Las Vegas reopens with new casino resorts, restaurants, bars
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
Las Vegas, the city that famously trades on luck, was dramatically out of it last year.
The coronavirus pandemic dealt Las Vegas a losing hand, taking nearly all the sin (and most of its spending) out of the city. In 2020, the city recorded about 19 million visitors, a steep decline from the 42 million visitors in 2019. Unemployment, just 3.9 percent at the start of 2020, increased to 34 percent — the highest jobless rate in the country — after Nevada’s governor ordered casinos closed last year to help contain the pandemic’s spread. Vegas and its famous casinos, entertainment and dining venues lost billions.
But its fortunes are returning. The new year brought hope as casinos and hotels, one by one, began reopening to more guests. Casinos, bars and restaurants went from 25 percent capacity to 35 percent in February; then 50 percent in March. In May, with luck, even more state restrictions will be loosened.
Here’s what’s new in Las Vegas:
Circa Resort & Casino
This adults-only (21 and older) resort-casino is splashy enough to lure high rollers from the Strip’s better-known palaces to downtown, where it looms over the Freemont Street Experience in grand style.
The 1.25 million-square-foot property boasts 777 rooms in its 35-story tower that includes a two-level casino, the world’s largest sports book and the multitiered Stadium Swim, featuring six pools facing a massive 125-foot high-resolution screen. Dining and drinking venues include the posh Barry’s Downtown Prime steakhouse; 8 East, a pan-Asian restaurant; Project BBQ, the Freemont Street Experience’s only permanent food truck; Victory Burger; Saginaw’s Delicatessen; Mega Bar, Nevada’s longest bar; Vegas Vickie’s retro lobby bar; and Legacy Club, a chic rooftop cocktail lounge with panoramic views of the city.
Owned by Derek Stevens, the developer and downtown casino owner, Circa promises to up the ante for downtown casinos while also ushering in a fresh new vision — one that cleverly merges vintage Vegas with the most modern gaming, hostelry and food/beverage in town. Room rates begin at $119. 8 Freemont St., 702-247-2258; circalasvegas.com
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
More than $200 million was poured into transforming the former Hard Rock Hotel into the fabulous new Virgin Hotels Las Vegas that opened with glitzy fanfare in March.
The property, now part of Curio Collection by Hilton, offers 1,500 rooms (they call them chambers) in three towers fitted with ergonomically designed beds, in-room technology and mini bars set over a 5-acre grounds that include a resort pool, event lawn with a new indoor event space, and a dayclub with bars and an open-air events stage.
Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment operates the 60,000-square-foot gaming floor with 650 slot machines and 50 table games. Dining and drinking options include Casa Calavera, a Mexican restaurant with a nightclub atmosphere from the Hakkasan Group; Kassi Beach Club, a European-style restaurant and lounge; the Thai restaurant Night + Market; Todd English’s Olives; One Steakhouse from the Morton’s restaurateurs; the international Japanese restaurant Nobu; Virgins’ signature Commons Club and Shag Room; and Money, Baby!, described as an adult playground of gaming, cocktails and food.
This is Virgin Hotel’s first entry into the casino market. It already feels like a different era in Vegas: Virgin advertises no resort fees and free parking. Room rates begin at $129. 4455 Paradise Road, 702-693-7625; virginhotelslv.com
Resorts World Las Vegas
This $4.3 billion luxury resort, Vegas’ most ambitious new project, is scheduled to open summer 2021 with 3,500 rooms, next-generation gaming, retail and a slew of new restaurants and bars (including an outpost of Houston’s Blood Bros. BBQ), set over an 88-acre site on the north end of the Strip.
The property promises a 5,000-seat theater, a pool complex with seven pool experiences, nightclubs and dayclubs, and dining options, including an Asian hawker-inspired food that will include vendors offering dumplings, Hainanese chicken rice, claypot rice, noodles, roti, roasted pig, yakitori, bubble teas, nori and Asian-style barbecue. Also in the F&B mix: DawgHouse Saloon & Sportsbook, with a Nashville sports bar; Wally’s Wine & Spirits from Los Angeles; Gatsby’s cocktail Lounge, offering champagne and artisan cocktails; Viva, offering modern regional Mexican cuisine; Genting Palace, with a menu of dim sum and Cantonese cuisine; Kusa Nori, a modern Japanese bistro; Brezza, offering modern coastal fare; Bar Zazu, a European café; and Starlight on 66, a cocktail lounge on the resort’s 66th floor with views of the Strip. 3000 South Las Vegas Blvd., 702-676-7000; rwlasvegas.com
If you go
Travelers who fly on Southwest Airlines will be treated to major improvements to the C Concourse at McCarran International Airport, thanks to a $13 million project expected to be completed in summer 2021.
New bars, restaurants
Amalfi by Bobby Flay: After his 16-year run at Caesars Palace, celebrity chef Bobby Flay will preside over a new concept in his former Mesa Grill space. The new restaurant, Amalfi, inspired by his travels to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, is expected to open in May with a fresh new coastal menu.
Stadia Bar: The new 120-seat, high-end sports bar, adjacent to Caesars Palace’s Forum Food Court, is set to debut in May. Expect rare whiskey, such as Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, served in five VIP leather-wrapped domes meant to suggest vintage football helmets in the lavish bar designed by Rockwell Group.
Estiatorio Milos: Vegas’ outpost of the famed Greek seafood restaurant has made a jump from Cosmopolitan to The Venetian Resort’s Restaurant Row. It remains the choicest table for fresh seafood flown in daily from the Mediterranean: Greek ceviche, sashimi-style raw fish, grilled whole fish and grilled octopus to be enjoyed with fine Greek wines.
Brera Osteria: Inspired by Milan’s cool Brera neighborhood, this new casual restaurant in The Venetian Resort offers a multiregional Italian menu that includes dishes such as fritto misto, beef carpaccio, pizza, classic pastas (cacio e pepe, Amatriciana, pappardelle with wild boar sugo and black truffles), as well as roasted branzino, chicken and steaks.
Din Tai Fung: The famed Taiwanese dumpling and noodle house brings its meticulous dumpling making skills to MGM’s Aria Resort & Casino. The restaurant creates more than 10,000 dumplings a day, including its signature Xiao Long Bao, a Shanghai-style soup dumpling filled with Kurobuta pork. The menu includes noodles and soups as well as a not-to-be-missed chocolate dumpling.
Bang Bar: Superchef David Chang’s Momofuku to-go concept takes up roost at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’s Block 16 Urban Food Hall. With a menu of fast-casual, Asian-inspired fare (rice bowls and flat breads stuffed with spit-roasted meat), Bang makes its West Coast debut in one of the Strip’s most glittering dining and drinking collections.
