3 Best Restaurants in South Strip, Las Vegas

If you’re looking for something a little more sit-down-and-relax than Eataly’s forage-style food hall, consider this mid-priced part of the Italian behemoth. Two towering, gold-tiled pizza ovens turn out Neapolitan-style pies in numerous varieties, while the pasta side offers house-made fresh pasta dishes, such as pappardelle al ragu di funghi, lasagna Emilia, and ravioli di zucca, and others made with dried pasta imported from Gragnano, Italy, such as bucatini cacio e pepe, and linguine alla scoglio. Antipasti and salads also are served. The prix-fixe Taste of Italy menu has three courses.

Culinary lion Alain Ducasse replaced his renowned Mix with the equally stunning Rivea, offering unparalleled views of the Strip and Riviera-style interpretations of his cuisine from the 64th floor of the W Las Vegas. It's suitably more casual fare, with options like paccheri pasta with braised short rib, and sautéed calamari and prawns with baby artichokes and radishes. Traditionalists will find comfort in dishes such as pepper-crusted bison tenderloin, or Alaskan wild halibut with braised Belgian endive. The five-course tasting menu includes a chef's-inspiration risotto. Try one of Ducasse's famous babas for dessert, but with a limoncello twist.

The butter finish that makes restaurant steaks so delectable is done with a particularly artistic flair at StripSteak, where James Beard Award–winning chef Michael Mina puts his modern touches on the traditional steak house with a wood-burning grill and butter-poaching method turning out numerous cuts of beef every night. The menu includes several large-format choices, such as a 36-ounce dry-aged Porterhouse or a 40-ounce tomahawk, either of which will serve two (or more), plus more manageable sizes and several Japanese A-5 wagyu cuts. Or try something classically Mina-quirky, such as the 16-ounce duck-fat prime rib with blue cheese popover and fresh horseradish, or a caviar jelly doughnut. There's an extensive raw bar, seafood towers, a trolley with liquid desserts, as well as a three-course tasting menu that touches on the chef's Egyptian roots.