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| - This review is for the restaurant, not the club. After talking to our concierge at Encore, we decided to try Lavo. It was 7:45 and she said she'd call over for an 8:00 reservation, which I didn't think was necessary on a Thursday night, but I'm glad she did. When we showed up, the place was 75% full, and by 9:00, it was packed. The dining room is very cool - dark and sexy, with thumping house music, as you'd expect from a restaurant/nightclub from the TAO people. Service was just okay - our server seemed bummed when we told her we weren't having any drinks, and when we told her we needed a couple more minutes to look at the menu, she disappeared for about 20 minutes. She got nicer as the night went on, though. We shared the baked clams oreganato to start. At the same time, they brought out an entire loaf of garlic bread with marinara sauce to dip. We noticed that they always wait to bring this complimentary garlic bread until after you order - probably because it's HUGE and you'd order way less if you knew you were getting this. The clams and garlic bread were very good. Then we had the caprese salad, which was very nice, although personally I could have done without the green tomatoes. For entrees, we split the veal milanese and the pasta with vodka sauce. The veal was just okay, but the pasta was delicious. Word of warning: the portions here are ENORMOUS. We overheard the waiter telling another couple that when Ludovic Lefebvre was chef and they served Mediterranean small plates, people were all complaining about the tiny portions. So now they so overcompensated with these obscenely ginormous portions that it's really wasteful. They should tell you about the portion sizes before you order. We left over half the veal uneaten. So just know, if you dine here, that one app or salad and one entree are perfectly enough for two to share. Prices are reasonable to begin with, but when you see the portions and that you could share, it really becomes quite inexpensive. For good but not exceptional Italian in a very hip vibe, head to Lavo (especially if you want access to the club, which I hear is quite nice).
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