Y-E-S. Now..although this restaurant felt a teensy bit like a chain restaurant (must have been the look and feel of the menus and the paper-wrapped breadstick appetizers), I still enjoyed it immensely. Just make sure you can find it on your own accord since not one staff member we asked at the Venetian knew where it was. Strange.
We started the night off with the squash fritti, which was basically a french fry in squash form. I am a fan of anything fried, so you can't really go wrong here. The fritti were perfectly crispy--also a plus in my book.
I ordered the braised pork shoulder, which I was told by two servers was the best thing on the menu. It was melt in your mouth delicious! This is a no nonsense dish for those who like meat. Very few frills...just some vegetables sprinkled on top and some balsamic around the plate. Both complimented this dish very well. That's really all an avid meat-lover like me can ask for!
My friend who dined with me is admittedly not adventurous when it comes to food, so she stuck with the spaghetti and meatballs. I got one bite of a meatball, which I could barely pry away from her on account of her loving it so much. Hard for me to tell much about it in one bite, but it seemed like a very standard meatball.
We finished off the meal with a dark chocolate cake, dark chocolate gelato, graham cracker gelato and meringue all tucked into a martini shaped glass. Very yummy, and also a recommendation from our fabulous server from Turin (so sorry I failed to get his name!).
Service was fabulous, and all servers within a 10 table radius were attentive and helpful, regardless of whether you were their responsibility or not. Last but not least, I have to mention the music selection. Since Mario had been dinged for his music choice at Babbo before, I must commend his Black Crowes song flowing from the speakers inside. A little "Sister Luck" never hurt anyone before.