You know that one restaurant your foodie friend refuses to shut up about? The one they almost don’t want to tell you about because it’s that good? That’s Locale Italian Kitchen. Tucked out on Blue Diamond, this place isn’t chasing influencers or Strip traffic. It’s serving up some of the best damn Italian food in the city without the markup, the smoke, or the headache. And the $55 prix fixe? Practically a public service.
Locale Italian Kitchen
There are restaurants that announce themselves with flash, and then there are the ones locals guard like a secret because they know exactly what they have. Locale Italian Kitchen on Blue Diamond is the latter—a place where craft, value, and generosity collide in a way that feels almost subversive in a city built on markups and spectacle.
Their $55 prix fixe remains, in my opinion, the best deal in Las Vegas. You get three extremely generous courses—appetizer, main, side, and dessert—that function as four because of the sheer portion size and the cuts they’re willing to serve at that price point. This isn’t the prix fixe that leaves you hungry and annoyed. This is the kind that has you boxing half your entrée for tomorrow and still feeling like you won. And crucially, you’re doing it without fighting Strip traffic, garage parking puzzles, or casino smoke.
The dishes themselves explain why this place has a loyal following. The warm house loaf offered as an appetizer option is far from filler—an oversized, rustic loaf meant for the table, paired with rotating compound butters including a honey–cinnamon–brown-sugar version that could qualify as its own course. The Caesar salad is exactly what most Caesars aspire to be: crisp, cold, and properly dressed with no gloopy shortcuts.
The short ribs with mashed potatoes are the dish locals would revolt over if they ever disappeared—tender, slow-cooked, deeply seasoned, and unmistakably a “favorite,” not a throwaway. And then there’s the showpiece: Bone Marrow Fries. A massive bone marrow—truly forearm-sized—is torched tableside, the rendered marrow cascading over hot fries before getting blanketed in parmesan and garlic. It’s theatrical without being gimmicky, indulgent without being heavy-handed…