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Arts District 18b sign
Arts District 18b sign
Amelinda B Lee

A Comprehensive Guide to Dining in the Las Vegas Arts District

The Arts District is home to the arts, but also to exceptional Italian food, an English pasty shop, and really good tacos

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Arts District 18b sign
| Amelinda B Lee

The Las Vegas Arts District, also known as 18b for its original 18-block layout, is the closest thing Las Vegas has to a bohemian enclave, but it’s not just for creative classes. In the last five years or so, the downtown neighborhood has boomed, with several new restaurants and cafes opening and offering a variety of new fare. While meandering through the vintage shops, art galleries, and boutiques in the area, there are countless restaurants in which both locals and tourists can dine.

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The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

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The local Greek restaurant chain has a location in the Arts District that serves all its menu staples like gyros and falafel. Whatever you order, make sure to get a side of feta fries.

A selection healthy entrees, including gyros and burgers, available at The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

Letty's de Leticia's Cocina

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Located in a small building decorated with a beautiful mural, chef Leticia Mitchell prepares Mexican favorites like street tacos, tortas, and more. Try the birria torta, served with savory consomme or the enchiladas with your choice of six sauces.

The front entrance to Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina in the Arts District.
Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina
Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina

The Pepper Club

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This restaurant inside the English Hotel by James Beard Award-winning chef Todd English offers everything from brunch favorites to sushi to upscale cocktails. The interior is sleek and modern, with dark walls, metallic accents, and burnt orange furnishings. Stop in for dinner for sushi and raw bar selections or the Soba U Up burger with a Japanese egg bun and miso honey mustard or the miso salmon with bok choy.

Chicago Joe's Restaurant

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Located in what once was a residential home, the brick exterior of Chicago Joe’s gives way to an intimate Italian restaurant. Serving Italian classics in a dining room that can best be described as “quaint,” the meat lasagna is particularly decadent.

Chicago Joe’s Restaurant
Chicago Joe’s Restaurant
Bradley Martin

The Goodwich

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The original Goodwich was created in a small kiosk in the parking lot of Dino’s Lounge before opening its own brick-and-mortar. The casual sandwich shop does great interpretations of classic sandwiches, plus a perfectly gooey grilled cheese with caramelized bacon.

The Goodwich
The Goodwich
The Goodwich

Taverna Costera

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This two-story Greek restaurant behind the Arts Factory looks out over the First Friday Festival footprint and features the works of local artists inside. Its eclectic dinner options span meatballs, to gyros, to nachos. But it’s brunch that you don’t want to miss. Find French toast, omelets, and hash bowls, plus bottomless brunch cocktails for $20.

The exterior of the two-story Taverna Costera
Taverna Costera
Taverna Costera

Dragon’s Alley Coffee Co.

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The coffee shop inside Taverna Costera serves traditional coffee shop beverages to go, or dine in with one of the Hawaiian breakfast plates like spam musubi or loco moco.

Doña María Tamales Restaurant

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Since 1979, Doña Maria Tamales has been the go-to destination for any local craving. Find housemade tamales filled with savory options like pork, chicken with green sauce, cheese, or beef, as well as a sweet variety with pineapple and raison tucked into its succulent masa. From morning through night, diners feast on breakfast chilaquiles; lunch combos with options like tostadas, burritos, tacos, and enchiladas; chicken dressed in deep brown mole; and steaming bowls of tortilla soup. Weekends bring caldo de camaron, a rejuvenating Mexican soup filled with shrimp. A popular margarita happy hour runs Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

[Photo]

The recently reopened 18bin got a total food menu makeover under chef Josh Green, with a notably more robust selection of vegan options. 18bin aims to have something for everyone with both a “skinny” vegan Caesar salad and one topped with fried chicken, wings, sandwich options, and more. Brunch includes a vegan and gluten-free stuffed avocado Benedict, tuna tacos, bananas Foster pancakes, and bottomless mimosas until 5 p.m. There are nearly 5,000 square feet of trellis-covered outdoor dining, as well as enough space indoors for 100 diners.

pouring syrup over a layered stack of fried chicken and waffles
Chicken and waffles for brunch at bin18
bin18

Bungalow Coffee Co

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Open and sun-filled, this coffee shop offers reliable Wi-Fi and exceptional coffee drinks. Settle into one of the comfy booths or rattan chairs to get some work done while sipping on a latte or two.

Berlin Bar

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This temple to German cuisine serves traditional pretzels; as well as a large variety of schnitzel, a respectable offering of sausages like bier brats, currywurst, and other Bavarian favorites. The restaurant remains true to the German theme through the very end of the meal, with strudel and black forest cake on offer. The beer list is short, focusing on a few German beers and the most basic American options. The wine list includes some interesting German labels. Open daily from 11 a.m. until “late.”

A hot dog covered with onions and pickles
Berlin Bar
Berlin Bar/Facebook

Cornish Pasty Co.

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The small storefront on Charleston Boulevard gives way to a massive restaurant that is sunlit and airy in the morning, but dark and moody by night. Inspired by the hand pies that originated in Cornwall, England in the 1200s, the more than 50 pasties here are stuffed with all sorts of flavorful meats and cheeses — plus vegan options. Sit at any of the long wooden booths positioned around the cavernous restaurant’s open kitchen, bar, and pool tables. Cornish Pasty Co. opens daily at 11 a.m., closing at 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, at midnight on Thursday; and at 2 a.m. on Saturdays.

Lentil-based meatballs in a marinara sauce are stuffed inside a triangular dough wrapper.
Cornish Pasty Co.
Cornish Pasty Co.

D E Thai Kitchen

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Inspired by Bangkok street food and Southern Thai-style dishes, D E Thai Kitchen serves tom yum soup, chicken satay or coconut shrimp, crab Rangoon, and fried tofu. Rice and noodle options include pad Thai, pad see ew, and drunken noodles, plus spicy basil, ginger garlic, and garlic pepper among the plate dishes, with the option of adding pork, chicken, beef, crispy pork, veggies, tofu, and shrimp or squid. Red, green, and yellow curries join house specials of pork tom yum noodle soup, crab-meat fried rice, and the Beef Boat Noodle Soup rice noodle soup.

Kao soi
Kao soi at D E Thai Kitchen
D E Thai Kitchen/Facebook

Vesta Coffee Roasters

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With beans roasted right on-site, it’s tough to beat Vesta for an expertly crafted coffee. Specialty drinks here include the macadamia almond latte and ginger snap matcha. Ask about their seasonal house-made syrups.

Vesta Coffee Roasters
Vesta Coffee Roasters
Vesta Coffee Roasters

Makers & Finders

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With seven different methods of brewing coffee, it should come as no surprise that this java shop ranks high among coffee lovers. Serving Latin-inspired breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and booze, it can almost be all things to all people. There’s even a “happy hour + kids” menu from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily that allows parents to grab a cocktail, beer, or wine (or a shot and a beer for $10) while both parents and kids grab some bites off the happy hour menu.

<span data-author="-1">Makers &amp; Finders</span>
Makers & Finders
Makers & Finders [Official Site]

Esther's Kitchen

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Accomplished chef and owner James Trees brings a menu of daily pastas and house-made sourdough breads with toppings like anchovy butter and burrata to the Arts District. Try the naturally leavened pizzas and antipasti using an in-house butcher and the restaurant’s own herb garden at his Italian restaurant in the Arts District. It’s hard to beat the rigatoni carbonara at lunch and the brunch menu is one of the best downtown. Dinner daily, with lunch Monday through Friday and brunch Saturday and Sunday.

Esther’s Kitchen
Esther’s Kitchen
Sam Abrams

Tacotarian

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The plant-filled Tacotarian offers all sorts of tacos and other handheld Mexican-style fare. And it’s all vegan. Try the carne asada, al pastor, or chorizo tacos. The horchata cold brew at brunch is not to be missed.

Overhead view of vegan tacos, churros, burritos and beverages
Tacotarian
Tacotarian

Yu-Or-Mi Sushi Bar

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This smart and stylish pocket-sized sushi bar with polished concrete floor, a shiny granite bar, and white brick walls makes its mark with a powerhouse selection of Japanese sakes and whiskeys along with a sushi menu that prizes fresh fish. Salmon mousse gyoza, miso butter salmon, and lamb chops in shiso pesto and miso peppercorn sauces add variety to the menu. Open daily for dining in from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

sushi roll topped with raw salmon
The Life is Beautiful roll at YU-OR-MI includes
YU-OR-MI/Facebook

Casa Don Juan

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Lively Mexican restaurant Casa Don Juan is known for ice-cold margaritas, housemade tortillas, fresh guacamole, and a lengthy menu of authentic Mexican favorites like tamales, seafood soup, and among others. Happy hour runs Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with a petite food menu of tacos, queso fundido, chicharrones, and more. Palomas, margaritas, and piña coladas are the stars at happy hour, but the restaurant pours beer and wine too.

An assortment of tacos
Tacos at Casa Don Juan
Casa Don Juan/Facebook

Good Pie

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The aptly names Good Pie serves up pies both inside and at its walk-up window. The menu is divided into Brooklyn-style, Detroit-style, and square grandma-style pies. The crave-worthy Brooklyn White Pie is cheesy and garlicky, with whipped ricotta cheese flowers.

Square Pizza with sausage at the Good Pie
Good Pie
Sam Abrams

Main St. Provisions

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The interior of this modern American restaurant feels warm and welcoming, but still just fancy enough to offer a foie gras add-on to any dish. The menu is tight but cohesive, offering starters like oysters and short rib dumplings and entrees including filet mignon and seasonal risotto. Save room for the crustless Basque cheesecake.

Dig It! Coffee Co.

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This new coffee shop in the ShareDowntown apartment building is fun and vibrant, with colorful murals and disco balls on the ceiling. It offers traditional coffee drinks as well as playful creations like peanut butter matcha and gummy bear lemonade.

A spread of pastries and coffee drinks
Dog It Coffee Co.
Dog It Coffee Co.

Soulbelly BBQ

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It’s impossible not to catch the smoky fragrances of Soulbelly BBQ wafting down Main Street while meandering through the Arts District. Stop in to find Texas-style barbecue and tasty cocktails. Gather some friends to go in on the All the Meats platter for $125.

The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

The local Greek restaurant chain has a location in the Arts District that serves all its menu staples like gyros and falafel. Whatever you order, make sure to get a side of feta fries.

A selection healthy entrees, including gyros and burgers, available at The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

Letty's de Leticia's Cocina

Located in a small building decorated with a beautiful mural, chef Leticia Mitchell prepares Mexican favorites like street tacos, tortas, and more. Try the birria torta, served with savory consomme or the enchiladas with your choice of six sauces.

The front entrance to Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina in the Arts District.
Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina
Letty’s De Leticia’s Cocina

The Pepper Club

This restaurant inside the English Hotel by James Beard Award-winning chef Todd English offers everything from brunch favorites to sushi to upscale cocktails. The interior is sleek and modern, with dark walls, metallic accents, and burnt orange furnishings. Stop in for dinner for sushi and raw bar selections or the Soba U Up burger with a Japanese egg bun and miso honey mustard or the miso salmon with bok choy.

Chicago Joe's Restaurant

Located in what once was a residential home, the brick exterior of Chicago Joe’s gives way to an intimate Italian restaurant. Serving Italian classics in a dining room that can best be described as “quaint,” the meat lasagna is particularly decadent.

Chicago Joe’s Restaurant
Chicago Joe’s Restaurant
Bradley Martin

The Goodwich

The original Goodwich was created in a small kiosk in the parking lot of Dino’s Lounge before opening its own brick-and-mortar. The casual sandwich shop does great interpretations of classic sandwiches, plus a perfectly gooey grilled cheese with caramelized bacon.

The Goodwich
The Goodwich
The Goodwich

Taverna Costera

This two-story Greek restaurant behind the Arts Factory looks out over the First Friday Festival footprint and features the works of local artists inside. Its eclectic dinner options span meatballs, to gyros, to nachos. But it’s brunch that you don’t want to miss. Find French toast, omelets, and hash bowls, plus bottomless brunch cocktails for $20.

The exterior of the two-story Taverna Costera
Taverna Costera
Taverna Costera

Dragon’s Alley Coffee Co.

The coffee shop inside Taverna Costera serves traditional coffee shop beverages to go, or dine in with one of the Hawaiian breakfast plates like spam musubi or loco moco.

Doña María Tamales Restaurant

Since 1979, Doña Maria Tamales has been the go-to destination for any local craving. Find housemade tamales filled with savory options like pork, chicken with green sauce, cheese, or beef, as well as a sweet variety with pineapple and raison tucked into its succulent masa. From morning through night, diners feast on breakfast chilaquiles; lunch combos with options like tostadas, burritos, tacos, and enchiladas; chicken dressed in deep brown mole; and steaming bowls of tortilla soup. Weekends bring caldo de camaron, a rejuvenating Mexican soup filled with shrimp. A popular margarita happy hour runs Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

[Photo]

18bin

The recently reopened 18bin got a total food menu makeover under chef Josh Green, with a notably more robust selection of vegan options. 18bin aims to have something for everyone with both a “skinny” vegan Caesar salad and one topped with fried chicken, wings, sandwich options, and more. Brunch includes a vegan and gluten-free stuffed avocado Benedict, tuna tacos, bananas Foster pancakes, and bottomless mimosas until 5 p.m. There are nearly 5,000 square feet of trellis-covered outdoor dining, as well as enough space indoors for 100 diners.

pouring syrup over a layered stack of fried chicken and waffles
Chicken and waffles for brunch at bin18
bin18

Bungalow Coffee Co

Open and sun-filled, this coffee shop offers reliable Wi-Fi and exceptional coffee drinks. Settle into one of the comfy booths or rattan chairs to get some work done while sipping on a latte or two.

Berlin Bar

This temple to German cuisine serves traditional pretzels; as well as a large variety of schnitzel, a respectable offering of sausages like bier brats, currywurst, and other Bavarian favorites. The restaurant remains true to the German theme through the very end of the meal, with strudel and black forest cake on offer. The beer list is short, focusing on a few German beers and the most basic American options. The wine list includes some interesting German labels. Open daily from 11 a.m. until “late.”

A hot dog covered with onions and pickles
Berlin Bar
Berlin Bar/Facebook

Cornish Pasty Co.

The small storefront on Charleston Boulevard gives way to a massive restaurant that is sunlit and airy in the morning, but dark and moody by night. Inspired by the hand pies that originated in Cornwall, England in the 1200s, the more than 50 pasties here are stuffed with all sorts of flavorful meats and cheeses — plus vegan options. Sit at any of the long wooden booths positioned around the cavernous restaurant’s open kitchen, bar, and pool tables. Cornish Pasty Co. opens daily at 11 a.m., closing at 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, at midnight on Thursday; and at 2 a.m. on Saturdays.

Lentil-based meatballs in a marinara sauce are stuffed inside a triangular dough wrapper.
Cornish Pasty Co.
Cornish Pasty Co.

D E Thai Kitchen

Inspired by Bangkok street food and Southern Thai-style dishes, D E Thai Kitchen serves tom yum soup, chicken satay or coconut shrimp, crab Rangoon, and fried tofu. Rice and noodle options include pad Thai, pad see ew, and drunken noodles, plus spicy basil, ginger garlic, and garlic pepper among the plate dishes, with the option of adding pork, chicken, beef, crispy pork, veggies, tofu, and shrimp or squid. Red, green, and yellow curries join house specials of pork tom yum noodle soup, crab-meat fried rice, and the Beef Boat Noodle Soup rice noodle soup.

Kao soi
Kao soi at D E Thai Kitchen
D E Thai Kitchen/Facebook

Vesta Coffee Roasters

With beans roasted right on-site, it’s tough to beat Vesta for an expertly crafted coffee. Specialty drinks here include the macadamia almond latte and ginger snap matcha. Ask about their seasonal house-made syrups.

Vesta Coffee Roasters
Vesta Coffee Roasters
Vesta Coffee Roasters

Makers & Finders

With seven different methods of brewing coffee, it should come as no surprise that this java shop ranks high among coffee lovers. Serving Latin-inspired breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and booze, it can almost be all things to all people. There’s even a “happy hour + kids” menu from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily that allows parents to grab a cocktail, beer, or wine (or a shot and a beer for $10) while both parents and kids grab some bites off the happy hour menu.

<span data-author="-1">Makers &amp; Finders</span>
Makers & Finders
Makers & Finders [Official Site]

Related Maps

Esther's Kitchen

Accomplished chef and owner James Trees brings a menu of daily pastas and house-made sourdough breads with toppings like anchovy butter and burrata to the Arts District. Try the naturally leavened pizzas and antipasti using an in-house butcher and the restaurant’s own herb garden at his Italian restaurant in the Arts District. It’s hard to beat the rigatoni carbonara at lunch and the brunch menu is one of the best downtown. Dinner daily, with lunch Monday through Friday and brunch Saturday and Sunday.

Esther’s Kitchen
Esther’s Kitchen
Sam Abrams

Tacotarian

The plant-filled Tacotarian offers all sorts of tacos and other handheld Mexican-style fare. And it’s all vegan. Try the carne asada, al pastor, or chorizo tacos. The horchata cold brew at brunch is not to be missed.

Overhead view of vegan tacos, churros, burritos and beverages
Tacotarian
Tacotarian

Yu-Or-Mi Sushi Bar

This smart and stylish pocket-sized sushi bar with polished concrete floor, a shiny granite bar, and white brick walls makes its mark with a powerhouse selection of Japanese sakes and whiskeys along with a sushi menu that prizes fresh fish. Salmon mousse gyoza, miso butter salmon, and lamb chops in shiso pesto and miso peppercorn sauces add variety to the menu. Open daily for dining in from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

sushi roll topped with raw salmon
The Life is Beautiful roll at YU-OR-MI includes
YU-OR-MI/Facebook

Casa Don Juan

Lively Mexican restaurant Casa Don Juan is known for ice-cold margaritas, housemade tortillas, fresh guacamole, and a lengthy menu of authentic Mexican favorites like tamales, seafood soup, and among others. Happy hour runs Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with a petite food menu of tacos, queso fundido, chicharrones, and more. Palomas, margaritas, and piña coladas are the stars at happy hour, but the restaurant pours beer and wine too.

An assortment of tacos
Tacos at Casa Don Juan
Casa Don Juan/Facebook

Good Pie

The aptly names Good Pie serves up pies both inside and at its walk-up window. The menu is divided into Brooklyn-style, Detroit-style, and square grandma-style pies. The crave-worthy Brooklyn White Pie is cheesy and garlicky, with whipped ricotta cheese flowers.

Square Pizza with sausage at the Good Pie
Good Pie
Sam Abrams

Main St. Provisions

The interior of this modern American restaurant feels warm and welcoming, but still just fancy enough to offer a foie gras add-on to any dish. The menu is tight but cohesive, offering starters like oysters and short rib dumplings and entrees including filet mignon and seasonal risotto. Save room for the crustless Basque cheesecake.

Dig It! Coffee Co.

This new coffee shop in the ShareDowntown apartment building is fun and vibrant, with colorful murals and disco balls on the ceiling. It offers traditional coffee drinks as well as playful creations like peanut butter matcha and gummy bear lemonade.