After more than a quarter century at Mandalay Bay, Border Grill is getting a major makeover. That’s understandable. The elevated Mexican restaurant is more than a quarter century old, an extraordinary accomplishment for a Las Vegas Boulevard eatery. It’s also evidence that California-based Chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are as excited as ever about their signature brand and Las Vegas.
“We’ve already been here 27 years, and we want to be here another 27,” Milliken recently told the Food and Loathing podcast.
Updating A Classic
The interview took place in a private dining room on the ground floor of the two-story restaurant, which is in the midst of a major remodel while continuing to serve customers. The project will bring changes throughout the space while preserving some of the artwork that has helped define it since 1999.
Upstairs, a patio is being partially enclosed and weatherproofed, allowing use throughout the winter. Downstairs, the bar is being completely redone in hopes of transforming a popular banquet space into a more versatile dining destination.
Feniger is particularly excited about that.
“I feel like it’s going to be a great area for people to come hang,” she says.
The downstairs patio has always been one of Border Grill’s more unusual assets. It’s close enough to Mandalay Bay’s pool complex to overlook the lazy river and its inner tube flotilla, but removed enough to feel like an escape from both the pool and the casino.
That outdoor space mattered to Feniger and Milliken from the beginning, when they discussed the restaurant before Mandalay Bay was even built.
“In Vegas it’s rare to have such an outdoor space,” Milliken says. “There’s so much that happens inside the casinos. It’s really nice to have a break, a mental break, a physical break, and be outdoors in Vegas.”
Of course, the location wasn’t always such an obvious asset.
When Border Grill arrived, no Shark Reef or convention center drew people toward that end of the property. Milliken remembers their restaurant sitting at the end of a very long walk with little else around it.
Feniger remembers some early doubts.
“Year one, Mary Sue and I were both like, ‘What the hell did we get ourselves into?’”
A Long-Term Relationship
Feniger drove the effort to bring Border Grill to Las Vegas. Milliken readily admits to “dragging my feet.”
The gamble eventually paid off.
Over the years, the chefs say Border Grill developed an unusually close relationship with the resort and its leadership. They’ve watched Mandalay Bay evolve around them and made sure to keep pace.
They’ve also remained independent operators. Milliken points out that their arrangement with the resort is a traditional tenant-landlord relationship, not a management agreement. That means they bear the financial responsibility for projects such as the current remodel.
“This is our third, or fourth — I think it’s our fourth,” Milliken says of the renovations. “We have to raise the money for each one of these remodels.”
That’s a significant commitment to make to a 27-year-old restaurant.
But Border Grill isn’t behaving like a restaurant preparing for its final years. Feniger says they recently added another 10 years to their lease, and both chefs talk more about the restaurant’s future than its past.
They believe part of its longevity comes from never treating Las Vegas as a place filled exclusively with one-time visitors.
“We treat the customers like repeat customers,” Milliken says. “We don’t treat them like transient travelers.”
And many of them have become repeat customers. Milliken says guests will tell them they come directly to Border Grill after landing at Reid Airport (right across the street), even when they’re staying at another resort.
The longevity extends to the staff. Feniger says numerous employees have been with them for more than 20 years.
Still Evolving
The menu, however, has never stood still.
The chefs regularly travel to Mexico in search of new ideas, flavors and presentations. Milliken believes it gives the staff new things to get excited about and new stories to share with guests.
That philosophy now extends to the physical space.
The new Border Grill won’t abandon the restaurant that has occupied this location for nearly three decades. Many of its existing murals will remain. The patios that Feniger and Milliken insisted upon before Mandalay Bay opened will remain central to its identity. And the Mexican cuisine they’ve spent their careers exploring will remain the reason to visit.
They’re simply preparing all of it for what’s next.
How long Feniger and Milliken plan to remain part of that equation is another matter.
Feniger jokes that by the time their current lease runs its course, she and Milliken will hopefully be somewhere else “collecting the checks” while somebody else does the work.
Milliken isn’t convinced.
“Susan,” she says, “She’ll be here every day.”
Hear our full interview with Chefs Susan and Mary Sue on the September 11, 2026 episode of the Food and Loathing podcast.
