Naxos Taverna Review: Award-Winning Restaurant & Oyster Bar

This contributor dines at Naxos fairly frequently, so it only made sense for the contributor to review this wonderful desert oasis of fine Mediterranean fish formally.

Naxos Taverna, which opened in 2023, is the creation of Bua Food Group, which also operates the very popular Lotus of Siam at Red Rock.

Naxos was recently named as a top 10 national winner in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award for “Best New Restaurant,” the only Nevada restaurant honored. Nominees were chosen by a panel of relevant experts, including a combination of USA TODAY editors and the 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, then voted on by the public over four weeks.

Naxos features more than 25 types of fish and several varieties of oysters, along with other seafood specialties. The restaurant’s bread and butter, so to speak, is its sharable whole fish entrees.

On the other hand, the menu has non-fish entrees if you are coming with a meat eater. For vegetarians, they have decent salads, a few appetizers, sides, bread, and dipping sauces.

Naxos’ decor is reminiscent of a Mediterranean patio restaurant. The olive trees throughout the restaurant and the hints of blue make it relaxing, while the wood flooring and marble bars give it a high-end feel.

Diners can get away with dressing up or down here.

For this meal, the two of us shared everything.

What we liked:

• Whole Fish (5/5)
• East & West Oysters (4.5/5)
• Charred Spanish Octopus (5/5)
• Roasted Baby Carrots (4/5)
• FroYo (4/5)

Note: This restaurant does not offer bread. Part of the reason for this is that they offer the option to order pita with dipping sauces, olives, and other small bites. We did not order that during this meal, but the pita and sauces were excellent in prior meals here.

Our first appetizer was the three East and West Coast oysters. All were terrific and tasted very fresh. Our second appetizer was the Charred Spanish Octopus, with a few small potatoes in a red pepper sauce.

Naxos gives you two nice-sized pieces of octopus. The quality and flavor of the meat are perfect, especially when dipped in the sauce. The potatoes are delicious, albeit a bit unnecessary for an appetizer.

For our entree, we shared the grilled St. Pierre-John Dory (whole fish). Naxos has two fish preparations, but this white fish with a perfect amount of fat can only be grilled. It is very flavorful.

In addition, the skin was out of this world and really enhanced the taste of the fish. So it was like having two amazing entrees in one–bite with and without the skin.

For our side, we ordered the Roasted Baby Carrots. The baby carrots are cooked to perfection and have a hard-to-describe flavor that we would describe as a maple sugar-type flavor. In any case, they’re amazing.

The one thing we didn’t like about this dish was the light coating of yogurt that lined the plate.

Because we didn’t drink or go crazy ordering, we had room for dessert. We went with the homemade FroYo topped with olive oil, pistachio, and baklava crumble. The vanilla frozen yogurt’s flavor was lovely. The consistency was interesting, as we were going back and forth on whether it tasted more like ice cream or yogurt, which we guess is the point of frozen yogurt.

The toppings were all enjoyable and complemented the FroYo well, especially the melty part at the bottom. This dish is particularly nice if you are looking for something light to complete your meal.

We had a big day the next day, so we ended up just drinking two bottles of flat water. In prior meals here, the cocktails and wine choices were always delicious. The bartenders are always friendly and knowledgeable.

Upon entering the restaurant, the hosts greeted us professionally.

The service was attentive and pleasant. It was definitely much less stiff than what you would find at a similar restaurant on the Strip.

Naxos may be the best fish restaurant in Vegas. It is definitely not as fancy in terms of showmanship or exotic preparations as places like Bazaar Mar, CATCH, or MICHAEL MINA, but the quality of the fish and the flavors are top-notch. We think the twenty-minute venture off-Strip is worth it!

Interested in other reviews of restaurants at other great off-Strip restaurants? Check out our review of Sparrow + Wolf.

DISCLAIMER: This review was written by a real Las Vegas local. If you are interested in writing reviews for Premier Vegas, please contact us here.