Lavo is an Italian restaurant that is recommended to almost everyone who visits the city. “If you like Italian food, try Lavo.” It’s a relatively new venue nestled on the first floor of the Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas. It is what you would typically expect from Vegas, huge, brash, over the top, but in a good way.
Lavo is Latin for bath house, so the theme is naturally a Roman bath. The dining room is huge, with massive vaulted ceilings giving an airy atmosphere to the place. It does seem almost “produced.” Everything is slick, stylised and chic, fabricated for the Las Vegas masses. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice place to be, but it’s reminiscent of many of the other venues on the Strip.
Lavo is a restaurant and nightclub, with the club being on the second floor, accessible by a wood-screened bridge. The whole venue is apparently good for celebrity spotting, but we didn’t see anyone while we were there.
The restaurant is run by Corporate Executive Chef Ralph Scamardella along with Executive Chef John DeLoach and a team of experienced chefs take guests on a culinary journey with selections of Southern Italian dishes.
We began with cocktails, a pomegranate lemonada and a Sicilian sun. The lemonada was a mix of pomegranate juice, Barcardi limon and lemonade. The Sicilian sun was blood orange vodka, fresh orange juice and lemon juice. Both were amazingly light and refreshing.
We had a pre-starter of garlic bread to whet the appetite. It was fresh, warm and dripped with garlic butter. That really got us in the mood for the meal to come!
Our starter consisted of rice balls and eggplant parmagiano. The rice balls were stuffed with kobe beef and had black vinaigrette and rocket lettuce. The eggplant parmagiano was roasted, with a spicy mariniere and mozzarella. Both were the size of a main course, and were elegantly prepared. The beef was juicy and succulent and not at all overpowered by the black vinaigrette. The eggplant parmagiano was lightly spiced and ideal for sharing.
Main course upped the ante with a 12oz fillet, and four cheese ravioli, with a side of creamed spinach, and mashed potato. The steak was a rich, ruby red, and as juicy as they come. Considering we had eaten at a great steak house elsewhere in Vegas, this was still a delight. The ravioli was fresh, tasted home-made and was melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous.
The sides were light, but almost a meal on their own. Not as voluminous as the starters, but I defy anyone to leave Lavo hungry.
After the main course, we simply didn’t have room for dessert. We elected instead for cocktails to round off the evening. We have a saggio, and a lavolini. The saggio was blueberry Stolichnaya, sage and fresh lemon juice. The lavolini was Prosecco, passion fruit and St. German. The saggio was light and verged on bitter, but in a very nice way. The lavolini was lighter and sweeter, the ideal way to round off a luxurious dinner like that.
The ambience of the dining room is light and relaxed. Service was okay, with fast service but no extra attention. It didn’t feel like you were on a production line, and taking our time over our final cocktails we had time to relax. We let our meal digest while we looked around the room and watched the other diners.
The Lavo is a lovely restaurant. The food is of a high standard, and the portions huge, for the starters at least. It’s a nice place to eat, and the atmosphere almost leeches away the stresses of the day without you even noticing.
The Bill: £63 per head
