Las Vegas Food Guide 2026: Buffets, Big-Name Chefs and Local Eats

Eating is one of the best reasons to visit Las Vegas. The Strip's resorts compete with restaurants from famous chefs and huge buffets, while the rest of the valley, especially Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road, has excellent food at a fraction of Strip prices.

Restaurants in Vegas open, move and close constantly, which is why many food guides go stale fast. This one sticks to places whose details we could confirm on their own or their resort's website in September 2026, and it points you to our more detailed guides for each kind of food. Restaurants we could not confirm as still open, including several fine-dining rooms and buffets that older lists still recommend, have been left out.

How Eating in Vegas Works

• The Strip has the big names, the views and the buffets, at resort prices. Almost every resort has a steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, an Asian restaurant, a café and a food court or quick-service outlets.
• Downtown (Fremont Street and the Arts District) is cheaper and more casual.
• Chinatown, a few minutes west of the Strip along Spring Mountain Road, is where many locals eat: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and more.
• The suburbs (Henderson, Summerlin) have neighbourhood restaurants and locals' casinos with lower prices.

Tax and tip add a lot to Strip menu prices. Tip 18 to 20% at sit-down restaurants. If you have a car, off-Strip meals are the easiest way to save.

Buffets

Vegas buffets are not the cheap feeds they once were; the best are now expensive, high-quality spreads. Two of the best known, with details from their own pages:

Bacchanal Buffet, Caesars Palace

Caesars describes Bacchanal as more than 25,000 square feet with 10 kitchens, nine chef-attended action stations and more than 250 dishes, serving brunch and dinner. Reservations are through OpenTable; groups of 13 or more call (866) 733-5827. In September 2026 Caesars advertised an Early Bird Dinner at $69.99, Monday to Thursday from 2:30 to 4 p.m., reservation required. Other meal prices vary by day, so check Caesars' page when you book.

The Buffet at Wynn

Wynn lists 16 live-action cooking stations and more than 120 savory dishes. It serves a Gourmet Brunch daily from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($59.99) and a Seafood Gourmet Dinner daily from 1 to 9 p.m. ($79.99), plus tax. Children 3 to 9 pay half price. Your visit is limited to two hours, non-alcoholic drinks are included, and an Endless Pour package costs $32.99. The Buffet does not take ordinary reservations, but you can pre-pay for priority seating ($5 per person) up to 30 days ahead. Prices can change on holidays.

Buffet tips

• Earlier meals are cheaper: brunch at Wynn is $20 less than dinner, and Bacchanal's early-bird dinner undercuts its later seatings.
• Weekends and holidays cost more and have longer waits; book or pre-pay where you can.
• Go hungry, look around before you fill a plate, and focus on the dishes you can't get at home.

See our Las Vegas buffets guide and buffet tips for more.

Celebrity-Chef Restaurants

Big-name chefs are concentrated in a few resorts. These are the line-ups the resorts themselves list:

Caesars Palace

• Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen: signature dishes inspired by the TV show; the beef Wellington is the famous order.
• Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill: the more casual Ramsay option, British pub food.
• Restaurant Guy Savoy: the French chef's fine-dining room, the most formal meal at Caesars.
• Amalfi by Bobby Flay (coastal Italian) and Brasserie B by Bobby Flay (Parisian steakhouse).
• Peter Luger Steak House: the New York steakhouse's Vegas outpost.
• Nobu: Nobu Matsuhisa's Japanese restaurant.
• Pronto by Giada: Giada De Laurentiis's casual Italian, and Dominique Ansel for pastries, including the Cronut.

The Venetian and Palazzo

The Venetian's reservation list includes CUT by Wolfgang Puck, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés (previously at the Sahara), Mott 32 (Hong Kong-style Chinese), Thomas Keller's Bouchon, Cote (Korean steakhouse), Yardbird, Milos and several Italian restaurants. The resort recommends reservations for its fine-dining and celebrity-chef restaurants (866-659-9643).

Wynn and Encore

Wynn's featured restaurants include Casa Playa (coastal Mexican; its chef, Sarah Thompson, won a James Beard Award in 2026), Delilah (a supper club), Mizumi (Japanese, with sushi, robata and teppanyaki), Pisces(Mediterranean seafood), Sartiano's (Italian steakhouse) and Tableau for brunch.

Getting the most out of them

• Book ahead for weekend dinners and holiday periods, and for any restaurant attached to a TV name.
• Try lunch or brunch. Many of these restaurants serve a cheaper daytime menu.
• Sit at the bar if you can't get a table; bars often take walk-ins.
• Check dress codes. Most are smart casual, but the fine-dining rooms expect more.

More in our celebrity chef restaurants guide and steakhouses guide.

Classic Vegas Meals

Peppermill Restaurant & Fireside Lounge

The Peppermill, at 2985 Las Vegas Blvd. South on the north Strip, is pure 1970s Vegas: Tiffany-style flamingo lamps, blue booths, mirrored walls and a fire pit in the lounge. It appeared in the 1995 film Casino, and the lounge is known for its 64-ounce Scorpion cocktail. It is no longer open around the clock every day: in September 2026 it opened 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday to Wednesday (last seating 1:15 a.m.) and 24 hours Thursday to Sunday.

Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas

A French bistro on the Strip since 1999, with a patio facing the Bellagio fountains. It opens at 7 a.m. daily for breakfast and serves until 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with weekend brunch Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ask for the patio for the fountain view.

Downtown old-school

Fremont Street's older casinos keep the traditions of the coffee shop, the prime rib special and the shrimp cocktail alive. Deals change often, so check the casino's own site before you go. Our Fremont Street guide covers downtown.

Off the Strip: Where Locals Eat

Lotus of Siam

The city's most famous Thai restaurant, open since November 1999, specialises in Northern Thai cooking: herb-heavy dishes, stews and curries without coconut. Chef Saipin Chutima won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2011. Note the address has changed from older guides: it is at 620 E. Flamingo Road, and a second location at 953 E. Sahara Avenue opened in May 2026. Order from the Northern Thai section of the menu.

Chinatown (Spring Mountain Road)

A few minutes from the Strip by car or rideshare, the plazas along Spring Mountain Road hold dozens of restaurants: hand-pulled noodles, dim sum, pho, ramen, Korean barbecue, hot pot and late-night izakayas. Many stay open late, which makes Chinatown a good after-show option. Our Chinatown food guide names the places to try, and our ramen guide and Asian restaurants guide go deeper.

Downtown and the Arts District

The Arts District, just south of downtown, has grown into a restaurant and bar neighbourhood of its own, with independent restaurants, breweries and cocktail bars. It is at its busiest on First Friday, the monthly art walk.

Cheap Eats

• Tacos El Gordo: Tijuana-style tacos. The Strip location is at 3041 Las Vegas Blvd. South, and there are others on West Sunset Road and in North Las Vegas. Order the adobada.
• Resort food courts and quick-service counters: every big resort has them, and they are the cheapest meals on the Strip.
• Burgers and chains: In-N-Out and other West Coast chains have branches near the Strip.
• Chinatown: most noodle and pho shops are cheaper than any sit-down meal on the Strip.
• Buffet timing: if you want a buffet, brunch or early-bird dinner is the cheapest way in.

More in our cheap eats guide and happy hours guide.

Late-Night Food

Vegas is still one of the best cities in America for eating after midnight, though fewer places are open 24 hours than before. The Peppermill runs 24 hours Thursday to Sunday and until 2 a.m. the rest of the week. Many Chinatown restaurants, resort cafés and taco shops stay open late; always check the hours for the night you plan to go, because they vary by day. See our late-night dining guide.

By Type of Food

Practical Tips

Reservations

Most Strip restaurants take bookings online, often through OpenTable (Bacchanal does) or the resort's own site. Book popular restaurants ahead for Friday and Saturday nights, and much further ahead around New Year's Eve and big events. Early and late seatings are the easiest to get. Some places, like the Buffet at Wynn, sell priority seating instead of reservations.

Saving money

• Eat your big meal at lunch or brunch, when menus are often cheaper.
• Mix one splurge with casual meals and a trip to Chinatown.
• Join the resort's loyalty program; points can often be used on food.
• Look at total price: tax and an 18 to 20% tip add roughly a third to the menu price.

Dietary needs

Big resort restaurants are used to allergies and dietary requests; mention them when you book and again to your server. Buffets label many dishes, but ask a chef at the station if you need to be sure. Vegan diners have a growing choice off the Strip; see our vegan restaurants guide.

A Three-Day Eating Plan

• Day 1: breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi on the patio; a casual lunch at a resort food court; dinner at a celebrity-chef restaurant such as Hell's Kitchen.
• Day 2: brunch at the Buffet at Wynn or Bacchanal; a light afternoon; dinner in Chinatown, starting or ending at Lotus of Siam on Flamingo Road.
• Day 3: tacos at Tacos El Gordo; dinner downtown or in the Arts District; a late drink at the Peppermill's Fireside Lounge.