Rao's - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

February 21, 2014 Rao’s

After seeing “O” at the Bellagio, we head over to Caesar’s Palace for a late dinner at Rao’s. Before you go to Vegas, you might want to sign up for Total Rewards, it gets you discounts at certain restaurants in Caesar’s, Rio, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Bally’s and the Quad. You will get a discount at Rao’s and the money you spend on dinner will give you points on your Total Rewards card. You can also use your Total Rewards card while you are gambling at the casinos.

Maybe you’ve heard of Rao’s, a small Italian restaurant in Harlem, NY, known for being one of most difficult places in New York to get a reservation. Maybe you’ve seen the pasta sauce in your local market – it’s expensive, but it’s delicious.

Good thing the Vegas location has more than 10 tables. I was expecting great things – glad to FINALLY be able to try the food out. The restaurant was winding down, there were a few business dinners happening, but it was late.

We started with the Caprese ($17), which was delicious.

I had the Gnocchi Bolognese Special ($28). I have to say that I was really disappointed with this dish. The gnocchi was rubbery and gummy and tasted like something that you would get from the supermarket. The bologese was good, but not good enough to make up for the pasta.

Meatballs ($16) and the mozzarella carrozza ($15). The meatballs were the size of softballs, and boy were they good: ground veal, pork and beef, Italian breadcrumbs and seasoning, marinara sauce. The carrozza, their version of the mozzarella stick, was over breaded and over cooked.

For dessert we had the peanut butter tart ($12) that was peanut butter mousse, graham cracker crust and chocolate ganache. Overall, pretty disappointing – it tasted like it had just been pulled from the freezer at Bertucci’s. Overall, we walked away feeling pretty disappointed with our meal here.