On Dining in Las Vegas: The Good, the Bad, and the Celebrity

Where a restaurant critic eats in Sin City — and where they walked out

I felt smugger with each disappointed face that passed me by. As Adam and I sat on the tufted loveseat in the vestibule of Carbone Las Vegas, I felt that unique sense of superiority restaurant aficionados feels when they have done their research.

I knew Carbone at the ARIA Resort & Casino was one of the hottest reservations in Las Vegas and I knew it booked out months in advance, primarily since its mother restaurant in New York City is Michelin quality (or it was, anyways). Carbone’s veal parmesan and spicy vodka rigatoni were bucket list items for me, and the thing I wanted to eat most on our first-ever trip to Las Vegas — I even had mentally prepared Adam for the hefty price tag.  

But an hour later, after dozens of couples had been turned away, and we still hadn’t been seated despite having made reservations months beforehand, I got a bad feeling. Finally, a dismissive host sat us — at a four-top next to the swinging kitchen door and it was another while before our server briefly said hi and tossed the giant menu at us.

So, we did something I have NEVER done before.

We walked out.

It turned out for the best — we had a great meal somewhere else (keep reading), but I learned a lot on my first trip. I didn’t go to Las Vegas as a gambler, I went as a diner, but in the end, I gambled on eating and just like the odds at the craps table, we won some, and we lost some.

Here is the good, the bad, and the celebrity on dining in Vegas.

The Good (burger)

Despite preconceived notions people might have about the tastes of restaurant critics, I love regional fast-food chains — and there are tons of them in Las Vegas from across the country. We bookended the two parts of our visit to Las Vegas with fast-food burgers, and I have no regrets.

The In-and-Out burger was the first thing we ate after we landed — animal-style burgers of course (read more about their secret menu here). Adam has always wanted to try White Castle, so we ate at the Freemont location for our last lunch in Sin City and those little burgers pack a delicious little punch — very much here for the fried onions. We also tried Raising Caines chicken fingers for the first time (amazing) and had giant salads at California Pizza Kitchen.

It was no accident that Eataly was attached to our hotel, Park MGM (which is ideal for those people who aren’t really Vegas people like us, but that’s another newsletter). We love all foods Italian, so I knew this would be a failsafe dining option for us for any time of day! On our first night, we ate at the bar at Gran Caffè Milano and enjoyed a fantastically simple arugula salad with aged Parmigiano Reggiano and lemon vinaigrette along with a VPN Margherita pizza. It was straightforward and delicious.

One of my favourite meals of the trip was unexpected but not unwanted. Lotus of Siam was high on my list after at least half a dozen people (whose restaurant taste I very much respect) recommended this iconic Thai restaurant to me. Sadly, I couldn’t snag a reservation but when a delay in picking up our rental car for our road trip to Palm Springs meant that we were hitting the road close to noon, I figured we might as well chance walking into the off-strip spot for lunch.

And we have a winner!

We were seated immediately in their ornate dining room and proceeded to have some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had — including meals I ate in Bangkok! Crispy Nam Kao Tod with pork sausage and dried chilies, roasted duck with fragrant red curry and pineapple, and a short rib Khao Soi that blew my freaking hair back.

Lotus of Siam is on my must-try list for Las Vegas — worth venturing off the strip for their Northern Thai cuisine.

The Bad (timing)

Many people who love Las Vegas have been many times and they know there are no coffee makers in the room (a travesty in my opinion), and they all say the same thing.

“Well, that’s Vegas!”

As if that’s an acceptable reason. Why should I have to drag myself out of bed (or should I say push Adam out of bed) to go downstairs to the lobby and pay $15 (American!!!!) for two drip coffees at Starbucks? Excuse me, sir, “It’s Vegas” is not a satisfactory explanation. Just because we’re stuck out here in the desert in Adult Disneyland, we just have to accept the exorbitant prices.

Apparently, we do — on our last night we were upgraded to a ridiculously large Panoramic Sunrise Suite at the Circa Hotel on Freemont Street and despite the expansive sit-up bar in this very expensive room, there was no corkscrew to open the orange wine we had bought in Joshua Tree. When I contacted the concierge to bring one up, they texted back; “Certainly, wine openers are $10 and wineglasses are $4 each for usage.”

Well, that’s Vegas.

The other thing Vegas shortchanges you on is time. While I can appreciate the logistical wonder these mammoth hotels and restaurants are (our 3000-room Park MGM is part of the MGM Resorts group which employs more than 40,000 people!!), the dining experiences for the most part were very rushed. At two different restaurants, we were brought our first courses before our cocktails arrived, and at one $300 meal, we were in and out in about an hour. I appreciate the efficiency and good service but there is such a thing as too efficient.

This is why we left Carbone — I didn’t want to be rushed through my $500 meal.

From what I have garnered in my brief experiences with high-end restaurants in Las Vegas, many of the offshoots from famous restaurants like Carbone are almost parodies of their Michelin-rated sisters in other cities. Carnival reflections of a more prestigious eatery. 

The Celebrity (chef)

While Carbone was a disappointment, several celebrity spots delighted and beguiled us on our virgin Vegas voyage. Chances are if you have a favourite celebrity chef, they have a restaurant in Vegas. I finally got to try a Cronut almost a decade after Dominique Ansel created it when we stopped by his Vegas bakery in Caesar’s Palace and we counted at least nine different Gordon Ramsay restaurants and pubs — even Martha Stewart has Bedford Restaurant in the Paris hotel now.

Our favourite Vegas meal at Best Friend lived up to all the hype. Owned and operated by famed LA Chef Roy Choi (you’ve probably seen him on Iron Chef), Best Friend serves up a fantastic menu of Korean American fusion dishes. We devoured the Kogi Short Rib Tacos that made Choi famous in his groundbreaking food truck, polished off the Hamachi Aguachile in seconds and drooled over the Uni Dynamite Rice with salmon roe and spicy yuzu sauce.

Besides the fact that Best Friend was located inside our hotel (entering through a convenience store, speakeasy-style), the cocktails were fantastic, the service (who were dressed in Adidas tracksuits) was phenomenal and we actually dined. We spent time lingering over our BBQ pork and Medjool Date Cake with sticky toffee and caramel ice cream to the sounds of the 90s pumped out by a live DJ. 

Celebrity Chef and philanthropist Jose Andres also saved the day when we walked out of Carbone.

While drinking 2-1 cocktails at the ARIA we regrouped, and I booked a late reservation at Andres’ tapas bar in the Cosmopolitan called Jaleo. The service and food were impeccable; as opposed to the belittling experience we had at Carbone; everything was as it should be. The wine list was fantastic with great recommendations from our kind and personable server, and we got to try some of Andres’ whimsical and traditional dishes.

We sampled molecular gastronomy by ordering Ferran Adrià’s ‘liquid’ olives that popped into our mouths and evaporated with a whisp of olive umami. Adam sighed as he dug into the high-quality Iberico ham, and we both laughed with delight when the Traditional Spanish chicken croquetas arrived at the table cradled in a chicken-shaped platter.

No reservations?

I loved Bettina Makalintal’s most recent newsletter for Eater Travel about skipping the restaurants requiring reservations altogether — on Makalintal’s most recent vacation to Las Angeles, she opted to only dine in no-reservation restaurants with much satisfaction and success.

In addition to the fact that I feel that we’re kindred spirits after learning she too makes a Google Map of restaurants she wants to try as part of her travel research, this is a really good way to find places to eat in Las Vegas. Load that map with bucket list spots, recommendations from friends and the “best of” lists you come across; that way when you’re strolling through the Bellagio and you feel those hanger pangs, you have a list of vetted spots at your fingertips.

My best advice is to do your research, look up what kinds of celebrity or expensive restaurants are hard to get into and book ONE. Don’t pre-schedule every meal. That way you have something to look forward to, but you also aren’t tied down by 8 pm reservations if you’re winning at roulette. We cancelled our expensive steakhouse restaurant reservation because we were having a great time on the slots drinking free drinks — this resulted in an extra $60 to spend on chicken fingers at Raising Caines and I have no regrets about it!

Also, many of the hot restaurants don’t fully book up and you can get a reservation an hour before as we did at Jaleo!

Would I ever go back to Las Vegas? It’s a weird and wonderful place with a lot of amazing food, on and off the foodie radar, but probably not. That said, I learned some valuable lessons about overreaching when it comes to restaurant reservations and some of the food I ate I’ll never forget.

You win some you lose some — onto the next restaurant-filled Google Map.

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