VEGAS DINING NEWS: Lowering Bellagio’s Yacht (& Your Expectations), Bar Code Checks Out, Best Coffee Shop in US
Posted on: October 1, 2025, 09:34h.
Last updated on: October 1, 2025, 12:01h.
- A boat ride around the iconic Bellagio fountains will soon depart from a dock at Carbone Riviera, the restaurant opening this fall
- Yelp coffee lovers claim one of the country’s best brews can be found in Sin City
- Bar Code Burgers closes and Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar returns
There’s no hiding a 33-foot yacht that has to be lowered by crane into the Bellagio’s lake because, duh, no boat ramp. So the MGM Resorts property is making a thing of it. A lowering ceremony will take place at 7:30 am on Friday, October 3.
But the launch will be at least partially hidden, at least if you try watching the event from the Strip, since the grandstands have already gone up in advance of F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 20-22.
The $3-$4 million yacht will be permanently docked in front of Carbone Riviera, the Italian restaurant opening this fall in the former Picasso space, from which it will offer voyages circling the lake while the fountains are operating.
Before the yacht gets lowered, though, you might want to lower your expectations, too. Though MGM hasn’t released any photos or renderings of the yacht, social media pages have shared AI-generated photos of 80-foot dining vessels crammed with dozens of people seated at tables.
MGM already said the yacht is one of only 18 made as part of the Anniversario Collection by Italian yacht company Riva. And those are 33-foot vessels that only fit five guests tops — with no room for a single table. (MGM Resorts never promised on-board dining.)
And, if you have to ask how much it will cost to be one of five people at a time who get to circle the Bellagio fountains in a yacht experience, chances are you can’t afford it.
Java Las Vegas
When Yelp ranked the best coffee shops in the US, based on quality and atmosphere, its No. 1 slot went to Yaw Farm Coffee Roasters at 7034 W. Charleston Blvd. in Las Vegas. And that’s for no less than the third straight year. The spot features 96% five-star ratings from its reviewers.
Dining Ins & Outs
Downtown’s Bar Code Burgers is out after 10 years, thus proving that critical accolades are no defense for the slings and arrows of cruel reality. While no reason for the closure was cited, Bar Code was a multiple winner of Best Burger in the Las Vegas Weekly’s Best of Vegas Awards and was named to this year’s Top 100 Restaurants in Las Vegas list by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Leoncito, which closed at Red Rock Resort on September 28, won’t be replaced by a new restaurant. That’s because it will be replaced by an old one. Owner Station Casinos is bringing back Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar, which it closed in April 2023 after nearly a decade, to take its place.
Morimoto at MGM Grand will temporarily close on October 1 “for an exciting design and menu refresh to enhance the guest experience,” according to an MGM press release. The sushi spot, opened by “Iron Chef” star Masaharu Morimoto in 2016, will reopen in late November.
In Vegas-related dining news, Wynn Resorts is exporting Las Vegas celeb haunt Delilah to Al Marjan Island, its upcoming $5.1 billion resort in the United Arab Emirates. When it opens in Spring 2027, its 22 restaurants and lounges will also include Alain Ducasse’s still unnamed steakhouse.
Health to Pay
Los Tacos, at 1710 E. Charleston Blvd., was shut down on September 30 after a routine inspection by the Southern Nevada Health District. Eight demerits were issued for violations, including food not stored at proper temperatures and equipment not approved and/or properly designed, maintained, and operated.
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