As recently as the early 1990s, the restaurant scene in
Las Vegas was governed by the notion that visitors were not
prepared to pay for gourmet food. All the casinos laid on both
pile-'em-high buffets at knock-down prices, and 24-hour coffeeshops
offering bargain steak-and-egg deals, but virtually the only
quality restaurants in town were upscale Italian places well away
from the Strip. The theory was that the longer tourists spent
lingering over their meals, the less time they had left to play the
tables.
Now, however, the situation has reversed, as the major casinos
compete to attract culinary superstars from all over the country to
open Vegas outlets. The first such venture was Wolfgang Puck's
Spago in Caesars Palace , back in 1992; these days,
as each new casino opens, it's taken for granted that it will have
as many as ten world-class restaurants. Asked what had persuaded
him to relocate to Las Vegas, one leading chef replied "three
million dollars." Many tourists now visit the city specifically to
eat at several of the best restaurants in the United States,
without having to reserve a table months in advance or pay sky-high
prices. Which is not to say that fine dining comes cheap in Las
Vegas, just that most of the big-name restaurants are less
expensive, and less snooty, than they are in their home cities.
Another break with tradition is that these days the accountants
require each sector of a casino-resort to be financially solvent.
Where once it was considered worth running the restaurants and
showrooms at a loss because they lured in gamblers, they now have
to be self-supporting. Thus prices are not what they were, with
buffets more like $8 rather than $3, and breakfast specials at
$4.50 not $1.99. Even so, for budget eating Las Vegas still beats
anywhere else in the country.
At most times, it's generally possible to get a same-day
reservation for any Las Vegas restaurant; to secure a table for
Friday or Saturday night, however, call as far in advance as you
can. Guests in the same hotel as a particular restaurant seldom get
any special priority.
The restaurants reviewed in this section form only a tiny
proportion of the total. If you're staying on the Strip in
particular, the choice is overwhelming, and you'll almost certainly
find a good restaurant to suit your tastes and budget in your own
hotel. For that reason, the places reviewed in this section tend
towards the higher end of the spectrum - it takes an exceptional
restaurant to be worth making a special effort to reach.
In terms of price or quality, let alone convenience, there are
few reasons to venture off into the rest of the city; good places
do exist away from the Strip and downtown, but the best are right
where the tourists are. The one exception to that rule is that
certain cuisines have as yet been unable to get a foothold on the
Strip; if you want Indian, Thai, or healthy Greek food, for
example, you'll have to drive out and find it