A Strip Room With an Actual Chef Behind It
Best Friend works because it refuses the two Strip defaults: it is not a steakhouse in a tuxedo and it is not a food court with neon. Roy Choi's Korean American cooking is the draw, and the kitchen leans into Los Angeles influence rather than smoothing it out for a tourist crowd. The Korean fried chicken is the anchor order, the kind of dish built for a room that stays loud past midnight. The kimchi quesadilla is the tell for what this kitchen actually is: not a straight Korean BBQ house, but a chef translating Koreatown and East LA into one menu, and doing it without apologizing for either side.
Actual Korean BBQ rounds out the table, grilled proteins meant for sharing rather than a solo plate. At Park MGM, this is one of the few Strip rooms with a real point of view instead of a licensed concept, and the space matches that ambition: a hip, colorful build-out with a chef's counter for anyone who wants to watch the kitchen work and an outdoor bar that runs first come, first served for walk-ins who just want a drink and a snack. Service reads attentive at the counter seats specifically, the kind of hosting that turns a Strip dinner into an occasion. Pricing sits at upscale, appropriate for a Strip address, and this is not the room for a quick bite before a show.
It is built for a slower night: a late dinner after a flight in, a weekend hotel meal that doubles as the reason to stay at Park MGM instead of just sleeping there. Locals who avoid the Strip on principle should still make an exception here, since genuine chef-driven cooking on Las Vegas Boulevard is rarer than the marquees suggest. Tourists get the same benefit from a different angle: proof that a Strip hotel restaurant can carry a real identity instead of coasting on foot traffic. Best Friend earns its position by being specific rather than safe.
