Mayflower Cuisinier has achieved many prestigious dining awards, including "Best of the Best," "Five Diamond Rating," and "Top Chinese Restaurant" in Las Vegas. Obviously, it would be easy for Chef Ming See Woo to rest on her laurels. That's not the case, though, as evidenced by inventive dishes like grilled lamb chops with creamy cilantro-mint sauce and blackened rare ahi tuna salad. All dishes are prepared with premium ingredients and no MSG. They also bear an intriguing French influence.

The New York and Chicago locations of Japonais now have a Vegas sibling. With views of the Mirage casino, it's a stunning space that boasts a fire wall, an onyx bar, water features, a dramatic tree sculpture, and lots of dark woods and glass. The overall effect is of stylized exoticism, and the environment is an absolutely fitting complement to the carefully crafted food. The sushi bar delivers delicacies like a spicy octopus roll and sweet ceviche with avocado mousse; cooked entrees include chestnut chicken, Peking duck, and grilled hamachi. The delicious food is a fantastic prelude to desserts like green tea panna cotta or cocktails like the "floating orchid" – pear and lemon juices, vodka, Cointreau, and an orchid that you can eat!

Specializing in Chinese and Thai dishes, Kung Fu Plaza in Las Vegas' Chinatown offers diners the option of dining in, take-out, or delivery. Their huge menu offers a staggering number of options. Kung Fu Plaza's most popular dishes include Mongolian Beef, Pad Thai, Tom Yum Soup, and Thai Chicken Curry. Other menu items include a selection of Thai salads, noodle soups, a large number of vegetarian dishes, and a full array of Chinese favorites like Moo Goo Gai Pan, Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Chicken, roast duck, and egg fu yong (shrimp, beef, pork, and chicken). Lunch specials are served weekdays from 11am to 3pm.

The Golden Nugget Hotel dazzles guests with flashy Western-themed decor and attitude, so it's something of a surprise to find that one of its signature restaurants specializes in traditional Cantonese and Szechwan fare. Indeed, Lillie's utilizes the best of the West (Grade-A American beef) to create a feast from the East, complete with fresh lobster and cooked vegetables. Thankfully the restaurant creates a judicious balance between being elegant and casual, making it ideal for families, special occasions, and intimate dinners.

Bellagio guests find themselves well-attended-to at this splendid Chinese restaurant, which enjoys spectacular views of the lake and its legendary dancing fountains. Traditional Cantonese, Hunan, and Szechuan dishes are available, and the upscale setting features authentic furniture, handsome table settings, and hand-painted wallpaper. While prices tend to lean toward the expensive, frequent diners submit that few restaurants along the Strip can boast such a fine menu and elegant atmosphere.

Chain though it may be, this restaurant makes for terrific dining. A contemporary space accented with murals and vases updates the whole Chinese restaurant experience and sets the tone for a menu of modern classics, such as Peking ravioli and crispy honey shrimp. Spicy chicken wraps use lettuce leaves, instead of conventional wrappers, to contain the filling and are a welcome change of pace. Dishes are seasoned judiciously, service is attentive, and sauces are prepared tableside for an added dose of personalization. In short, it would be hard to ask for more – except maybe a slice of that yummy chocolate macadamia pie.

Once you enter this authentic Japanese establishment, you'll quickly forget that you're surrounded by the obviously-American Hard Rock Resort. Indeed, the restaurant's interior boasts Eastern allure thanks to a serene sushi bar and an enchanting rice-paper sculpture of a birch tree. The impressive menu runs the gamut, offering tempura, teriyaki, sushi, and sashimi. For a real treat, order the omakase, a multi-course, prix fixe extravaganza. A cousin of the celeb-frequented restaurants in New York and Tokyo.

An east side standard for more than 20 years now, Geisha offers diners a traditional Japanese steakhouse setting, complete with the quintessential hibachi tables, flashy chefs, and large portions. Families especially enjoy watching the chefs do their thing – creating fabulous sesame chicken, steak, scallop, shrimp, and lobster teppan-yakis. Best of all, their prices are much more reasonable than some of Vegas's other Japanese steakhouses.

A bit outside of Las Vegas proper, Marssa offers breathtaking views of the lake and surrounding mountains while serving a delicious mix of Japanese and Pacific Rim fare. A talented, innovative culinary team masterfully blends spices and ingredients to create such well-executed dishes as miso-braised Kobe short ribs, pan-roasted wild salmon, Maine lobster, and lime-mango chicken. Sushi is also a house specialty, and you'd be remiss not to try a perfectly crafted salmon skin roll. The restaurant's intriguing name, should you be curious, means "by way of the sea."

Pronounced "yah-COO-me," this flashy Caesars Palace eatery serves up a variety of raw, steamed, and cooked Japanese fare. From sushi and sashimi to brilliant teppan yaki-style dishes. The waitstaff, clad in traditional Japanese garb, caters to your every need with a friendly professionalism that defies description. The sushi bar, a terrific place to enjoy a cold glass of Sapporo or some hot sake, overlooks the trendy Cleopatra's Barge Nightclub, one of the Strip's most noteworthy places to see and be seen.