Orla

Orla is Michael Mina's most personal restaurant — a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern room at Mandalay Bay (in the former Fleur space, opened March 2024) that draws directly on his Egyptian heritage: mezze spreads, wood-fired flatbreads, grilled skewers, whole fish, and a 1,600-label wine list that digs into Lebanon, Santorini, Croatia, and Sicily under sommelier Jeremy Shanker.

The format rewards the family-style instinct: mezze at $16-30 across the table, a whole fish or the skewer program ($40-70) as the center, and the Egyptian-accented dishes — the ones critics flagged as Mina cooking from memory rather than brand — as the reason to stray from the familiar. At $80-140 a head it undercuts his Bellagio flagship meaningfully, hence the honest $$$ tier.

Plan around its rhythm: Tuesday-Saturday only, dinner from 4:30, dark Sunday-Monday, and a far-south-Strip address that pairs best with a Mandalay Bay show or beach day rather than a special trip. Off-nights run quiet — which, depending on your evening, is either the warning or the entire appeal.