Max and I are not your “typical” Vegas-goers: we don’t gamble much, and we’re rarely the ones still out at 4am. According to a survey the Las Vegas Sun quoted, 27% of visitors don’t gamble at all, so we’re in good company. We come to Vegas for the food, the shows and the sunshine, and now that we live just down the road in Henderson, we eat our way through the Strip more often than I’d like to admit.

I first wrote this list back in 2018, and a lot has changed since then. Restaurants have moved, closed, renovated and reopened, a whole new resort has landed on the north end of the Strip, and the Michelin Guide finally came back to Las Vegas in August 2026 after a 17-year absence. So here is the fully refreshed version of our favorites, all checked and current as of November 2026. If you read our post on the best shows in Vegas, consider this the dinner reservation to go with it.

1. Spago, Bellagio

Wolfgang Puck moved Spago from the Forum Shops to Bellagio in 2018, and it’s been the better version of itself ever since: a proper patio right on the lake with front-row seats to the fountain show, and a dining room that feels elegant without being stuffy. The tuna tartare has been my order since the Caesars days and it hasn’t changed, which is exactly how I want it. The octopus with pork belly and the burrata salad are the other two starters we fight over, and every main we’ve tried (lamb, steak, veal) has been excellent. Lunch runs 11:30am to 2:45pm and dinner from 5pm, and if you want the patio for the fountains, book early and ask for it specifically.

2. The Mayfair Supper Club, Bellagio

If you want dinner and a show without buying a show ticket, this is the one. The Mayfair took over the old Hyde space on the fountain side of Bellagio and turned it into a proper supper club: velvet booths, a live band, singers and dancers weaving between the tables, and the fountains going off outside the windows all night. A brand-new production launched on New Year’s Eve 2025, so even if you’ve been before, it’s a different show now, with around 15 performers rotating through the evening rather than one set piece. The menu is classic American done at a high level, with steaks running roughly $70 to $150, and the Cherries Jubilee at the end is non-negotiable. Dinner is nightly from 5pm, until 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday, when it rolls straight into Mayfair After Dark, a late-night lounge party from 11pm. Plan on two hours, dress up a little, and ask for a window table when you book.

3. Carbone Riviera, Bellagio

The biggest Vegas opening of 2025, and it lives up to the hype. Major Food Group took the old Picasso room on the lake at Bellagio and reopened it in November 2025 as Carbone Riviera, a seafood-first take on Carbone. The space is beautiful: Martin Brudnizki interiors, real Miró, Picasso and Renoir on the walls, and a deck out front with a Riva yacht docked on the fountain lake. The food is Italian coastal with Carbone’s swagger. Dinner opens with zeppole and caviar, moves through crudo and antipasti, and the main event is whole fish (branzino, Dover sole, sea bream) cooked over Japanese charcoal or baked in a salt crust and carved tableside. The Spicy Rigatoni Vodka is still on the menu for anyone who can’t let it go, and the two-pound lobster pasta is the table showpiece. It’s open seven nights from 5pm to 11pm and reservations go through Bellagio, so book as far out as they’ll let you.

4. Beauty & Essex, Cosmopolitan

You walk into a pawn shop at the Cosmopolitan, someone opens a door at the back, and suddenly you’re in a dark, glamorous, two-story dining room that feels like a secret. It still works every single time, and it’s still one of my favorite date-night spots on the Strip. The menu is built for sharing, so plan on three or four plates per person and go in knowing the bill climbs quickly. The grilled cheese and tomato soup dumplings and the tuna poke wonton tacos are the two things I’d never skip. Open 5pm to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and until 11pm Friday and Saturday, and it books up, so grab your table on OpenTable well ahead.

5. La Cave, Wynn

La Cave closed for most of summer 2024 for a top-to-bottom renovation and reopened that August looking fresher than ever, with the same wine-first attitude that made us love it in the first place. It sits just above the Wynn pool and gardens, and the outdoor terrace with its lounge sofas is still where I’d rather be on a warm evening. Order three or four small plates each (the short rib tacos are a must), pick something from one of the deepest by-the-glass wine lists on the Strip, and settle in. We’ve never had a dish here we didn’t like, and for the Wynn it’s surprisingly good value. The weekend brunch, with dim sum-style tray-passed plates, is worth planning a morning around.

6. Bardot Brasserie, Aria

Michael Mina’s French brasserie on Aria’s Promenade level is the closest thing Vegas has to a Parisian café: dark wood, burgundy leather booths, a big oval bar and a wine list that runs to hundreds of bottles. The food is classic brasserie done well, from steak frites to escargot to the king crab Benedict at brunch. One important change since I first wrote about it: Bardot is now closed Monday and Tuesday. Dinner runs Wednesday through Sunday from 5pm, and brunch is Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm. Brunch is still my pick here, so if you’re in town for a long weekend, this is your Saturday morning.

7. Hakkasan, MGM Grand

Most people know Hakkasan as the nightclub, but the restaurant on the ground floor is the reason to go. It’s modern Cantonese in a dramatic, lattice-screened room, with an open kitchen full of wok and dim sum chefs doing their thing. The crispy roast duck with kumquats is the signature and takes almost a full day to prepare, so order it. The dim sum is excellent too, and the Saturday and Sunday endless dim sum brunch is one of the better-value meals on the south end of the Strip. Dinner is nightly from 5pm (until 10:30pm or 11pm most nights, earlier on Sundays), and the Monday to Wednesday happy hour at the bar is a nice way to try it without committing to a full dinner.

8. Mon Ami Gabi, Paris Las Vegas

The best fountain view on the Strip for the money, full stop. Mon Ami Gabi sits at the base of the Eiffel Tower at Paris, directly across from Bellagio, and the sidewalk patio has been a Vegas institution since 1999. It’s a classic French bistro: steak frites, onion soup, a good wine list, and prices that are reasonable by Strip standards. Service can be hit or miss when they’re slammed, but the food has always delivered for us. The patio is first-come, first-served even if you have a reservation, so arrive early, put your name down for outside, and time it so you’re sitting when the fountains start. It is one of the most-booked restaurants in the entire city, so do reserve.

9. Ito, Fontainebleau

The newest addition to this list and the most special-occasion of the bunch. Ito is a 12-seat omakase counter on the 67th floor of Fontainebleau, tucked inside the Poodle Room, from chefs Masa Ito and Kevin Kim of the Michelin-recommended Ito in New York. Fish is flown in from Japan daily, the menu runs about 18 courses and changes with whatever is best that week, and the view down the Strip from that high up is ridiculous. It’s $400 per person before drinks, with sake and wine pairings on top, and there are only two seatings a night, at 6pm and 8:45pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Twelve seats means it sells out, so book the moment your dates are set. If you want a taste without the full commitment, Bar Ito in the Fontainebleau Promenade does hand rolls and sashimi from the same kitchen at a fraction of the price.

10. Don’s Prime, Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau’s flagship steakhouse, named for Don Soffer, the developer behind the original Fontainebleau Miami Beach, and built to feel like the 1950s Vegas steakhouse you wish still existed. Leather booths, crisp tablecloths, martinis that arrive properly cold, and trolley carts rolling through the room for tableside carving and service. The beef program is the point: prime and dry-aged cuts from Pat LaFrieda, American Wagyu, and a short list of Japanese Wagyu if you’re feeling it, plus a wine list that runs past 1,500 bottles. The executive chef, Patrick Munster, came over from SW Steakhouse at Wynn, and it shows. Eater named it Best New Steakhouse in 2024 and it has held that form. It’s open daily from 5pm to 10pm, and if you’re already heading up to Ito, this is the natural dinner the night before.

11. Hard Shake, Waldorf Astoria

Not a restaurant, but I’m keeping a bar on this list because the 23rd floor of the Waldorf Astoria still has the best drink-with-a-view in Vegas. If you knew this spot as the Mandarin Bar, here’s the catch-up: the Mandarin Oriental became the Waldorf Astoria in 2018, the bar became SkyBar, and in March 2025 SkyBar was reimagined as Hard Shake, a moody cocktail lounge in black and gold named after a Japanese bartending technique. Same floor-to-ceiling windows, same sweeping view of the Strip, much better cocktails. Right next door through a set of double doors is Peacock Alley, the Waldorf’s signature lounge, which does afternoon tea with Strip views at 11am, 1pm and 3pm Wednesday through Sunday. Hard Shake is open from 6pm Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday until midnight, and until 2am on Friday and Saturday. Go for sunset or for a nightcap after dinner at Aria next door, and ask for a window table.

I tried to keep this to five again and failed again, because Las Vegas keeps opening restaurants faster than we can eat at them. If you have a favorite we haven’t covered, tell me in the comments, and if you’re planning a Vegas trip and want help with the hotel, the shows and the reservations, that’s exactly what we do.