Las Vegas dining didn’t move in a single direction in 2025. While Strip casinos leaned harder into luxury and high-profile experiences, neighborhood restaurants told a very different story — one shaped by geography, resilience, and a growing emphasis on permanence over novelty.
Rather than offering a traditional year-end list of the “Best Restaurants,” this series looks at what the year’s most significant openings reveal about larger trends. (You can find recommendations in over 100 categories at Neon Feast.) When put in the proper context, new openings say a lot about where their neighborhoods are headed — or would like to be.
This second installment focuses on neighborhood dining, where the biggest developments clustered in specific areas rather than across the city as a whole. From the accelerating maturation of the Arts District, to Carson Avenue’s slow recovery from prolonged construction, to the explosive growth of The Bend, these pockets of activity reveal how off-Strip dining continues to evolve — often in ways that feel more grounded and more local than anything happening on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Arts District
As Arts District development accelerates at a breakneck pace, the neighborhood continues to grow as a drinking and dining destination for both visitors and residents. And while its footprint has expanded in all directions, the heart and soul remain the five blocks of Main Street between Wyoming Avenue and Charleston Boulevard.
The Las Vegas–born Holsteins, which operated for 15 years in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas before shuttering in May of 2024, has brought its gourmet burgers and boozy shakes to a Main Street location between Velveteen Rabbit and Good Pie.
Downtown pioneers Jerad Howard (Vesta Coffee) and Dan Coughlin (Le Thai, 8 East) have joined forces to channel the essence of their favorite Utah snowboarding bar at Viking Mike’s Alpine Yurt Bar, on the corner of Main Street and Utah Avenue.
Chef Natalie Young has closed Eat on Carson Avenue to focus on Echo Taste and Sound — an audiophile’s dream listening lounge that doubles as a restaurant and bar, on the ground floor of the Colorado Building at the corner of Main Street and Colorado Avenue.
And the chef who put this neighborhood on the culinary map has made major moves to consolidate much of his growing empire within a few blocks of where it started. After moving Esther’s Kitchen to a larger location in 2024, Chef James Trees made some serious moves over the past 12 months. His gorgeous French bistro Bar Boheme joined its smaller sister bar, Petite Boheme, on Main Street and Imperial Avenue. And his experimental Ada’s Food & Wine relocated from Tivoli Village to the original Esther’s Kitchen space on Imperial Avenue.
Fremont East / Carson Avenue
Carson Avenue has long been the unofficial Restaurant Row of the Fremont East District. Unfortunately, the city’s plans to make that title official have been delayed, in part due to continuing construction to prepare the street for a new bus route. As a result, it’s been a tough couple of years for the neighborhood.
Neighborhood stalwarts 7th & Carson and Carson Kitchen have carried on through the construction and continue to be two of the area’s best restaurants. This year, however, they’ve gotten some new neighbors that are worth noting — many replacing spots that couldn’t wait out the construction.
The San Diego–based Sayulitas chain has replaced the plant-based VegeNation, blending Mexican and Filipino flavors in what it affectionately refers to as “Big Ass Burritos.” And the Colorado-based Chili Shack has taken over the space at Carson Avenue and 7th Street that previously housed Eat by Chef Natalie Young.
A block to the west, the renovation of the old Post Office building continued this year, with a pair of Las Vegas–based operations joining its culinary lineup. Pachi Pachi is a truly unique jungle-themed concept restaurant designed by the man who created The Golden Tiki, offering some truly Instagrammable dishes (try the Ghost Noodles) and décor (pose in front of the giant pachinko machine). Just next door, Baguette Café brings the French breakfasts, sandwiches, and parties that have made it a hit at locations in Henderson and the Southwest.
The Bend
The area surrounding the curve in Interstate 215, between Durango Drive and Sunset Road, exploded onto the culinary scene in 2023 and 2024, thanks to impressive restaurant collections at both Durango Resort and the UnCommons development. But 2025 brought it to a new level, as The Bend — located just across the freeway from those two — brought a huge collection of restaurants and bars online.
Butcher and Thief — Carson Kitchen co-creator Cory Harwell offering a steakhouse experience at family-friendly prices.
Evolve Brewing — the first brewery from the Aces & Ales craft bar chain.
Freed’s Dessert Shop — sweet treats from the famed Las Vegas bakery.
Marafuku Ramen — a San Francisco–based chain specializing in Japanese noodles and bar snacks.
St. Felix Las Vegas — a Hollywood import that combines nightlife and dining for the party crowd.
Union Biscuit — a locally owned breakfast and lunch spot specializing in Southern biscuits and gravy.
With Love, Always — the latest smashburger spot from the Las Vegas–based team that also developed the Sorry, Not Sorry gourmet ice cream chain.
The Great Greek — a local chain offering casual, counter-service Greek cuisine.
Coming Soon — Sliceteria by Metro Pizza
Worth Exploring
While the areas above provided some of the most high-profile neighborhood restaurant openings of the year, they didn’t monopolize the conversation. In fact, the two most exciting off-Strip restaurants of the year, at least in this author’s opinion, opened elsewhere.
When Chef Oscar Amador and his partners decided to close EDO Tapas in Chinatown to focus on other new and existing restaurants, he wasn’t ready to give up the intimate space where it all began. So he converted the Jones Boulevard restaurant into a new solo endeavor. Amador Cocina Fina offers creative and elegant fine dining that draws on Spanish and Latin influences, but is never afraid to surprise its audience. It will likely serve as a workshop for the chef to develop new ideas for the other, larger restaurants he has planned for 2026.
In the Desert Breeze Park neighborhood, Chef Dan Krohmer (Other Mama) decided to shutter his breakfast and lunch restaurant Chamana’s Café in order to create an exciting new concept called Durango Social Club. At times, Krohmer uses it to showcase his latest culinary ideas. But when he’s not in the kitchen, the popup spot/culinary incubator invites guest chefs to showcase their own ideas. In the few short months since it opened, Durango Social Club has hosted a fine-dining residency called Lilli by former French Laundry chef Tyler Vorce, a smashburger takeover by the team at In Limbo, and Toddy Shop – The Little Indian Bar food by Hemant Kishore.
For more on restaurant trends in 2025, please check out:
