Successful casino restaurants: The recipe for a unique dining experience

Words by Paul Heretakis, RA, Vice President of WESTAR Architects, with over 30 years of experience overseeing Hospitality Design, Integrated Resorts and Mixed Use Master Planning projects throughout the World. His portfolio includes over 1,000 Casinos, Restaurant, Retail and Hotel projects throughout the US, Europe and Southeast Asia, many of which have been published in industry books and magazines

Las Vegas has taken the lead and has shown Casinos across the world the recipe for unique dining experiences. Las Vegas, Singapore and Macau have now become epicurean centers offering Michelin Stars, culinary talents and innovative restaurant design that rival those of New York, London and Paris. Casinos large and small have taken notice and followed this trend.  

Previously focused on gaming revenue alone, the casino resort industry has evolved from a one-dimensional gaming driven business model to that of a complete Five Star Resort destination presenting its customers world class amenities. Restaurants run by top celebrity chefs have redefined the image of Las Vegas cuisine, tapping into a new market segment of sophisticated travelers domestic and international, gaming and non-gaming. Simultaneously, these properties have architecturally broken new ground for resort/gaming development and elevated Entertainment Architecture to dizzying heights drawing people in from all corners of the globe. From the theatrical dining rooms to the table tops, designers have created cutting edge spaces that have brought the Casino Integrated Resort to the forefront of the restaurant community.

Originally Casino Restaurants were considered to be a quick respite from the gaming floor. Their nondescript, safe designs and basic menu choices were thought of only as a means of keeping customers in the casino and ultimately back onto the casino gaming floor. In stark contrast, many of the restaurant experiences today are designed to open to the casino floor so that diners not only feed off that energy but add their own energy to the overall experience. With this arrangement the voyeuristic aspect of this new generation of customers is taken to its fullest advantage. Furthermore, increased TV exposure of celebrity chefs brings name recognition not previously possible. The inspired customer now ventures to a Casino/Resort expecting to eat at the latest, trendy outpost of their favorite Celebrity Chef. Social media further enhanced the marketing opportunities.

Mike Bowman, a long time casino executive, has developed many Celebrity Chef Restaurants. “We take well known restaurateurs with an established brand and give them the freedom (and biggest budgets) to elevate their dining experience and deliver that energy to our Casino.” In the tradition of one-upmanship between the casino companies, overblown concepts seem to leap frog each other and continually challenge the designer’s creativity. The progressive designs of Las Vegas’s Rose Rabbit Lie, Tao, STK, Fix and Mayfair have redefined how and where people drink, dine and entertain. Many of these restaurants transition from fine dining restaurants into all out nightclubs and ultra lounges after hours. Long lines into these clubs attract attention and develop interest and energy; casino operators have succeeded in creating some of the highest revenue generating restaurants in the country. “The energy level complements our casino,” according to Mr. Bowman, “and that translates to our bottom line.”

In this atmosphere the challenges to designers are enormous. Displayed food prep, focal design features, fun ambience, dramatic lighting, are all used to create an instant sensory wow from the moment you enter the restaurant. Casino operators are looking for over-the-top concepts from their designers making the selection process of these designers more important than ever. “A strong passion, creative minds, fresh ideas and synergy between chef and designer are paramount”, states Mr. Bowman. When the operators are spending well over a thousand dollars a square foot the results must exceed anything seen before. This trend has spread to all of the big gaming markets. The original three restaurants at the Borgota in Atlantic City were celebrity chef driven (Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, and Bobby Flay) with unique designs to match, over the years additional food concepts driven by celebrity chefs have been added to the roster. They all opened onto the casino floor with high-energy lounges, display kitchens, varied seating experiences, lavish finishes and theatrical dining rooms. The results created an industry buzz and the toughest reservation in town. Regional casinos across the US and Asia have followed the trend and have their own unique and famous offerings.

When MGM Grand in Las Vegas wanted to redefine its image in the early 2000’s, they began with their “restaurant row”. They redesigned eight restaurants and bars simultaneously and the results set the standard for the industry; restaurant design has not been the same since. The energy level created was astounding, textures, extensive details, the finest materials, use of video, unique spatial relationships and forms created cutting edge designs. The influences sent ripples throughout the casino industry and put the rest of the cities on notice that Las Vegas has not only arrived on the dining scene but has also redefined it. Designers throughout the world that had formerly ignored casinos were soon pursuing work in casinos. Design stars were created - Tony Chi, David Rockwell, Adam Tihany have created dramatic spaces in Singapore and Macau as well.

Ironically with all the dramatic changes that have transformed the Casino dining experience the basic formula for success remains the same: an equal balance of quality food, service and design. Within this simplicity lies a complexity of interpretation that has allowed designers to forge ahead creating a whole new level of restaurant design. This leaves us in a state of continual innovation and growth. With each new Casino renovation, expansion or development the challenge for operators, chefs, and designers becomes this process of creativity to achieve a unique experience that takes the customer on a journey of the senses they have not had before and never thought could exist.

TV and Magazines made the designers and Chefs into Stars, casinos have given them a theatre to perform. The bright lights of Broadway and Hollywood have been replaced by the Casinos of the World – You haven’t truly arrived until you’ve established a restaurant in an Casino Integrated Resort!

SiGMA Calendar:  

SiGMA Americas and AIBC Digital Summit were launched with great success in the past week, pushing the shifting grounds of the gaming industry towards LatAm and discussing the current developments in digitalisation. In a first for SiGMA, both the gaming and the tech segments of the conference were offered in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese.   

SiGMA will launch its next series of events in 2021, with SiGMA Europe headlining next year's calendar. Inaugural summits in Asia and Americas are also set to dominate the year, with SiGMA Asia launching in May 2021 and SiGMA Africa in 2022! Explore the full agenda here and register now!