3 Best Restaurants in Paradise Road and the East Side, Las Vegas

Feel like a pampered pasha as belly dancers shake it up in a cozy Middle Eastern–style "tent" with a fabric-covered ceiling and eye-catching mosaics. The prix-fixe feast is a six-course affair that includes Moroccan-spiced shrimp scampi, a vegetable sampler, lentil soup, beef kabob, chicken with couscous and vegetables, and the tasty dessert b'stilla, which is baked phyllo dough layered with fruit. Moroccan and Lebanese wines flow freely in this upbeat spot, where servers wear Moroccan robes and generations of visitors have been invited to join the belly dancers if they feel the urge. Factor in the short walking distance to convention facilities, and it's no mystery why this has become one of Las Vegas' longest-tenured restaurants (though, in a young city, that means 1979). A significant remodel has kept the restaurant in its time-honored location but with welcome upgrades. 

Brothers David and Michael Morton, restaurateurs whose father founded the Morton's The Steakhouse chain back in the day, maintain the tradition at the new Virgin Hotels. This one is quite a bit different than their MB Steak, dividing its seating between the front bar with a bit of a retro vibe and its rear dining room. The former is a little more casual—opening to the casino floor and punctuated with video screens—yet in a way more gorgeous, thanks to a giant acrylic lighting sculpture overhead, which changes colors every so often. The menu still offers more than a half-dozen beef choices including wagyu, as well as the 32-ounce tomahawk or double porterhouse steaks for two. Roast chicken, scallops, or Alaskan king crab pasta are options for the non-beef eaters.

Las Vegas has very few restaurants left from the early 1980s, and none with the legend of Piero's. Located just across the street from the convention center for all but five of those years, Piero's is a blend of "expense account joint" and a classic Vegas mecca for those fascinated by the bygone mob era, having hosted the actual characters depicted in Casino and later serving as a filming site for the movie itself. Little set decoration was needed in the meandering restaurant full of nooks and crannies, low ceilings, and dark paneling with two bars serving giant martinis in the middle of the action. And, oh yes, there's food: The basics are done with detail and served on huge platters, from the osso buco (off menu but usually a special) to pastas such as the "Sunday Gravy" (rigatoni with both meatballs and Italian sausage).