2 Massively Popular Restaurants From NYC and LA Are Opening Outposts at a Luxury Vegas Resort

Las Vegas’ dining scene is about to get even snazzier.

Two major big city restaurants are moving in from each coast: New York’s Cote Korean Steakhouse and Los Angeles’ Gjelina. The Venetian Resort will be home to the two new restaurants, adding to over 30 culinary concepts already on the property helmed by several notable chefs: Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Tetsuya Wakuda, Lorena Garcia, Emeril Lagasse, and Eyal Shani.  

The Vegas steakhouse, slated to open in 2025, will be Cote’s first West Coast expansion. Like many New Yorkers, Cote expanded to Miami in 2021 and has since opened a New York spinoff, Coqodaq, with another highly anticipated Manhattan restaurant slated for this year. Cote’s first international expansion opened in January 2024, in Singapore. 

Like Cote’s original and sibling restaurants, Cote Vegas will be elegant and convivial, melding Korean BBQ flavors and traditions with American steakhouse influences. The signature beef menu includes A5 wagyu from Kobe, Sendai, and Miyazaki, plus 45, 90, and 120-day aged steak. 

The Rockwell Group-designed restaurant will be somewhat of a homecoming for Cote founder and UNLV alum Simon Kim, who started working in the restaurant industry in Vegas. 

“While Cote Korean Steakhouse is a concept I created in NYC, the pulsating energy, music and entertainment of Las Vegas has always been intertwined in our brand's DNA, and we're taking that to the next level with this opening,” Kim said. “I'm honored to collaborate with The Venetian Resort on our first West Coast location and thrilled to partner again with David Rockwell as we aspire to create the most iconic Las Vegas restaurant the city has ever seen. We're taking our endless emphasis and focus on excellence in gastronomy and hospitality and amplifying the entertainment angle to the fullest extent to create something the city can be proud of, and I can't wait to bring it to life."

To add to the culinary allure at The Venetian, Gjelina, Venice's hugely buzzy Abbot Kinney staple since 2008, is in the works. The California-produce-centric restaurant will offer lunch and dinner at The Venetian’s restaurant row, with a menu focused on sustainability and farm-to-table dishes. 

The two restaurants parallel each other — one offering all-day light and fresh fare, the other a nighttime hub of indulgence.

“The opportunity to support the farmers we love so dearly in a new environment is critical to everything we do, whether in New York or Vegas. It’s a primary goal for us,” says Shelley Armistead, partner and the CEO of the Gjelina Group. “We’ll be using the same menu format that’s been a success, with a wide berth of offerings. You can find something at any point during the day and feel like you can come back multiple times a week.”  Armistead hints that Gjelina Las Vegas will be a more grown-up version of the 16-year-old restaurant, with design that’s appropriate for its glitzy location. 

“Gjelina is a staple, it’s one of my personal favorite restaurants with its really approachable menu and nice healthy meals,” says Patrick Nichols, president and CEO of the Venetian Resort Las Vegas. “Cote is very unique. It hits the steakhouse niche but also adds a completely different element. It’s an interactive experience with great cocktails and a Michelin star.”  He envisions both leisure and business customers enjoying both options, which balance each other out between comfortable wellness and splurge-worthy feasts.  

While Gjelina plans to remain close to the original concept, Nichols hints at even more extravagance for Cote’s fourth restaurant, which he dubs Cote 2.0. “It will be very special,” he says. “The design experience will be next level.”

These two new restaurants are part of a $1.5 billion overhaul of The Venetian, the most expensive hotel renovation in history. Everything from the guest rooms to the gaming spaces and entertainment venues will be made over, with bookings opening up this September.

“The focus on culinary is a huge part of what we’re doing with the redevelopment of the new resort,” says Nichols. “It’s a compelling reason to make a trip. People will be surprised at how fresh and revitalized the resort feels.”  

Las Vegas is becoming a global culinary destination in its own right. The city will host The World's 50 Best Restaurants Award Ceremony on Wednesday, June 5. And though Michelin hasn’t awarded stars in the city since 2009, with Cote bringing a star back to the strip, who knows what’s next for Sin City.