For some reason, every time I’ve walked past Rao’s at Caesars Palace, I’ve had a strong desire to eat dinner there.  I don’t know why.  It’s tucked away in a corner behind slot machines, away from the noise of the main casino floor and across from Payard (my friend Michelle’s favorite brunch spot).  The facade looks like it’s outdoors with a patio for diners out front.  Reservations are generally required and it’s on the more expensive side of the restaurants we’ve been to.  The Husband happened to go a few weeks ago when I was out of town and as expected, I was a bit disappointed that I missed out.  Luckily, though, friends were in town this week and they made reservations in anticipation that we might like to join them.  I was excited!

When we walked into the restaurant, we checked in with the hostess and I noted the warm wood paneling throughout.

A little bit farther into the restaurant was a large bar which took up an entire center room, with rooms off the sides with tables for dining.  What I found was funny, though, was that none of the drinks for the diners in our dining room had their drinks come from this bar – they all appeared to come out of a kitchen.

We were seated at a round table at the entrance to our dining room, immediately in the doorway.  It ended up being an odd location to be seated.  We were directly in the flow of traffic of all of the staff coming to/from the kitchen into our dining room and the one next to us.  Even tucked into our seats, our friends could feel the staff whisking by every few seconds, which greatly took away from the ambiance of the restaurant.

While we perused the menu, we were served water, offered to take drink orders (we needed a moment), the sommelier stopped by, we met our waitress, and we had our water glasses refilled.  At that point, we counted 5 individuals who had served us and we hadn’t even ordered yet! We were brought rolls, made our orders (both food and wine), and enjoyed catching up.

The Husband grabbed the giant cracker and displayed it’s size for a photo op

Three of us planned to get wine and with glasses ranging from $14 to $18, we considered getting a bottle. However, after perusing the bottle menu, the prices were steep enough that we settled on our glasses.   The Husband had a glass of pinot noir and I had the chardonnay.  They were both fine glasses – not bad, but not memorable – and in our opinion, not worth the price.

I debated for a LONG time on what to order (as is usual at an Italian restaurant) so when our waitress took our order, I narrowed it down to about three and asked for her recommendation.  She suggested the Fiocchetti al burro, salvia e amarena which was Begger purse raviolis stuffed with pear & ricotta cheese in butter, sage, and dried cranberries.  Oh my goodness! Our waitress gave an amazing recommendation! This was out of this world! The pear and ricotta went together so nicely.  The butter and sage gave enough flavor but didn’t overpower the pear and ricotta and the dried cranberries just added a touch of sweetness.  It was excellent (and the Husband agreed)!

The Husband ordered the Gnocchi alla Bolgonese which wasn’t actually on the menu itself (although it’s on the online menu) but was a special (you could order any sauce with gnocchi as you’d like).  It HAD been on the menu when he was there a few weeks earlier but they were out of it so he was glad to be able to order it this time.  It was a good size portion and left enough for lunch leftovers for him the next day.  The gnocchi were pillowy and the bolognese was flavorful.

As mentioned earlier, there were a lot of people serving us.  When they brought the dishes to the table, they didn’t come plated – they were in warming dishes and then were plated at the table.

After the wine, bread, and entree, we weren’t interested in dessert.  While the food was very good and good sizes (I saw the salads go by and they were more entree size than appetizer – and they looked delish!), we were generally unimpressed with the experienced itself.  We assume that the multiple staff providing service was meant to make us feel pampered or something, but it really just made it all feel rushed and impersonal.  Perhaps if we had been placed at a different table, and not in the cross-section of server traffic, we might have a different opinion.  However, the restaurant was also quite loud which soured the experience.  I will note that the Husband had a different experience when he was there a few weeks ago, but between the two visits, he doesn’t plan on going back.  While the food was excellent, the whole experience didn’t meet the quality expected for the price paid.  Oh well.  At least we enjoyed our dinners!

After the Vegas Mob Tour, my friend Michelle had the great idea to check out a restaurant she’d heard of, Capo’s Italian Cuisine, which has the fun decor of a speakeasy.  Of the four of us, I’m the only one who’d been to a speakeasy type establishment before and I was super excited (check out that experience in NYC at Milk n Honey)

The website for Capo’s advises that “for those resourceful enough to get inside…” as the entrance is semi-hidden (don’t worry, it doesn’t take too long to find it!).  Once we found the entrance, we entered into a small room with a phone booth and a window that opens, asking us what we were there for.  After advising we were there for dinner, the hidden entrance opened (don’t stand too close to that phone!) and we were inside the very well decorated restaurant.  We were led into the dining room, with the sounds of a live piano player, and we were seated at a plush red leather booth in the dimly lit room.

We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant…

…but it did make the menu reading a bit difficult!

All of the entrees came with either soup or salad which we gladly welcomed as we were hungry after the tour! The Husband opted for the Pasta e Faggioli soup which he really enjoyed.  It was thicker than I’d seen in other pasta e faggioli soups – quite hearty.

Our friends and I all opted to upgrade the salads to the Nico’s Caesar salad.

The Husband decided to go with an Italian classic with the Da Don’s Pasta which was a choice pasta and sauce.  He went with spaghetti with meat sauce and a meatball.  He really enjoyed it (aside from the garlic which I’ll comment on later).

Michelle went with the Trafficante Rigatoni which was rigatoni stuffed with cheese and tossed with prosciutto, peas and mushrooms and alfredo sauce.  She enjoyed it and shared a bite with me – it was excellent!

I’m not sure what Andy had but here’s a fuzzy picture of it

I ordered the Fettuccine with Carbonara sauce (I can’t recall the menu name).  It was good, but again, a lot of garlic.

Before going to Capo’s, the negative reviews were about the garlic and I think I have to agree.  Not to be too gross, the Husband and I were still experiencing the garlic days after our meal – an unenjoyable side effect of the dinner.  The food had a lot of flavor, and we do love our garlic, but we think the food would be much more enjoyable if they cut the garlic in half.  We certainly had no fears of vampires for the week following our dinner and leftovers

The service was fine – neither great nor bad – and we did enjoy the food overall.  The atmosphere is a lot of fun and the portions are huge.  We could certainly see coming back with other friends give them the speakeasy experience, but we don’t expect to be regular diners (not that we’re regular diners in most places since we’re always looking to try somewhere new!)