VEGAS DINING NEWS: Wynn Lakeside Tenant Goes Overboard, TGI Die Day

One of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2025 was to be Fiola Mare, a high-end Mediterranean seafood restaurant set to debut shortly in the coveted spot vacated last year by Lakeside — so named for its view of Wynn Las Vegas‘ Lake of Dreams.

It was to be the second Fiola Mare for Fabio Trabocchi, the James Beard- and Michelin-awarded chef who established the eatery in Washington, DC. But those plans, announced by the Wynn in July 2024, are now off.

“We are not moving ahead with the location at the Wynn at this time,” Trabocchi said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We continue to actively look for the right location in Las Vegas and look forward to opening there in the future.”

No reason for the change in plans was offered, and the Wynn is not talking, either.

Dining Ins & Outs

Pursuant to its bankruptcy filing last November, TGI Fridays closed all four of its Las Vegas locations on Jan. 29. They all happened to be in Boyd Gaming casinos: The Orleans, Sam’s Town, Aliante and Gold Coast. Last year alone, the struggling former restaurant giant shuttered 100 of its locations, and is down to around 165 nationwide from around 270 at the start of 2024. It blames the COVID-19 pandemic and changing consumer behavior.

Nomikai is the name of a sushi and speakeasy due this spring on the Venetian‘s restaurant row. Guiding the culinary experience will be highly regarded sushi chef Setsuji Mitsui.

Natalie Young, chef and proprietor of downtown’s Eat breakfast and lunch spot, is opening a new place called Echo, to be located nearby in the Arts District at 1301 Main St., Suite 60.