AUTHOR BIO: Mei Chen has worked for nearly a dozen start-ups in as many years, taking her to several West Coast cities. While she’s sure her current day job is permanent, she also has her eye on Carmel.
I used to come here with the Michelin Guide page dedicated to Las Vegas bookmarked on my laptop, dinner plans booked well in advance.
Back then, Joël Robuchon had three stars, Guy Savoy had two, and I planned my evenings like a pilgrim with a tasting menu itinerary. It felt like Vegas was finally being taken seriously—not just as a playground for gamblers and conventioneers but as a real-deal dining city.
And then the Michelin Guide pulled out. After 2009, the French tire makers stopped publishing the Las Vegas edition, for reasons that are still unclear. But the chefs didn’t leave. They kept cooking, and more followed—some already awarded Michelin stars in New York or Miami, others determined to earn their first star in a desert where the standards have only gotten higher.
If you're like me and still crave that star-worthy bite, here are 15 places in Las Vegas worthy of a Michelin star.
Anima by EDO
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Oscar Amador, two‑time James Beard nominee, serves Spanish‑inspired precision with international deposits of flavor from this downtown spot. Plates—like mushroom tarte Tatin—find balance in texture, heat, and complexity. That kind of refinement demands Michelin attention.
Casa Playa
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Sarah Thompson, a James Beard Best Chef Southwest finalist, leads seaside‑inspired plates in the Wynn Las Vegas. Think impeccably sourced seafood and seasonal produce—modern but anchored. Michelin should take note of her chef pedigree and ingredient quality.
Joël Robuchon
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The $485, 10-course tasting menu at the flagship MGM Grand restaurant feels like a time capsule from the era when French fine dining was about velvet banquettes and sauces that took three days. Lobster gets topped with caviar like it’s meant to be, and the Mignardises cart arrives like a jewelry display on wheels. It’s over the top, yes—but the technique, pacing, and precision haven’t slipped an inch. Michelin gave this place three stars when they were still watching Vegas, and it hasn’t stopped cooking like it still has them.
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
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If Robuchon’s main dining room is a limousine, L’Atelier is the stick shift sports car with the same engine. You sit at a counter, inches from the chefs, watching foie gras-stuffed quail and langoustine carpaccio hit the plate with surgical precision. The vibe is sleek and low-lit, more nightclub than Versailles, but the technique doesn’t let up. These are the kinds of dishes that got Robuchon all those Michelin stars in the first place—just served with a bit less starch in the collar.
Michael Mina
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Mina built a seafood temple at the Bellagio—raw bar precision, fish flown in daily, dishes that taste like recipes perfected over the course of a storied career (because, yeah, they were). Tableside prep adds theater, but it's all tech—not fluff. Michelin cares about tech, sourcing, and statements—this nails all three.
Mother Wolf
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Evan Funke expanded his L.A. pasta shrine to Vegas—and it’s not a gimmick. Every tonnarelli and sfincione feels handcrafted with obsessive control. Imported techniques, wood-fired definitions, Roman clarity—this is classic fine-dining rigor with Italian soul, and exactly the kind of precision that Michelin looks for.
Partage
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Partage is where you go when you want the kind of tasting menu that’s not about flash and circumstance. The room is quiet, the service exacting, and the nine-course chef’s table—with wine pairings and direct views of the kitchen—is one of the best dining experiences in town. There’s no telling what chef Yuri Szarzewski will dream up the night you go. But expect king crab jelly with caviar, foie gras under a cloud of spun sugar, and plating that makes you slow down and take it all in. If Michelin returns to Vegas, this will undoubtedly have a star.
Peter Luger Steak House
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Brooklyn’s steak legend rebooted itself at Caesars Palace and somehow elevated the already top-notch concept. Dry-aging is on display; each bite tastes like a masterclass in texture and timing. Steak isn’t simple—it’s ancient craft—and this one drags it into the spotlight with zero compromise. And while the New York original lost its Michelin star in 2022, the Vegas clone improved enough on the original to reach the guide’s standards.
Pisces Bar & Seafare
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Opened since May, Pisces in the Wynn Las Vegas looks yacht-party luxe, but under that gloss is tight technique: whole spiny lobsters, grilled Mediterranean fish, focused pairings. Chef Martin Heierling’s presentations feels intentional—not stuck in sauce. This kind of culinary discipline under the glow of décor speaks to fine-dining precision.
Restaurant Guy Savoy
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Restaurant Guy Savoy in Caesars Palace is the kind of place where your chair gets tucked in like it’s royalty and every plate lands like a plot twist. The seven-course Celebration menu includes Guy Savoy’s legendary artichoke and black truffle soup—served with a truffle brioche so delicate it practically sighs. From there, it’s wagyu and lobster, caviar and coral jus, and a wine list that could bankrupt a hedge fund. It’s a meticulous, deeply French temple of flavor, where Michelin-style service meets Strip-level spectacle—and somehow, it never feels forced.
Sparrow + Wolf
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At his Chinatown restaurant, Brian Howard’s menu reads like a chef’s manifesto: live-fire ancestral dishes, caviar, octopus risotto. The seven-course, $142 per person tasting menu is executed with poise, pacing, and skill—if Sparrow + Wolf were in Paris, it’d make judges pause. Vegas is lucky it’s here.
Stubborn Seed
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Jeremy Ford transplanted his Miami Michelin-star mojo to Resorts World and tightened it for Vegas. Each plate hits with global fusion and surgical intent—vegetables and proteins in perfect lockstep. It’s a tasting menu that speaks to intent, purpose, artistry.
Wing Lei
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This was the first Chinese restaurant in the U.S. to earn a Michelin star. And every dish at chef Ming Yu’s restaurant in the Wynn—especially the roast duck—still lands with that mastery. Service is polished, balance is sharp, and the technicality is undeniable.
Wakuda
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Tetsuya Wakuda’s sushi restaurant in the Venetian Palazzo Tower is whisper-quiet but roars with discipline. Courses measured to temple precision, umami depth carried in every bite. There’s a “secret” omakase counter hidden behind a bar, with a wallet-draining price tag of $500 per person. But it’s also the kind of minimalism that masks complexity—nothing wasted, everything calculated.
