Chinatown Census 2026 – with ratings

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We’ve been a Chinatown nut since 1995. To understand why, you have to remember that thirty years ago, the local restaurant scene, to the extent it existed at all, was dominated by strip mall Italians and steakhouses so lame that a double-stuffed baked potato was considered a big deal. Regional Chinese cooking was unheard of, and Spring Mountain Road was famous only for its potholes.

Into this sorry state of culinary affairs stepped the Chinatown Plaza, with multiple venues featuring everything from Chinese bbq (Sam Woo’s) to Shanghai dumplings to live seafood in tanks. It was looked at more as a curiosity than a gastronomic destination for over a decade. Desperate for anything that broke the Vegas restaurant mold, we not only ate it up (literally) from the get-go, but also wrote the first article about it (featuring the 99 Ranch Market) for Las Vegas Life magazine. All of this is to say our love for the place runs deep, and we unapologetically assert that no other gwailo has spent as much time there as we have.

Our Chinatown Census Crawl 2026 is the kind of dumb-ass undertaking only a restaurant obsessive would do (GUILTY!) — given the recent explosive growth which renders an accurate census akin to herding cats, even as they are spitting out litters.  Undaunted, we have spent the last month walking every square inch of Spring Mountain Road (and its side streets) to get an firm count of what will always be a moving target –and to give you updated ratings of all the sit-down restaurants we deem worthy along this three mile stretch.

Keep in mind this was after having done pretty much the same thing (in a more relaxed fashion) for the past thirty years. ;-)

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A few random notes about our methodology, results and conclusions before we get to the ratings:

> For those interested, Chinatown.com dropped its own census last month, but we daresay it was done (mostly) from the comfort of a computer screen. Their count was 248 restaurants/food service outlets, so there is a slight disagreement between us. We attribute this to some closures of some small places they counted, and few tiny storefronts we probably missed.

> Thirteen years ago we did a similar survey, but no one but us really cared. Back then, we counted 110 restaurants, of which we had eaten in 92. As of March 1, 2026, we counted 239 food service outlets, with 169 of those representing real, full-blown restaurants (not tea/dessert shops) coming from six Asian cuisines. Sprinkled among them are a handful of non-Asian places (Partage, Sparrow+Wolf, Amador, et al) who have caught the wave and enhanced the culinary reputation of the neighborhood in the process. No matter whose count you accept, we can all agree that the growth here has been explosive and has more than doubled in the past decade. With all of this in mind, here are a few random thoughts, starting with some unavoidable negativity:

> A LOT of the growth has been in quantity, not quality. Tea shops come and boba — all using the same playbook and appealing strictly to downmarket customers. Trying to catalogue them is a fool’s errand, as many have the half-life of a banana. Sturdier, but no less depressing has been the infestation of seafood slop (e.g. Hot & Juicy Crawfish, et al) and “claw shops” — many of which serve snacks and the ubiquitous tapioca teas to go with the stupidest waste of time since slot machines.

> The dumbing down of Chinatown doesn’t stop with shitty fish, arcades, and super sweet drinks. In lock step with its teenage-i-fication has been the proliferation of AYCE sushi, bottomless Korean bbq, and hot pots galore. Cheap eats has always been the watchword here, but this race to the bottom now threatens to overwhelm the authenticity which made the place famous.

> In this same vein, Big Asian $$$ has planted its corporate REIT paw foursquare along SMR, with big plazas aplenty  (about 20 right now) and more on the way.

> Most of these are filled with logos, chain links, and franchises already familiar to the East Asian diaspora — the better for investors to cash in while elbowing out the mom and pops.

> The best places to eat are still locally-owned (with a few exceptions), but you either have to have a keen eye, the nose of a pan-Pacific bloodhound, or a special friend (RAISES HAND) to help you find them. Rule of thumb (with exceptions): The flashier the signage, the worse the food.

> Biggest surprise: It’s called Chinatown (based upon the original plaza constructed in 1995), and but Japanese restaurants now predominate (58 spots/34% of the total), with China (36/21%)  and Korea (35/21%) neck and neck for second place among all the Asian eateries. Vietnamese (17/10%) and Thai (8/5%) bring up the rear, while India, Hawaii, and the Philippines are almost invisible. Indonesian/Malaysian food, which used to boast several options, is nonexistent.

> Of the final 239 restaurants counted (including all the dessert and tea shops), I have eaten in 139 (or 58%) of them. (Standing offer: find me anyone who’s eaten in more of Chinatown than I have over the past 30 years and I’ll buy both of you lunch. And by lunch I mean a good lunch.)

> Of course, the final counts are interesting, but given our place in the Las Vegas food firmament, tea needs to be spilled, judgments decreed, and restaurants ranked. So below are the top options up and down Spring Mountain Road. Highly subjective, of course, but also thoroughly researched, for over thirty years. We don’t rate anything we haven’t tried, and most (the vast majority, in fact) have been visited multiple times.

Here is the ratings breakdown and legend, and, as usual, everything comes with the Being John Curtas/Eating Las Vegas guarantee: All opinions valid or your money back!

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Three rice bowls: (13)

Excellent. Highly recommended. Often at a price:

Aburiya RakuJapanese pioneer Mitsuo Endo still sets the izakaya standard.

Amador Oscar Amador Edo’s take on Spanish-Latin fusion is casual, intimate, and a blast of fun and flavor.

China Mama (original location) – The OG of Chinese pastries is still the best, and we’ve never had anything on the rest of the menu we didn’t love.

8 Ounce Korean Steakhouse – The proper, top-shelf antidote to all the bargain basement beef which has infected the boulevard.

Endo – Exclusive (six seats/twice nightly), very expensive, and magnificent.

Kaiseki Sanga  – Dinner and a show, aimed at those who eat by Instagram, but even serious sushi hounds will find plenty to love.

Kaiseki Yuzu – Elegant, subdued, refined, like a small slice of Shinjuku tucked away where only the aficionados can find it.

Kame – Serious stuff at a serious price, not advised for anyone allergic to truffles, caviar, or gold leaf with their fish.

Le Club by Partage – Casual, champagne-focused adjunct to its epicurean sibling next door, serving slices and sips of France before or after your sushi.

Partage – We’re so over tasting menus (#grumpyoldman), but there’s no denying Yuri Szarzewski’s seasonal menus are some of the tastiest in town.

Shanghai Taste – Everyone claims the best xiao long bao, but Jimmy Li’s are the only ones we dream of.

Sparrow + Wolf – No one thought a gastronomic, non-Asian restaurant could succeed in Chinatown until Brian Howard proved them wrong. Simply stunning Asian-inflected, Euro-American bistro cooking, also with one of the best steaks in Vegas.

Yui Edomae Sushi – If pristine, Tokyo-style fish on rice is your thing (without the pyrotechnics and cartwheels of its competition), then locate this demure door off of Arville Ave. and enter a world of sushi like it’s supposed to be.

 

Two Bowls Of Basmati White Rice With Wooden Chopsticks Stock Photo, Picture and Royalty Free Image. Image 106756839.

Two rice bowls: (28)

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88 Noodle Papa

Banchan (take-out only, but our Korean friends swear by it)

BBQ King

Capital Seafood

Cō Anh

Crown Bakery

Fuku Burger

Gabi Coffee

Gyu Sandos

Hobak Korean BBQ

Honey Pig

Ichiza

It’s Izakaya

Kare Japanese Curry

Kung Fu Thai & Chinese

Moobongri Soondae

Noodlehead

Oonigiri Okinawa

Pho Kim Long

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Q Bistro

Ramen Show

Ramen Sora

Ramen Tatsu

Roma Deli (only if you insist upon eating Italian in an Asian neighborhood)

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POP! Café (ignore the kids, get the pizza ∧, and thank us later)

Shigotonin

Shinjuku Ramen

Silver Lake Ramen

Taiwan Deli

Tang Tang Tang

Ten Seconds Yunan Rice Noodle

Xiao Long Dumpling

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Japanese restaurants

Top 3:

Aburiya Raku

Endo

Kaiseki Yuzu

888 Japanese BBQ Premium AYCE

Chamon

Chubby Cattle A.Y.C.E. Japanese BBQ

Chubby Skewers

EKI Ramen

Endo

Gyu Sandos

Hachi Izakaya

Hanare Ichiza

Hashi Ramen

Ichiza

Imperial Sushi Seafood Buffet

It’s Izakaya

It’s Sushi

Izakaya Go

Kabuto

Kaiseki Yuzu

Kame

Kare Japanese Curry

Kaya Sushi

Kura Sushi

Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House

Miu Japanese BBQ

Monta Noodles

Nabe Hot Pot

Nakamura-Ya

Neko AYCE Sushi & Massage

Neko Supremo

Nisei Bar & Grill – Gastro Pub

Oden Spicy Hot Pot

Oonigiri Okinawa

Pepper Lunch

PokeMan

Raku Izakaya

Ramen Boys

Ramen Show

Ramen Sora

Ramen Tatsu

Sakura Sushi

Samurai Japanese BBQ

Sanga Kaiseki

Sapporo Revolving Sushi

Shabu Rokka

Shabuya

Shigotonin

Shinjuku Ramen

Shin-Sen-Gumi

Shokku Ramen

Silver Lake Ramen

Sumo A.Y.C.E. Sushi

Sushi Time

Taru Sushi

Ton Shou Katsu & Izakaya

Tora Japanese Katsu 7 Curry

Yama Sushi

Yohama Noodles

Yui Edomae Sushi

Zen Japanese Curry

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Chinese restaurants

Top 3:

China MaMa (Original location)

New Asian BBQ 

Palette Tea Lounge

88 Noodle Papa

All Seasons

Asian BBQ & Noodle

BBQ Garden Chinese Kitchen

BBQ King

Bowl of Fortune

Capital Seafood

Chengdu Taste

China Mama – (original location)

China Mama – (Shanghai Plaza)

Chubby Cattle Mongolian Hot Pot

Dan Noodle

Dim Sumlicious

Fish With You

Fortune

Hong Kong Garden

Hong Lou

Hot Point Malatang Hot Pot

Hunan Rice Noodle

Malatown

New Asian BBQ

Noodle Pot

Noodlehead

Palette Tea Lounge

Pot Master

Pot On Fire

Rice To-Go

S K Seafood

Shanghai Taste

Special Noodle

Taiwan Deli

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle

The Noodle Man

Xiang Wei Xuan

Xiao Long Dumpling

Yunnan Tasty Garden

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Korean restaurants

Top 3:

8 Ounce Korean Steakhouse

Tang Tang Tang

Yi’s Traditional Korean Beef Soup

(unrecognizable writing Korean only)

777 Korean Restaurant

8 Ounce Korean Steakhouse

888 Korean BBQ A.Y.C.E.

Banchan

BBQ Chicken

Bul & Gogi Korean BBQ

Captain 6 Hot Pot & AYCE Korean BBQ

ChoJang Korean Hot Pot

CrunCheese

Doya Korean Pancake

Garionban Korean Restaurant

Hobak Korean BBQ

Honey Pig

Hot Tofu

Hwaro 2 Korean AYCE

Hwaro Korean AYCE

Jin Jin

Jinju Gomtang Korean

Jjamppong Zizon

K Chiken

Korean Garden

Lee’s Korean BBQ

Master Kim’s Korean

Moobongri Soondae’

Mr. BBQ Korean P.A.Y.C.E.

Mr. Tofu

Nalsoo Korean BBQ

Q Bistro

Seoul Korean Restaurant

Seoul Tofu

Tang Korean

Tang Tang Tang

Tofu Hut

Yi’s Traditional Korean Beef Soup

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Vietnamese restaurants:

Top 3:

Pho Saigonese

Yen Viet Kitchen

Cð Ahn

Baguette Factory & Euro-Asian Sandwiches

Lee’s Sandwiches

Pho Beyond
Pho Thanh
Viet Noodle Bar
Pho 79 DC
Pho & More
Pho 90
Pho Vietnam
Pho Kim Long
Pho Bac Bac
Pho Concept (Pho So 1)
Pho 7
Dan Han Banh Mi

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Thai Restaurants:

Top 3:

Jipata

Lamaii

Weera Thai (Shanghai Plaza)

Bangkok Street Food

Jipata

Kao Gang Thai Food

Kung Fu Thai & Chinese

Lamaii

Lulla Bar Thai Fusion

Weera Thai

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Kung Hei Fat Choy In English at Mary Bevis blog

…from the Chinatown Boyz:

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Best New Restaurants 2023

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It’s been a banner year for new restaurants, but most of the growth has been confined to the ‘burbs. (Face it: the Strip is now more boring than an Elon Musk boondoggle.)

Whether the engine is a booming economy, pent-up demand or big money finally stepping into the food game (Hello, The Sundry and Lev Group!), the greater Las Vegas area is teeming with worthy newcomers, some done on a shoestring, others well-financed, each seeking a slice of the hunger pie. In years past we might’ve had trouble coming up with half a dozen lip-smacking joints, this year has been a bounty of riches, with more to come in the final four months.

And yes, I know the year is only 66.6% over, but whether it is out of habit (10 years of writing my guidebook, and 25 of doing the Desert Companion/KNPR Restaurant Awards), I seem to be congenitally wired to start writing about the “year’s best” when summertime is on the wane.

So consider this a partial list, which bears updating, but a good start if you’re looking for what is recent and deserving of your dining out dollars:

The Best New Restaurants of 2023 (in no particular order, with commentary):

138 Degrees Craft Chophouse CLOSED

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Image(…and then this lawyer dude asked for ketchup…)

Henderson has a steakhouse to call its own, aging everything from the sirloins to the salmon.

Basilico Ristorante Italiano

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Image(Surf and turf risotto alla Francesco Di Caudo)

It’s hard to get excited about Italian anymore, but I can almost work up a woody over this one.

1228 Main

You will not find me here most mornings only because my waistline won’t allow it.

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As good as the pastries are, the lunch/dinner options (including the best pasta of the year pictured above) here are every bit as technically perfect as you would expect from a Wolfgang Puck operation.

Azzurra Cucina

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If this keeps up, we’re going to have to retire the word Hendertucky and start eating crow….with a proper demi-glace, of course.

Aroma Latin American Cocina

Nueva Latina in Green Valley makes about as much sense as a salsa band at a Mormon social, but here it is, just waiting to be discovered by the mortgage-poor crowd. Full disclosure: we haven’t been, but Eat. Talk. Repeat. co-host Ash the Attorney raves about this place.

Ocean Prime

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Vegas needs another chain steakhouse like I need another ex-wife, but when the payoff is this spectacular, the heart goes where the heart goes.

Kaiseki Yuzu Sushi Bar

ImageJonathon Mau knows his Maguro)

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Strictly for purists; no sushbags allowed.

00 Pie & Pub

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Mike Vakneen is a pizza savant and Chinatown is now his playground.

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The starters — including the roasted Calabrian peppers with anchovies above — are Esther’s Kitchen-worthy.

Mizunara at The Sundry

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Image(Bun-Bun Hiyashi Chuka)

Homie don’t order off no QR code. Home boy (who hasn’t been a boy for 50 years) demands old-fashioned service…and cold ramen noodles like these.

Marche Bacchus – Bradley Ogden edition

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MB has been through so many incarnations we’ve stopped counting. So has Bradley Ogden for that matter. But the menu here hasn’t been this good in a decade, and though things might look the same, you’re basically eating in a whole new restaurant.

Naxos Taverna

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Think of it as a slightly cheaper, local’s Estiatorio Milos, with free parking and without the fish displayed like jewelry… and thank me later. (Efcharistó, Mark Andelbradt)

Taste of Asia

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Chinatown-level Chinese in Summerlin makes about as much sense as haute Latina in Henderson, but the times they are a-changin’. Karrie Hung is out to raise the Asia steaks in a part of town who finds Panda Express too “foreign”. There’s plenty to placate the sweet and sour pork crowd, but the real gems are in the chef’s specials and seafood, plus the best Peking duck deal ($80) this side of New Asian BBQ.

Daeho Kalbijjim

https://twitter.com/i/status/1686209325663244288

Years of dining with our Korean komrades has taught us that Korean restaurants are usually known for doing one or two things well, and the rest of the menu is just filler. Daeho does its justifiably famous sweet-spicy beef rib stew, with promiscuous cheese pulls for those infected with Tik Tok brain….like us above, straining to influence the f++k out of this place.

B.S. Taqueria at The Sundry

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The B. S. stands for “Broken Spanish” and it’s the best Mexican food we had this year. Second only to Viva! by Ray Garcia in Resorts World. Same chef, terrific tortillas, serious south of the border stuff.

Lamoon

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Lamoon packs a one-two punch of fiery food and highly-curated wine that will leave you fit to be Thai’d. The decor (in an old Dairy Queen!) is pretty snappy too.

Hola Mexican Cocina + Cantina

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I once made the mistake on KNPR radio of pronouncing “cocina” as co-CHEEN-a instead of saying co-THEEN-a  or co-SEEN-a — which apparently meant I was describing a local restaurant as a prostitute instead of a kitchen. No matter how you pronounce it, the food here tastes great no matter how much Mexican you speak.

Yukon Pizza

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Why a burger and not a pizza pic? Because of all the griddled, frilly smashed cheeseburgers in town, this one meats all expectations…as do all their kick-ass pies.

Yen Viet Kitchen

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Not strictly new this year, but new to us, and best Vietnamese food we have eaten in Las Vegas, ever — and we’ve eaten in all of them, up and down Spring Mountain Road. What this video lacks in dynamism and drama, it makes up for in information. A must-stop on SMR, and the definition of a hidden gem.

Speaking of hidden gems….

Yummy Kitchen

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They don’t get much more tucked away than Yummy Kitchen, tossing its chili crab and other Singaporean-Malaysian delights inside an Asian supermarket, far across a parking lot at Spring Mountain and Decatur. The crabs are still-moving fresh, and the garlic shrimp, roti, Hainanese chicken, and Malay curries will save you plane fare to Disneyland-with-the-death-penalty.

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While we’re at it…..

Worst new restaurants of 2023:

M.Y. Asia (Closed!)

From stunt noodles to chicken so bad it left us yearning for a Panda Express, this tourist trap was D.O.A.

Told. You. So.

Vic’s

Comically < average Italian at the Smith Center, brought to you by folks who’ve never dined at Brezza or Basilico….and wouldn’t understand them if they did.

Bespoke Kitchen

Nothing bespoke except the name.

Cathédrale

By-the-numbers dining for the selfie wall crowd, brought to you by the Tao Group — who haven’t had an original idea since 2005. Soulless decor, jaw-dropping prices, insulting wine list — the symbol of every unimaginative ripoff late-stage Las Vegas has become in one, overdecorated restaurant.

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Did we miss a few on both sides of these equations? Probably, but this list should get you started, and we have three months to keep eating and augment things.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and cheers!

THE END

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Forgive me, DELILAH, I just couldn’t take anymore…

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Ed. note: Alan Richman — the man who has won more James Beard journalism awards than anyone — once gave me a sage piece of advice: “When you have a bad experience, just report the facts.” So here they are….with commentary, of course:

Delilah. is, right now, the toughest meal ticket in town. It is located in the Wynn, in bi-level space which once housed the very formal ALEX — a restaurant which met its ignominious end when the Wynn decided to go all-in on bottle service-to-douchebag nightclubs. The year was 2010. The space has been vacant for more than a decade, but last summer this restaurant-cum-supper club opened to great acclaim. And by “great acclaim” we mean a lot of pay-to-play social media mavens raved about it for about two weeks. Now, the hubbub has died down and we decided to see for ourselves. A friend booked a table and lassoed me in for a recent meal. I tried to warn them but they wouldn’t listen.

You will first confront a pre-hostess stand that is outside the actual hostess stand .This pre-hostess stand is flanked with velvet ropes. The comely lass at this threshold signifies classiness (you can tell by her gown), exclusivity (you can tell by those ropes), and attitude. The latter comes in the form of an admonition that, “you will only have your table for two hours.”

Nothing puts us in a better mood for an expensive meal than being told how long we will have to eat.

Entering the inner sanctum, you arrive on the other side of double-doors to find a bar teaming with L.A. bros sporting the type of high-maintenance facial manicures you usually see on a mannequin. With them are young ladies whooping it up while they congratulate themselves for being there. All of them are dressed way better than you are used to seeing in Vegas restaurants, which means the dudes are wearing shirts with collars and their dates are in whatever some Kardashian told them to wear. (If smugness were a scent, the joint would reek of it.)

Along with the time-limit, you are also told (at the second hot hostess stand): “No pictures are allowed in the bar or dining room.” This admonition will be repeated to you once you hit your table. Of course we ignored it.

Your table is presumably a good one, and by “good one” we mean it is in the main dining room, in-between another lively bar, and a stage where a brassy gal is over-singing one song after another. (More on this later.)

Your table is a touch high (and the too-cushy, over-stuffed seats too low), so you feel like a little kid sitting with grown-ups. You look around and see people sitting at normal heights and normal looking tables and what look like regular chairs, but all you can do is look at them and sigh.

This is because Delilah is so full, every night, you pretty much have to sit where they tell you. It is also because any attempt to move might result in them giving you a Hobson’s Choice of sitting closer to all that over-singing, or out in Siberia (the rooms flanking the main one) where the people watching would be nil. (People watching being, you will soon discover, the only thing done easily here.)

Image(Foot fetish fodder provided by Deanna T.)

More on the table: It was a round and supported by a base of circular bars (above) which gave zero room for you to either cross your legs, or ankles or get comfortable. The only possible way to sit was to stretch your thighs around both sides of the column while you play footsies with your table-mates and your derriere continually sinks and slides into the flabby cushions which forces you backwards away from the table until you are roughly in the same position as woman in childbirth. Which is fine unless you’re trying to enjoy a $28 crab cake.

Image(Crabby, best eaten sitting up)

The wine list is presented and it is a good one. By Vegas standards you might even call it reasonable. Service is impressive and fast (they are also under a time limit and act like it, but good cheer prevails). You even forgive them bringing a red burgundy when you ordered a white one, having figured out they are more attuned to the Cali cab and cocktails crowd.

You’ll need a few big gulps of grape before you tackle the menu, as it is everything the wine list is not: by-the-numbers (steaks, salmon, chicken, etc.), risk-free and priced to deter the unwashed. Your eyebrows will be raised at the tariffs, but not so much you’ll want to head for the exits.

We’re talking $200 beef Wellington (for a 12 oz. filet); $72 for (supposedly Dover sole) “fish and chips”:

Image(72 bucks of sole and pommes soufflé)

…$25 for chicken fingers, and three, garlicky shrimp “de Jonghe” of no real consequence for twenty-seven bucks.

A roast chicken (“TV Dinner”) runs $42, while short ribs and a few scallops, (“surf and turf”) will set you back a cool $59.  — all of it calculated not to challenge or offend, and no doubt concocted by people thinking: “How can we overcharge for comfort food and make it seem ritzy in an ironic sort of way?” Smart.

The gooey butter cake ($16) was good, but not as good as the one at Mastro’s. There, I said it.

The chef behind the menu is the über-talented Josh Smith — a chef’s chef and former top toque at Bardot Brasserie.

But where BB was resolutely French, and thus aimed at a crowd who went there for his textbook-perfect renditions of classics, tweaked to keep the picky epicures happy (hello, escargot!), here the food is beside the point and it shows. Don’t get me wrong: pounding out 60 Wellingtons a night while satisfying 300 covers is a Herculean task, but methinks Smith was hired more for his brawn than his impeccable technique.

And then there is the music. You can’t avoid it. The whole “supper club” vibe depends on someone belting out songs for 30 minutes every hour. (We ain’t talking headliners here, folks. “Strictly a lounge act,” is how my dear old dad would’ve put them down.)

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The music is supposed to be jazz, presumably because jazz is more sophisticated, sexy and supper club-ish, but all I heard were slowed-down covers of Prince, Springsteen and other pop/rock stars. So easy-to-ignore were the tired tunes that by the end of our allotted time, I half expected our chanteuse to belt out “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as an encore. Jazzy indeed.

Amidst the cacophony, three exceedingly thin, tall, bored young women slink around doing some kind of interpretive slow-mo exercises to the music in long, sparkly dresses (see top of page).

Delilah demands you be into these things, even if you aren’t, and expects you to wowed by the food, even though you can barely hear yourself eat. Things get more civilized once the singing stops, but gird your loins, it won’t last, all of it ensuring idle chit chat will not be an issue intruding on your two hour countdown.

To be fair, Delilah is just not my thing. I have several foodie friends who are nuts about the place. They love the vibe, the music and the fact it signifies an elevation in our dining scene — a culture which has been racing to the cargo shorts bottom since 2010. Good on them, but once was enough for this curmudgeon.

Image(Design by Carnival Cruises)

Now we have three supper clubs all vying for this upscale crowd —  Mayfair (“so much more than dinner”) and Delilah each aim for a throwback, elegant feel (with eye-popping design setting the mood, see above), while Superfrico (“an Italian American Psychedelic restaurant”) appears to be targeting people who enjoy having dinner inside of a Cirque du Soleil fever dream. Classy.

If these three are a success (and early returns suggest they will be), expect a lot of copycats to follow suit as Vegas struggles mightily to capture Gen-X and Millennial dollars from people more accustomed to not speaking with each other than us aging Boomers.

In the meantime, remember the old axiom: music in restaurants ruins both the music and the food. I can’t speak to the former, but Delilah gets it at least half right.

Take us home, Tom…