Aria’s Food Hall Loses Its Seoul (Bird), Gives Guests the (Lucky) Bird
Aria’s Proper Eats Food Hall is trying to change its fortunes by swapping out its chicken tender offering.
Seoul Bird closed Dec. 14, 2025. Lucky Bird opened Dec. 17, 2025.
Do we typically write about such casino food court changes? No. Are we bored out of our skull because every day during the holidays is a slow news day? Possibly. We are also a noted chicken tender expert, so there’s that.
Proper Eats is a mixed bag of largely forgettable food from the good folks at Clique Hospitality.
The good folks at Clique Hospitality are great at some things (lounges, like Clique at Cosmo) and not-so-great at others, specifically, food courts.
Proper Eats replaced Aria’s reliably solid but money-losing buffet. Many Las Vegas visitors remain butthurt about casinos switching from buffets to food courts, but that ship has sailed. On average, Caesars Entertainment lost $3 million a year at its buffets. That’s an “oof” up with which suits will not put.
Aria is owned by MGM Resorts. Well, “owned.” Aria is operated by MGM Resorts. Blackstone Real Estate owns it. It’s a long, boring story.
Casinos don’t own things anymore except player databases and politicians.
Another long story, but that’s why Las Vegas doesn’t have the lottery. Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos don’t want lotteries competing for their precious slot machine dollars. Don’t get us started.
Anyway, chicken tenders.
Seoul Bird’s tenders were meh, like the majority of the food at Proper Eats Food Hall at Aria.
Some of it is straight-up terrible. For example, the pizza at Pizzaoki, from superstar DJ Steve Aoki, is exactly like you’d imagine pizza from a superstar DJ would be. Eating Steve Aoki’s pizza is like biting into a sweaty gym sock, but without the ambiance.
Another booth at Proper Eats, Shalom Y’all, a Mediterranean concept, closed and was replaced by another stall, Parm.
If you know anything about us, you know we love us some Parm. It’s quite good, but they really got our hopes up by literally naming it Parm. Worth noting: The prices at Parm increased within 24 hours of its opening. No joke.
Parm Famous Italian opens at Aria’s food hall. We share the menu. We visit 24 hours later, prices have increased. On the bright side, chicken parm sandwich was outstanding. https://t.co/xXA6GhH0VN pic.twitter.com/nngR5pRdTM
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) May 25, 2024
The operators of Clique are trying their best to spin the overall averageness of its food court, but it’s awkward. Here’s the description on the official Web site for Proper Eats: “The most eclectic and mouthwatering collection of food from around the world has landed in Las Vegas. Proper Eats, an edgy and modern food hall, has descended at Aria Resort & Casino. Not only has Proper Eats imported many palate pleasing options, including London’s famous Seoul Bird, Major Food Group’s Parm Famous Italian, Los Angeles staple Wexler’s Deli, San Diego’s Temaki Bar, New York’s breakfast centric Egghead, and Steve Aoki’s Pizzaoki, it also features several only in Vegas concepts, such as Lola Burgers, the health-conscious Happy Leaf and Laughing Buddha. An eye appealing circular bar, in which mixologists perfect classic and modern cocktails, serves as the hub to the contemporary food forum. Guests are not only expected to wander from place to place, they are encouraged, giving them the full global culinary scale of Proper Eats. Further, Easy Donuts, a donut and coffee shop, has a secretive story to tell—behind the shop is a hidden high-end speakeasy bar focusing on high-end cocktails and live music. At last, it feels appropriate to be proper.”
Not only have they not updated their Web site, it appears whoever wrote that copy has never actually been to Proper Eats Food Hall.
It’s not edgy.
It’s not modern.
It’s not particularly palate-pleasing.
There is an eye-pleasing bar, however, we’ll give them that.
And we haven’t even talked about what a terrible name “Proper Eats” is.
That’s because we have to save space for complaining about how lukewarm all the food is due to the baffling ordering system at Proper Eats.
Here’s a quick walk-through of Proper Eats shortly after it opened, just to get your bearings.
You order your food at Proper Eats through kiosks. No cash. (Such systems exist to avoid employee theft. Basically, you’re inconveniencing every customer to rectify an operations challenge.)
So, you pay at the kiosk, then collect your food at the various booths when it’s ready. Specifically, after it is room temperature.
Man, alive, we have really taken our eye off the ball in this story.
Our advice is to order from one booth and just stand there until your food is ready. You’re welcome.
Here’s more about Lucky Bird: “Developed by Clique Hospitality chef CJ Young, Lucky Bird’s cuisine keeps things simple and full of flavor, featuring three sandwiches, three sides, and a signature chicken tender combo. Sandwich selections include: The Lucky, tenders topped with shredded lettuce, pickles and signature Lucky Sauce served on a buttery bun, priced at $16; Nashville Hottie, Nashville hot tenders topped with pickles and mayo on a bun, both priced at $16; OG Buffalo, tenders tossed in Buffalo sauce, topped with pickles and blue cheese on a bun, priced at $17.
This may seem like a very simple menu, but that’s actually a blessing. The secret to food court success: Do one (or three) things and do it well. Don’t try and be everything to everyone.
Sandwiches are fine, but if you’re going to grab some of that Raising Cane’s audience, you need to have a tender plate: “The star of the menu is the signature three-piece tender plate, served Nashville-style, medium heat, or Mutha Cluckin’ Spicy, along with a slice of Texas toast and a choice of side and sauce, priced at $16.50. Sauce options include buffalo, backyard BBQ, classic ranch, hot honey mustard, blue cheese and signature Lucky Sauce. A combo with fries and a drink is also available.”
That “medium heat” thing is mildly worrying, as spice levels are subjective. Still, this tender plate covers all the bases for tender lovers, and we should all aspire to be tender lovers.
Oh, sides: “Side selections include organic chopped coleslaw, made with chopped green cabbage and kohlrabi topped with sweet tangy sauce; and mac salad, made with elbow macaroni in a classic creamy dressing, both priced at $7; and the BBQ baked beans, with jalapeno and bacon bits, priced at $9.”
Please, Lucky Bird, be good. No, we have not been there yet, we have been very busy during the holidays spending quality time with our family as is mandated by societal norms and expectations.
It’s chicken tenders.
What is the deal with chicken tenders, anyway?
Why tenders and not strips, you are thinking to yourself if you are nearly as bored as we are? And what about chicken fingers? What in the hell are those?
Well, we’ve got you. Boredom is the mother of Google searches.
Chicken tenders are an actual, specific cut of meat: the small strip of muscle that runs along the underside of the chicken breast. The tenderloin.
Chicken fingers are mostly a shape and vibe, not a cut. Chicken fingers are typically made from sliced chicken breast (sometimes tenderloin, sometimes not), breaded and fried into finger-like pieces. It’s a marketing thing, not an anatomical thing.
Chicken strips are the broadest and most generic term for fried chicken parts. It usually just means strips of chicken breast, cut to size, breaded and fried (or grilled, which is weird).
So, in practice, restaurants call them chicken tenders because it sounds fancy. Premium chicken, premium price.
Fingers, tenders and strips are often the same product, just branded differently.
There are a lot of outstanding chicken tenders and strips and even fingers in Las Vegas, just not on The Strip. It’s a lot like pizza. Good luck finding good pizza on The Strip. It’s all downtown, just like chicken tenders.
We love the aforementioned Raising Cane’s, a favorite of Las Vegas locals, but when downtown there are also the wildly delicious tenders at Whiskey Licker Up at Binion’s, along with Huey Magoo’s in the food hall at Fremont casino, and the tenders at Victory Burger at Circa, and the reliably fantastic strips at Chick-fil-A at Golden Nugget.
The best chicken tenders on The Strip are at Delilah’s at Wynn. It’s a lot of expense and noise to endure for chicken tenders, but you’re either serious about chicken tenders or you aren’t.
You’ll also want to try Tender Crush at Rio’s food court.
Have we beaten a non-story to death yet?
Look, if we were interested in external validation, we would have called this story, “The Six Best Places for Chicken Tenders in Las Vegas.” That would’ve shown a mastery of social media virality and search engine optimization we don’t have time for or interest in.
We are a serious journalistic outlet. We do not pander to the unwashed masses. We write for the people who will put this on a T-shirt: “Casinos don’t own things anymore except player databases and politicians.”
If you visit Lucky Bird before we do, let us know what you think. Keep in mind that when we order Thai food, we get a spice level of negative two.
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