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| - I am still on a quest to find a really great Italian restaurant in Las Vegas since I moved here 2 years ago. Sorry to say, but Ventano's isn't it! First of all, the main dining room has the ambiance of a mass eatery, noisy, and bare wooden tables.
So if you'd like to have a dinner with at least some ambiance, make sure you get a table on the patio, which has a great view of the city. Staff was friendly and attentive.
Now to the food: I want to start with the bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar they bring you. The oil has absolutely no flavor and the Balsamic tasted like a red wine vinegar reduction. Basically the cheapest stuff money can buy. We started with the beef carpaccio which was actually ok. I then had the cioppino. Portion was huge, and the broth tasted ok. Good variety of sea food, calamari, clams, mussels, scallops, - but Popcorn Shrimp????? I don't mind paying $28 for a plate if the ingredients match, but I have the feeling that whoever is purchasing / cooking there has the attitude of "Nothing is too cheap for our customers"!
My wife had the veal parmigiana. Again, big portion but the veal was dry. Pasta was cooked al dente, but drenched with a bland tomato sauce that tasted like it came straight out of a can.
All in all, in my opinion, the place is just a bit above Olive Garden with twice the price. Not worth the trip.
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