3 Las Vegas spots on Yelp’s best new US restaurants for 2025
Put it down to the in-house bakery offering house cornetti stuffed with custard cream. Or to the steaks swaddled in tallow, then aged up to 50 days in Himalayan salt. Or to the bone-in chops flamed tableside with a giant culinary torch, endowing the beef with sizzle and char.
These and other aspects of Sgrizzi by Chef Marc in southwest Las Vegas were lauded on Yelp, so much so that the restaurant appears at No. 5 on the platform’s list of 25 Best New Restaurants in the U.S. for 2025. Sgrizzi by Chef Marc ranks highest among the three Vegas spots that were recognized.
Since coming to town about 25 years ago, Sgrizzi has owned several restaurants, including Chef Marc’s Trattoria, which closed during the pandemic.
The menu at Sgrizzi by Chef Marc, 9250 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 130, features several chops, including a Prime New York strip and an Australian wagyu tomahawk dry aged for 40 days. Chicken Sinatra, a grilled lamb rack and pastas made fresh daily, including rigatoni arrabbiata and fazzoletti squares with duck ragù, are also on the menu. My Father’s Meatballs with Sunday sauce, a family recipe, headlines the antipasti.
Texas transplant
The Guest House Las Vegas, an outpost of the Austin, Texas, original, sits at No. 14 among the top 25, singled out by Yelp contributors for its “luxury Tulum vibe,” a sparkling gold pillar anchoring the dining room and Egyptian-inspired chandeliers in the atrium. A DJ helps fuel the party.
The Magic Mushroom cocktail (“earthy, crisp”), steak tartare (“silky, flavorful”), the crab cake, the tuna and caviar cones accompanied by bonsai, and the spicy rigatoni (“just the right amount of heat”) also come in for praise. Guest House is at 6635 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite 125, in Town Square.
A tribute to his mother
Chef Wolfgang Puck opened Caramá, at No. 18, in Mandalay Bay, replacing Lupo, his longtime Italian restaurant. Caramá, also an Italian spot, pays homage to Puck’s mother, who was a pastry chef and his first cooking teacher.
Diners liked the pizzas, including the prosciutto, fig and arugula. They also took to the salumi bar with meats and cheeses imported from Italy, and to housemade pastas such as ricotta gnocchi, rigatoni Bolognese and spaghetti alla chitarra with tiger prawns.
The menu continues at Caramá with Maine lobster risotto, branzino grilled whole, chicken saltimbocca, veal Parmigiana and a 32-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina. The Illusione del Limone, a classic instance of Vegas culinary legerdemain, features a lemon cake that resembles a real lemon.
Vegas connections for No. 1
Dōgon in Washington, D.C., a celestial-themed Afro-Caribbean restaurant from Kwame Onwuachi, a leader of the young generation of chefs, comes in at No. 1 on the list. In September, Dōgon was named No. 37 at the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony held at Wynn Las Vegas. Onwuachi is planning to open Maroon, a Caribbean steakhouse, this year at Sahara Las Vegas, replacing Bazaar Meat.
To create the list, Yelp identified full-service restaurants that opened after Jan. 1, 2024, then ranked those spots using a number of factors, including the total volume and ratings of reviews occurring between Jan. 1, 2024, and June 11, 2025. A Yelp trend expert was also consulted. Visit here for the full list.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.