Best Italian

[lollypop]

Heading to Vegas to celebrate my big 4-0. We have reservations at Wing Lei one night for the duck tasting menu. I'd like some assistance choosing an Italian restaurant. All suggestions/descriptions welcome. thanks

[shamu613]

Olive Garden.

Seriously. A meal there will be about 1/3 of the cost of a meal in a casino restaurant.

Las Vegas is not known for good Italian restaurants. Even less well known for good, inexpensive Italian restaurants.

Where are you staying? Will you have a car? What's your budget? (What are you hoping to spend per person?) What type of Italian food are you looking for?

[A5 KOBE]

Why would you tell the OP to go to Olive Garden on vacation, they are littered throughout the US?

My favorite Italian restaurant in Vegas is B&B.

[SDGourmand]

or san marco if you want something a little less expensive but still good quality.

[njmominmet]

Any suggestions for an Italian restaurant that is not expensive? I am going to LV and we are on somewhat of a budget. Suggestions?

[masstech]

I second B&B. I haven't had a major service issue and I also like the music there more than Sinatra. Bartolotta is a great restaurant but always for fish not pasta.

[PaliBruin]

B & B Ristorante, in the passage way between the Venetian and The Palazzo, is imho the very best Italian food in Vegas. (what one should expect from Mario Batali). The pastas, the rabbit, lamb, beef, seafood etc. are off the hook. I stay at Encore frequently and Sinatra, while decent, doesn't hold a candle to B & B. And if you're staying at the Wynn/WEncore and easy walk accross the street.

[climberdoc]

I agree that B&B is some of the best Italian in Vegas. Unfortunately, their great food is all to often overshadowed by repeated service issues which have no place in a restaurant which charges the prices they do. In my opinion, Sinatra and Bartolotta both hold lit candles to B&B when you consider the entire dining experience.

[fitzpth]

Agree with you on B&B, but the problem I have with Mario Batali restaurants is while they are good, they are very expensive. The pasta is great, as in Del Posto here in NYC, but very expensive.

BTW, the Peking Duck tasting menu is fantastic at Wing Lei.

Tom

[Ashibi]

I second Peking Duck at Wing Lei. I am in Vegas now and it is a winner for business dinner or date night with my husband!

[Illuminatus]

I second the rec on Bootlegger Bistro. It's a "red sauce" place, which is a term I do not like, but very good IMO.

[someyoungguyy]

IMHO, Bootlegger Bistro on LVBS next outlet mall... 24/7 food, gaming, bar, old vegas italian style food & live music nightly.

Ferraro's Italian, was on flamingo, now across from HRH on paradise road.

also this little gem, The Pasta Shop, off the strip on tropicana & eastern.

[QAW]

The Italian options these days are basically unlimited, so perhaps you can narrow the focus a bit with particular preferences, But on or near the the Strip alone you have (alphabetically) Ago, B&B, Bartolotta, Circo, Enoteca San Marco, Fiamma, Nove, Sinatra, Sirio and Valentino, and some might even add Cafe Giorgio, Rao's, Stratta and Zeffirino as well, with Piero's and Ferraro's also just a block off of the Strip. So perhaps particular style of cuisine and ambience can help to narrow the scope a bit.

[Ashibi]

We are going to SIRIO tonight. Can anyone recommend any dish that should not to be missed?

[Ashibi]

We just came back from our dinner at Sirio at Aria. Maybe my expectation was too high, but I was very disappointed.

We started with "trio of meatballs" and "Frittura Mista" appetizers. Meatballs were rather dry and sauces were unimpressive. Frittura Mista was good but nothing spectacular. We had three different entrees: Ravioli Di Ricotta E Spinaci Alla Moda Di 'Mamma Egi', Risotto with shaved truffle, and homemade spaghetti with bolognese. Ravioli was very nice with a classic browned butter with sage. Bolognese was good, and the homemade fat spaghetti was nicely done. However, we were all so dissappointed with Risotto. It was very grainy and powdery. It denifitly needed to be cooked at least another 5 or 10 minutes. It was so clear that the chief chef did not even tasted before the dish came out of the kitchen.

As for a restaurant reviewed as upscale Italian, the ambience was rather casual. Sisal-ish table matt for dinner setting - definitely not a sign of upscale restaurant in my opinion. Since there was nothing in the interior to absort noise, it was so noisy and it felt like a high-end cafeteria at the peak of dinner time. At the end of the dinner, we were waited by a waiter who could not explain what Sabayon was on the dessert menu.

Sommelier was the highlight of the night. He was very attentive and chose a couple of good wine for our dinner.

Paying over $500 for a dinner for 3 persons, it was not a memorable experience. There are many other good restaurants, and we won't be back.

[shaogo]

We're going to be in Vegas in March.

I don't see Rao's at the Bellagio listed here. Perhaps because it's not Italian "haute cuisine," it's red-sauce.

I'd love to hear, however, what people think about Rao's because we have a reservation there and I wanna know if we should go or not.

[Dave Feldman]

Rao's is located at Caesars Palace, not Bellagio. I didn't have a great experience at Rao's, but it has been almost two years since I ate there.

[Poerz]

I enjoyed Rao's alot but I had realistic expectations of what it was. Service was personable and excellent and food was solid. Lemon chicken was outstanding.

[atdleft]

So how does Rao's compare to the other places we've talked about on the thread? This place has been high on my "to eat list" for some time, so I'm curious as to what "realistic expectations" I should have when I finally make the reservations.

[climberdoc]

Oh yeah. And please report back on Wing Lei. I've been looking at that for a while now.

[atdleft]

Me, too! I know Michelin reviews of Asian restaurants aren't always the best, but I'm interested in seeing if this place is worthy of a star as the last guide proclaimed. I'm really curious about Wing Lei.

[lollypop]

I will definitely report back on Wing Lei. Now I've got my work cut out for me doing some research on the italian recs. thanks everyone.

[climberdoc]

I wholeheartedly agree with atdleft about Sinatra. You won't go wrong there.

I'd also suggest Bartolotta at Wynn for Italian seafood prepartations. For an over-the-top event, order the family style tasting menu. Expensive but you really get what you pay for here.

For a more laid back meal still with fantastic food try Enoteca San Marco at Venetian. This is a great place to sample many appetizers and pair them with "value-priced" Italian wines. Good for lunch as well.

Happy Bday.

[atdleft]

Are you staying at Wynn or Encore? If so, it shouldn't be difficult to book reservations at Sinatra at Encore Tower Suites. IMHO they're the best Italian in town, or at the very least on the "Top 5 Short List". The pasta dishes are superb, the cocktails are quite nice, and you'll be VERY HAPPY if you're a steak person.

Just off The Strip at Hard Rock is Ago, another of my Italian faves. The wild mushroom ravioli are fabulous, and the desserts are sure to please.

And if you can handle going WAY off Strip, try Marinelli's at The M Resort (just off the 15 @ Las Vegas Blvd & St Rose Pkwy). I still fantasize over the gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce! :-D