Las Vegas Restaurant & Dining Guide

Are Restaurants here Cheap?

Here's the most expensive meal I've seen, from the Palm's room service menu: They'll bring up a Carls Jr. hamburger, a 24-year-old bottle of French wine, and charge you six thousand dollars. It's named the Six Thousand Dollar Combo Meal. Conversely, you could head down to Fremont Street and grab a hot dog and beer for two bucks.

Fast Food - There are plenty of options, but don't expect to find a McDonalds in the luxurious, five-star Bellagio. Keep an eye out for food courts; most casinos have one, and the Strip itsself boasts plenty of nooks stuffed with cheap restaurants. Expect to pay a couple of dollars per person more on the Strip than you would off it.

Buffets - See our buffets page for a detailed description. Almost every hotel/casino has a buffet, and almost every buffets are delicious. The meal price will give you a quick indicator of the size and quality of the food selection. The eight dollar lunch at The Orleans or Gold Coast Casinos have a decently large selection with reasonably good quality. The fifteen dollar lunches of the Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin), Luxor, Rio, and Red Rock Casinos are enormous, sprawling buffets with well-made dishes. Gigantic buffets are the average for Las Vegas; you'll find something similiar at most hotels. The Bellagio, Wynn, and Encore buffets will cost you seventy five percent more, but deliver unmatched quality. This is where you find Alaskan King Crab legs, rare sushi, and choice cuts of meat. Lunch prices are around thirty dollars, and dinner can cost up to fifty. At every buffet, dinner will cost about fifty percent more than lunch, and breakfast will cost thirty percent less.

Celebrity Chefs - No city on Earth has more outposts from famous chefs. The superstar of the moment is Joel Robuchon, whose self-named restaurant at the MGM Grand is the only place in the city to win Michelin's Three-Star rating. It serves only fifty six people a night, and costs around two hundred and fifty dollars for dinner. Tom Collichio, the king of a New York City restaurant empire, encourages diners to build their own menu at Craftsteak, and spicy super chef Emeril Lagasse bring his favorite dishes and "Bam!" catchphrase to Emeril's New Orleans Fish House and the Delmonico Steakhouse. Not enough? French Chef Jean Georges takes on steak at Prime; Alain Ducasse has a home-away-from-home with Mix; Todd English brings another Olives to the Strip; Nobu Matsuhisa serves Peruvian-Japanese food at Nobu; Food Network star Bobby Flay ventures outside of New York with the Mesa Grill; Daniel Boulud keeps it classic at the Daniel Boulud Brasserie; Charlie Palmer built a three-story tower of wine at Aureole and opened the obligatory Charlie Palmer's Steak; Michael Mina takes his fish to the desert in Seablue, Nobhill and Michael Mina; and original Vegas Celebrity Chef Wofgang Puck keeps serving pizza at Spago, Chinois, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, and Trattoria Del Lupo.

Desserts - Try Max Brenners chocolate bar. Max carries real food as well, but go to be amazed by the ridiculous amount of chocolaty paraphernalia. Everything you ever wanted in an M&M's store can be found at M&M's World, four stories of candy, toys, and a free 3-D movie starring Red and Yellow. Next door, in the Showcase Mall, is an Ethel M's outlet. The main Ethel M's Factory Store and Cactus Garden can be found in Henderson, with free tours and tastings daily. Yogurtland at Town Square encourages you to build your own sundae masterpiece, exactly how you like it, and historical local favorite Luv-It Frozen Custard keeps people happy no matter what the weather.

Unusual Dining Experiences - Las Vegas has some interesting, unusal restaurants. The Rainforest Cafe gives vistors the chance to eat in a rainforest. Watch waitresses dance on the bar, possibly with Sammy Hagar, at Cabo Wabo. Be treated badly on purpose at Dick's Last Resort. Drink vodka and freeze your butt off at the Minus 5 Ice Lounge, Or eat hamburgers made from Buffalo at Bonnie Springs Ranch.