What to know about the Top 100 Restaurants in Las Vegas before you bite
Putting together our annual list of the Top 100 restaurants in Las Vegas was an exercise in pleasure (and sometimes pleasurable excess) — from the smallest bites to the grandest spreads.
At the same time, creating the list was an exercise in purpose: to celebrate the fact that more outstanding restaurants than ever can be found all across the valley.
The Top 100 could have been fashioned in any number of ways, featuring only restaurants on the Strip or off, only places with famous chefs or reputations, only spots with fiddly craft cocktails or splashy social media. Vegas being Vegas, this list could almost have been limited to high-end steakhouses or party restaurants or caviar menus.
The Top 100 is only in its second year, but already we’ve learned how difficult it is to leave off an excellent restaurant — while recognizing not every establishment can be included, and a list 1,000 restaurants long wouldn’t be useful for readers.
But as much as removing restaurants proved challenging, it was also exciting to identify worthy additions as they surprised or delighted us along the way.
Menu quality and an essential energy or appeal — those are a given for any place among the Top 100. But for every restaurant we considered, we asked a fundamental question: What does this restaurant do for Vegas and for diners?
Does it offer the opportunity to sample the culinary vision of globe-girdling chefs (something Vegas excels at)? Does it contribute to the culinary diversity of the city? Does it help anchor a neighborhood (because a city is nothing without its neighborhoods)? Does it testify to the ways restaurant owners bootstrap their dreams into a successful reality? Or something else distinctive?
And we have introduced a Hall of Fame — 10 restaurants whose enduring excellence has made them icons (in the true sense of the word), moving them outside of any annual roundup.
The Top 100 exists as a print magazine and as an online destination searchable by restaurant, cuisine and area of the valley, with a map. We trust this list offers plenty of places you haven’t explored before, along with a reminder to visit old favorites still at the top of their game. Keep this guide handy or bookmark the online version.
The flavors of Vegas await.