We've answered this question a couple of times, but as it's one of our more frequently asked inquiries and one of the more exotic places in Las Vegas, we like to revisit it from time to time.
The original Chinatown Plaza stretches along the south side of Spring Mountain Road between Wynn and Arville. It opened in 1995. Since then, especially in the past five years or so, the distinctive pagoda-style architecture has spread out about a mile in both directions on both sides of Spring Mountain Road and the storefronts offer everything from Asian language schools and acupuncture to herbs, jade, and Asian fashions.
The original Plaza was built by Taiwanese-American developer James Chen. He realized that, because there was no central Chinatown encompassing the Asian population in Las Vegas, he could actually create one by developing a core and attracting Asians to it. He designed it to be a discrete district that offers all things Asian, especially authentic food, to Chinese-speaking tourists from the West Coast and Asia.
The architecture -- and themes -- derive from the Tong Dynasty. The front of the mall is graced by a large pagoda-style arch. A fountain in the center of the parking lot has two statues, one of the 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang and his Journey to the West, the other of the Monkey God; both are figures from classical Tong Dynasty-era Chinese literature.
The mall itself is more pan-Asian than Chinese. Though Chinese music wafts through the covered walkways outside the shops and framed posters illustrate Chinese customs, arts, and entertainment, the shops and restaurants embrace the Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and more.
Stores include the area’s largest Oriental gift shop and only Chinese-language bookstore, jewelry and jade, Oriental fashions, art, crafts, CD/DVD, travel, flowers and plants, herbs, tea (try the tapioca drinks), and massage.
The anchor store, however, is the 99 Ranch Market, by far the largest Asian supermarket in the city. This is a branch of a West Coast chain, so it's familiar to most Asian visitors and transplants. Its shelves are packed with mostly Chinese, but also other Asian packaged food, along with an exotic produce section and a fantastic array of fresh flesh, including a huge selection of whole fish, live shellfish, and spiny creatures from the deep (the seafood aroma permeates the store and will make you forget you're not only in Las Vegas, but the U. S. of A. to boot).
In 1999, then-Governor Kenny Guinn designated the area as Las Vegas's official Chinatown, with signs on the highways identifying it as such. Subsequently, the Clark County Commission proclaimed Chinatown Plaza the official Asian Pacific American Cultural Center for Las Vegas.
A number of Asian restaurants stretch from the east end of the Chinatown facades to the west (with an emphasis, for some reason, on Korean cuisine). But within the original Chinatown Plaza, there are ten restaurants, serving: Szechwan, Mandarin, Shanghai, dim sum, and Chinese barbecue and seafood; Filipino; Japanese and sushi; and Vietnamese.
Capital Seafood Restaurant (702/227-3588, open 10 am to midnight), was named one of the Top 100 Chinese restaurants in the U.S. by Chinese Restaurant News in 2006, which judges more than 43,000 Chinese restaurants nationwide. It’s a Hong Kong–style seafood house (with three other branches in southern California). It has a huge menu (123 items); click here to see it: click here to see it. (We're addicted to the string beans with garlic sauce.)
Emperor's Garden Restaurant (702/889-6777, open 8 am to 10 pm) serves Mandarin and Szechwan cuisine. It specializes in spicy Szechwan, such as spicy fish and kung pao, but you can also get good sizzling scallops, mu shu, and walnut shrimp. The service is friendly and the food is reasonably priced.
