Bob & Brenda Geocaching

Our Observations

This was the first restaurant in Las Vegas that was supplied with one of the winners of Hell's Kitchen. It's been quite a few years since Heather West moved on to bigger and better things. It's a twin of Terra Verde at Green Valley Ranch- pretty much the same overpriced menu which shouldn't be surprising since both Executive Chefs were born in Milan and worked some of the same places through their careers. However, the staff here is much more attentive and definitely less snobbish than over at Green Valley Ranch.

We were leery about trying this place after our experience at Terra Verde a year earlier, but Station Casinos was doing another of their month-long promotions they use to drag the regulars into the casino and we had "won" $140 in dining vouchers. My mom and her boyfriend were wintering over in Vegas so we used the vouchers to take them out to dinner.

Just as at Terra Verde, the atmosphere and décor are very nice with an intimate feel to them. Since it's on the higher end of the price scale for Italian restaurants, there aren't a lot of families with kids here so it's quiet as well. We made reservations for 6:30pm on a Thursday evening and were seated promptly when we arrived. Unlike Terra Verde, the staff here acted as though they were glad to see you. As with Terra Verde, the lighting was dim and we had to use our cell phone flashlights to have enough lighting to be able to read the menu. I guess we need to start taking our reading glasses with us.

We got the normal complementary bread basket with olive oil and balsamic along with the plate of hard cheeses, olives, peppers and zucchini chips (rumor has it that this plate has been discontinued.) For starters we shared orders of Calamari and shrimp scampi. Both were very good. For our main courses we had linguine clams, shrimp risotto, ossobuco, and veal parmesan. All the meals were very good; much better than what we had at Terra Verde. The ossobuco was extremely tender and the sauce was very flavorful. No real need to add additional seasonings to any of the meals. The only small complaint that we had was that the linguine clam sauce was a bit watery. It still had good flavor, but I would have preferred it just a bit thicker.

All in all a much better overall experience than what we had a Terra Verde. The prices are still a bit on the high side for a casino's Italian restaurant, but since we had dinner for 4 and only had to pay about $50 out of pocket (including tip), we can't really complain.