If there’s one place you can expect to get great seafood, it’s the middle of the desert, right?
In an ordinary world, that sentence would make absolutely no sense. Then again, no one has ever accused Las Vegas of being the “normal world.”
Short of bringing in large air conditioning units and keeping the temperature less than over a hundred, Las Vegas will do whatever it can to make you forget you’re not in some adult magical fantasy land. Even without those fans, Sin City does a pretty good job of making you leave real-world logic in the dust so that you can enjoy a life of luxury.
That includes flying in seafood from places where they actually have things like seas and abundant water.
That seafood is then prepared impeccably and served one delicious course at a time.
So, if this is your first time visiting Las Vegas, don’t be surprised. This happens all over the city. In fact, I decided I would help you narrow down your options and present what I think the eight best seafood restaurants in all of Las Vegas are.
8- Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House
It may sound like a blasphemy to say, but while Emeril Lagasse, a man who almost singlehandedly changed how we look at home cooking, has opened up several restaurants, not all of them are good.
Plus, their Creole roots make the food approachable, which isn’t always true of high-class dining.
With all that said, if you’re in or around the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, take a moment out of your day to head over the Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House. Start with the Creole poached shrimp remoulade and fried okra or a chilled seafood tower and then dine on the fresh catch or a Creole buttermilk fried chicken sandwich.
Finish with the bread and butter bread pudding, and you will be one happy eater.
7- Luke’s Lobster
When you’re in Las Vegas, there’s no shame in eating like you’re on the East Coast, especially when you’re at Luke’s. Luke’s is located in front of the Fashion Show and proudly serves responsibly sourced, sustainable seafood from fishermen with whom they work.
Luke’s is also good for the health-conscious as they provide calorie counts with their sandwiches. However, when it comes to lobster mac, shrimp combos, jumbo combos, Luke’s Trio (crab, lobster, and shrimp, also available in jumbo), I don’t think I want to know how many calories I’m eating…
If Luke’s has any drawback, it’s that they don’t have a robust non-seafood menu for those poor souls who don’t like the bounty of the sea. On the other hand, if you like Luke’s, there are locations all across the world.
6- Oyster Bar at Palace Station
Oyster Bar at Palace Station is a small little oyster bar directly in the casino, which should mean that you will face a tremendous wait. However, the casinos want you on the floor and gambling, not waiting in line, so Oyster Bar is pretty good at getting you in and getting you out.
When you’re there, I highly recommend getting oysters raw on the half shell because a desert is an excellent place for raw seafood.
In all seriousness, the oysters are fresh and delicious. If you want something cooked, you can also check out the littleneck clams or mussels. There are also pan roasts (seafood cooked in creamy tomato stew) feature crab, shrimp, lobster, or combo.
That’s just the tip of the Oyster Bar’s menu, so get over there and find a dish you will love.
5- Nobu
Okay, okay, technically Nobu isn’t a seafood restaurant, it’s a sushi bar. However, sushi is seafood, so I don’t feel too bad, adding it to the list. Plus, it’s conveniently located by the Caesars Palace Casino.
Nobu is Peruvian-Japanese fusion, which doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense until you get there and order off the menu. I won’t waste a lot of time on the non-sushi entrees (since many of them are not seafood-related.)
What I will say is go to Nobu and order sashimi. I’ve eaten a lot of sushi in Las Vegas, and I have never found a place that serves higher quality or fresher fish anywhere. Don’t expect huge portions, but do expect to love what you get.
4- Mastro’s Ocean Club
Mastro’s has more seafood options than any non-coastal restaurant should have any right to serve.
Are you thinking appetizers?
Consider shrimp cocktail, lobster cocktail, snow crab claws, oysters on the half shell, ahi tuna, vanilla batter shrimp, and more. Do you want sushi? They got it.
You want bisque. You’re set. Want sea bass, salmon, sole, lobster tails or crab legs for your meal, go ahead and order it.
Not only that, Mastro’s is a name you can trust to serve delicious seafood since they’re not just doing it in Las Vegas. They have locations all around the country dish out fantastic seafood.
Of course, it’s not all about the seafood at Mastro’s. There’s also the warm butter cake or chocolate sin cake. Both of those are perfect toppers for your seafood meal.
3- Other Mama
The brainchild of owner and chef Daniel Krohmer, Other Mama doesn’t sound like a seafood place, but once you’re there, you see they do seafood right.
In a lot of ways, Other Mama is a bit of a contrast. The décor is pleasant, but not overly luxurious. The mermaid logo is a bit risqué for any place other than Las Vegas.
Despite these unassuming conditions, the food is straight from a five-star restaurant you would find anywhere in the world.
The menu includes French toast caviar (one of the most beautiful caviar dishes I’ve ever seen), tuna tartare and waffle fries, sashimi, deviled eggs with fried oysters, and more. For those who want more than seafood, there’s also Japanese fried chicken and kimchi fried rice.
It’s hard to pick just a few dishes to try (other than the French toast caviar), so go and plan out a perfect seafood experience for yourself.
2- Water Grill Las Vegas
Water Grill is another nationwide phenomenon that has found a home in Las Vegas. Located in Caesar Palace’s Forum Shops, Water Grill has some of the freshest seafood to be found in Sin City.
It also has one of the most impressive raw bar menus in the city, too.
There’s also sushi (including smoked hamachi nachos), appetizers including tortellini, oysters Rockefeller, clams and chorizo, and entrees of both the surf and turf variety. It’s kind of hard to pick an entrée after the raw bar, but I recommend the mahi-mahi caponata for its potent mix of flavors or the “Double R Ranch” filet mignon.
For dessert, it’s hard to go wrong with the pot de crème or the cheese plate.
1- Lakeside
Lakeside at the Wynn tops of the list of best seafood places in Las Vegas, but only just barely. While a lot of the seafood comes from cold waters, the fish here is caught in Hana, flown to the Wynn, and “served fresher than even restaurants in Maui” . That’s all according to their site.
Even if that’s not true, the quality is evident in this Hawaii-style seafood restaurant situated on Wynn’s Lake of Dreams. For starters, you can choose items like lobster bisque, Lakeside seafood salad, or king crab, and avocado.
For your meal, there are plenty of steaks, chicken, and seafood options, but the oven-baked lobster is king, which you can do as your meal or as a side on top of your steak.
Get the lobster plain or with chili rub and served with drawn butter, yuzu-basil butter, or harissa butter (in case you need more spice than the chili rub gives you.)
Oh, and did I mention they have a Sunday brunch complete with a literal boat (well canoe) full of sushi?
Also, if it matters, because this is the Wynn there is a substantial vegetarian menu including vegan carrot cake, which is an excellent way to end your meal.
Conclusion
Like I said before, there’s something about “seafood in the desert” that sounds a little like “gas station sushi.” However, Las Vegas is the place where all kinds of dreams come true and include dreams of gorging on seafood.
Above you have eight different places that you can try to get your seafood cravings fixed up properly.
Of course, this just tops the list, and pretty much any casino buffet you might frequent is going to have a few items from the sea to enjoy.
Still, when you’re ready for the real deal, I suggest any of the places on the list. You cannot go wrong, enjoying the bounty of the sea at any of them.