For years when we’ve gone to Las Vegas for one reason or another, Nick and I always remark how much we’d like to do eventually do a Las Vegas foodie weekend there, just hopping from one great restaurant to another. And we finally worked that exact trip into our schedule this year with a trip in January where all we did was basically eat! Las Vegas has a huge abundance of amazing restaurants from high-caliber chefs and it’s an amazing place to go if you love to eat amazing food. One note for your foodie weekend – be sure to make reservations for all of you larger meals as most of these spots fill up fast!
We made our trip into a long weekend as we wanted to take advantage of several nights there for dinner out. We also divided our meals into more mid-range style lunches to higher-end dinners. I will say straight away, we knew we were going to eat and had saved money specifically for that part of the trip, so we did end up spending a decent amount on our meals while there. You could for sure do a less expensive trip like this, but we chose to splurge while there because we’ve wanted to do it for a long time. Another note on budgeting for this trip, we ended up spending about $1,000 for our 3 days there, not including our hotel and flights which we booked on points. When we were considering doing this trip this year, we specifically decided to do this Las Vegas foodie weekend plus our upcoming National Parks road trip through Utah in March instead of doing one large Europe trip this Spring. We’ll end up spending about the same amount of money between both US trips as we would have going to Europe like we usually do, so we factored that in from the beginning.
So, with all that said, here’s how to do a 3-day itinerary for a Las Vegas foodie weekend!
Day 1
Arrive into Las Vegas and head to your hotel. If you’re staying on The Strip like we did, grab a taxi at the airport and the fare should be a flat amount right around $30. We used to always stay at the Luxor and the last few trips, our go to has been the Vdara, which is connected to the Bellagio but doesn’t have a casino, which is kind of nice to get away from it all. Just be sure you arrive in time for dinner on Day 1!
Dinner at Giada at the Cromwell – I’d recommend starting with the Arugula salad followed by the Scallops for dinner. Oh and don’t skimp on the delicious bread to start, complete with incredible pesto and fried capers!
Day 2
For your first full day in Las Vegas, if you’ve never been, use this as a day to explore The Strip. Most the hotels connect to each other so you can go from one to the other pretty easily. Be prepared to walk a lot!
Brunch at Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace – I’ve eaten at Mesa Grill twice, once in New York City and once in Las Vegas and I will be honest and say that my meal in NYC was way better than our meal in Vegas. However, it was a pretty good brunch and if you’re a fan of Bobby Flay (I am!), it’s fun going here. The complimentary muffin basket is excellent and I ordered the steak tortilla breakfast which was basically like a breakfast steak taco and every bite was really good. The scrambled eggs were truly the best I’ve ever had and the maple glazed bacon was divine, overall, I’d say it was a really solid spot for a fun brunch.
Spend your afternoon either napping or exploring! We did a little gambling and then headed back to the hotel for a nice long restful afternoon.
Dinner at Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace – You have to do at least one buffet while in Vegas as they are such a “Vegas thing.” There are lots of cheap ones still around but if you want to go a little higher-end, the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s is well worth it. For $65 per person, you’ll have endless amounts of roasted meats, shrimp cocktails, crab legs and an endless dessert buffet bar. There is everything from Southern American food to Asian classics to sushi here and you truly can eat to heart’s content.
Day 3
After a very full eating Day 2, we chose to grab a Starbucks coffee and just relax in our room on our second full day in Las Vegas. You could also head out and explore if you want!
Lunch at China Poblano at The Cosmopolitan – We’ve eaten here before and were really excited to go back. This spot in The Cosmopolitan by José Andres is incredible and both times we’ve been, the food has been amazing. I’d recommend starting with the table side guacamole, followed by the Chorizo con Papas Sopes, 18 Monk noodles, Xiaolongbao and fried Brussel Sprouts.
Take your last day in Las Vegas to spend some time gambling in the afternoon. We walked over to the Paris Hotel and Casino right across the street from The Cosmopolitan after lunch. It’s a little cheaper in terms of tables than the Bellagio and Caesar’s. Nick played Craps for a bit and left with a nice little amount of winnings. Just don’t gamble more than you can afford! You don’t want to walk away loosing a whole bunch; it’s about the fun of it and not how much you can try to loose.
Dinner at Mizumi at the Wynn – We knew going into this trip that this would be our splurge meal. Both of our other dinners ran about $100-$150 for the two of us and we knew that we’d spend more on this meal so we went into it knowing we wanted it to be special. We picked Mizumi for a few reasons. First, we’ve never been down to the Wynn Hotel on past trips and were excited to see it. Second, Nick’s not a big red-meat eater so we didn’t want to do a high end steak house for this meal. And third, we wanted something really different and really unique to Vegas for our splurge meal. Mizumi meets that criteria with its bright red dining room and eclectic menu. If you go early, you’ll most likely get a great table right next to the glass windows looking out over a pond and waterfall and it really is beautiful. We ordered the Edamame with Truffle Salt (it was divine!), the Wagyu Dumplings (really good but really rich), the fried Brussel sprouts (good, but pretty standard), the Robata platter (their mixed assortment of grilled meats, fish and vegetables – it was really good to try, not sure I’d order again), and sushi. Now truly, the sushi was incredible and if I went back in the future, I’d probably go and just order a bunch of sushi here. I got salmon and scallop nigiri. Nick got Tuna nigiri and it was all incredible. The winner over everything here though, the cocktail. I got the Pear Cosmopolitan and went through two of them during our dinner (considering I don’t usually drink cocktails or more than one glass at wine at dinner, you know it must have been amazing!). The almond milk rice pudding for dessert was also delightful. For a splurge dinner and something really unique to Las Vegas, Mizumi is the place to go!
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