[yooniecorn]

Hi,

Ex-New Yorker, Italian-American here, dying for some good pasta and pizza, and home cuisine in Vegas. Yes, I do plenty of cooking, but still...there must be someplace in the whole city.

I actually called up one restaurant someone suggested to me. I asked if he had any "marinara", to which he responded "no". "Pasta with broccoli, or any kind of vegetable?" - "no". What did they have? Chicken wings. I kid not.

Any suggestions?

[Buzz123]

There are several and if you do a search you'll find a lot of posts on here about food. But someone on this forum recently turned us onto Rocco's NY Italian Deli. We have been there once and were highly impressed. It's my new favorite for takeout although they have three or four tables if you want to eat there. Rocco's New York Italian Deli - Las Vegas, NV, 89117-8312 - Citysearch

My favorite sit-down restaurant is Grapestreet Cafe. I judge an Italian restaurant by the linguine and clams, and this place has the best in town.

Grape Street Cafe - Wine Bar & Cellar (http://grapestreetcafe.com/home.cfm - broken link)

De Stefano's has great food, and it is Old Vegas where a lot of the stars go to eat and sometimes, jam. I'd go there more often but it's clear across town on Trop and Pecos.

De Stefano's Italian Restaurant - Las Vegas

[Buzz123]

The San Gennaro Feast is going on right now thru this evening. They now have it twice a year. My home town has an Italian Heritage Festival every year over Labor Day weekend. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but my Italian friend's, who are allowed to say this themselves, call it The W*p Hop or the Tally Rally.

[desertsun41]

I will agree with Buzz on the Grape Street. it has been a couple years since I been there though since I moved to the far east side.

I also must add my very favorite over on Trop and Eastern called Strings. I promise you will not be disapointed there.

Strings Italian Cafe - Las Vegas

Check out that menu and drewl.

[Buzz123]

I'll take your word for Strings. It's a chain and it looks too commercial for me.
I prefer home cookin', especially if the owners are from New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago...and Italy, of course.

Strings Restaurant Group

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

I'll take your word for Strings. It's a chain and it looks too commercial for me.
I prefer home cookin', especially if the owners are from New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago...and Italy, of course.

Strings Restaurant Group

For take out Italian Buca de Beppo is fine. Takes a certain amount of skill to make Italian Travel...And they have reasonable arrangements for a pickup. We regularly use the one west of Buffalo on Lake Mead. And they will sell sauce by the quart etc.

I agree with Bizz that the best linguini and clams is Grape Street. But Buca does a nice job on any number of Italian things and generally gets the pasta el dente...

[desertsun41]

Well ya learn something new every day. Buzz I been going to Strings for years and never knew it was a franchise. Oh well I will still swear by it. Since my wife works just up the road from Strings she always has tourists who stray from the strip looking for something better then tourist food and buffets. She sends them to Strings and many times they stop back to thank her for such a great recomendation for Italian food.

Well as a former NJer who knows the real NY Italian taste I have another one. These are real NYers who never lost that horrible Brooklyn accent. Now I forget the name of the place cause I can not pronounce it. It is right across from the college on Maryland PKWY in the strip mall with Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. They also have a mean marinara sauce and I think the best eggplant parm I ever had. But I semi often go there just to get those tri-colored cookie cakes with the chocolate covering. It is an Italian specialty.

The old grandfather of the family works there part time and swears he knows the real Ralph Kramden.

[radraja]

Other good options that haven't been mentioned yet...

Quaint family owned restaurants: Chianti Cafe (on Town Center, in the Trails neighborhood of Summerlin).
Rosemary's (on Saraha and Cimarron).

Another Italian hot spot: Carrabba's (on Charleston and Rampart). A bit generic, but amazing quality. A big hit with most people.

Good Italian take-out: Upper Crust Pizza. Excellent quality, non-chain pizza. They also have calzones, salads, side dishes, cannolis. Based on Town Center in the Trails neighborhood of Summerlin (but they also deliver).

[XMPIeman]

Great little restaurant, great atmosphere, great food, great music. We ahve gone there at least 20 times and have not had a bad meal yet. Try the Chicken Angelo, superb. From Pizza to Osso Buco, menu is huge. They just added a little bar/lounge to it. It's our favorite, will miss it when we move to the northwest soon.

[Buzz123]

We do have a lot of good Italian restaurants. IMHO, too many to waste time eating in chain restaurants whose founders probably never met a real Italian. But then it's all an individual taste thing isn't it? Years ago I had an Italian friend visit from Clarksburg, WV, where, as we were growing up, most restaurants were Italian owned, and everyone there knows they have the best food in the country. Here in Vegas at that time, Olive Garden had just opened it's first place on E. Flamingo so we took him there. He thought it was wonderful and brags about it to this day. I don't think I've been back there more than a couple of times and probably never will again. Life's too short to eat at Olive Garden when we have so many better choices.