever personally had. It’s all here at Delilah, which does brunch, dinner, and late night, but particularly shines as a setting for live music and upscale Vegas debauchery. Go here to take in the show with a glass of Champagne or an upscale old-fashioned.
495 E Twain Ave., (702) 791-7001
A rowdy little cash-only gay bar not far from the strip, open 24 hours. Cheap drinks, regular events, and bartop gambling right there in the bar itself—I once watched a certain friend of mine who shall remain nameless win big on a hand of digital poker inside the Fun Hog. Go here for LGBTQ hijinks with Vegas flair.
Vegas is home to several notable tiki bars, including Frankie’s Tiki Room, The Golden Tiki, Stray Pirate, and the newest, Glitter Gulch Tiki, opened downtown in 2024. One could conceivably don a Hawaiian shirt, gird their liver, and do a best-effort crawl of all these places, though by the end I fear you’d be a little publicly rowdy, even for this town.
With a Little Spare Time
This is Vegas, dammit, and unless you are forbidden to do so by court order or religious edict, you ought to gamble a little bit while you’re here. Circa is the best sports book (The Venetian is also fun, and the Westgate SuperBook is legendary), The Plaza has the best table games (including single zero roulette IYKYK), but the people watching and joie de vivre of it all is peerless inside The Venetian and The Bellagio, two resorts that hit that sweet-spot between upscale and hedonistic. Of course, if you’d like to watch high rollers bet more money in a single hand of Pai Gow than you’ll make in a year, I’d recommend the Wynn, where I’ve also looked in on some pretty exciting games of craps. Even if you do not personally gamble, there’s something kind of fun about observing other people gambling, and it’s not impolite to cheer for a perfect stranger if and when they win big.
Las Vegas, NV, USA – November 4, 2022: The Neon Stardust sign at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres.Photograph: Amy Sparwasser/Getty Images
The Mob Museum, The Neon Museum (also known as the “neon junkyard”), the Pinball Museum, Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Regis Galerie (a favorite of Michael Jackson), Eden Gallery at Wynn—Vegas is home to tons of arts and culture, both high-end and not-so-high-end. It’s worth wandering into any of these places if you’re nearby, or making a night of it at the Neon Museum, which is unique in the world and truly memorable.
255 Sands Ave.
You should probably go to the Sphere. There is no other venue quite like it on the planet, and it represents something like an only-here, brand-new experience that I think is very much worth seeing for yourself at least once. Seeing The Wizard of Oz here was cool, and I’m glad I did it, but once was enough; however, I will go back over and over again for live music, and hope the venue continues to bring in major bands for many years to come. Anyone got an extra ticket for Phish? The Beatles at The Sphere when??
