Of all the elements that will make up Resorts World Las Vegas when the $4.3 billion hotel and casino finally opens on the Strip this year, the most mysterious is the restaurant lineup. We know it will have a full portfolio of dining options but only the clubby FUHU, an Asian eatery from the Zouk Group, has been officially announced … until now.
Southern California favorite Wally’s Wine & Spirits will expand to Las Vegas with a combination restaurant, wine bar and specialty gourmet market located in the heart of the Resorts World casino, set to open with the property this summer.
“We have been keeping [food and beverage] close to the chest,” says Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World. “We’re announcing Wally’s first because it’s the most exciting partnership, and everybody knows about the type of experience you can have there. And it’s always been on their map to get here to Las Vegas.”
Known for attracting Hollywood stars as well as everyday wine lovers with its massive selection, Wally’s originated as a “corner liquor store” in 1968, says president and principal Christian Navarro, who helped elevate the brand into a vast retail business in the 1990s. It currently operates two stores and restaurants in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills.
“We’ve always been a little spoiled by seeing the greatest people on planet Earth come through our doors and we’ve searched for many years [in Las Vegas],” he says. “Once we sat down with Scott and his team, we found we were talking about the same things even though they’re doing this billion-dollar casino and I’m just doing a couple little restaurants. I knew we finally found a home.”
Wally’s prides itself on quality and its ability to equally accommodate customers “in a tuxedo or wearing a pair of flip flops,” Navarro says, another factor that makes sense on the Strip. “I’ve been coming to Las Vegas for a long time and seen a lot of operators come in as part-time people. We’re going to embrace this as our flagship and our home, and I’m going to be there every day.”
The wine pricing plan for the Vegas version of Wally’s is a simple one: retail plus $40. Navarro is hoping high value will lead to dedicated, loyal customers and he and Sibella expect this new food and beverage destination to attract plenty of local traffic.
“The reason why the local market doesn’t spend more time on the Strip is there’s not easy access to get in and out of these properties,” Sibella says. “We’re on 88 acres on the north side of the Strip and we’ll have four entrances … with three of them the size of MGM Grand’s. Locals can come in down Sammy Davis Jr. [Drive] and use the south entrance and be in the building in five minutes because we have the land to do that.
“We’re definitely going after locals. Wine is as popular as ever and you don’t have to be a connoisseur to go to Wally’s and socialize and have great food and a great experience inside this new megaresort.”
Wally’s at Resorts World will offer more than 8,000 labels of wine, spirits, beer and gourmet food items from around the world in its store and dining room, and the restaurant will serve more than 125 wines by the glass.
