Vegas
Vegas
Mavens
Grotto Restaurant at the Golden Nugget
Just The Facts, Please.
Location
Golden Nugget
Dining Hours
Sunday- Thursday:11:30 a.m.-10:30p.m.
Pizza oven and bar open until midnight
Friday - Saturday:11:30 a.m.- 11:30 p.m.
Chef
No Celebrity Chef
Cuisine
Italian
Price Range
Entrees $20-$35 Pastas $15-$26; Pizzas$12-$15
Suggested Attire
Casual
Notes
Views of the elaborate pool area, sharks and all.
Sample Menu Items
Veal Kickerillo: Parmesan crusted scaloppine with mushrooms and a touch of lemon served with fettuccine Alfredo $24.99
Grilled Mahi Ceretto: Portobello mushrooms, shrimp and tomato in a Pinot Grigio sauce $26.99
Rotisserie Chicken: Half chicken marinated and slow roasted over an open flame, served with Italian roasted potatoes and sautéed spinach $19.99
Linguine Pescatore: Linguine with jumbo shrimp, mussels, clams and crab claws with fresh herbs and Roma tomatoes in a spicy arrabiatta $25.99
Mavens Overview: Grotto
Grotto at the Golden Nugget offers upscale Italian cuisine in a casual atmosphere. The restaurant is adjacent to both the casino and the pool area, offering great people watching opportunities.
The internet buzz is mostly favorable, with many rave reviews of individual dishes, from the chopped salad to their highly regarded meatballs served with fresh made pasta to a dessert cart with tiramisu, of course. Prices are reasonable, by Vegas standards. Pizzas are specially priced from 2pm-6pm.
Internet Buzz: Grotto
- The casino-side Grotto doesn't promise anything remarkable. So it's all the more impressive to discover it offers many common dishes uncommonly well done.
- The Italian Chopped salad balances proscuitto, bacon, egg, with Gorgonzola and provolone cheeses with iceberg lettuce so deftly that the thin-sliced grilled chicken breast on top seems unnecessary.
- Just so you're not shocked ... this restaurant has the typical casino restaurant layout, in that it is amongst the casino/lobby area. So while you dine you are just a half wall from people walking around the casino and you look directly into the spectacular pool/aquarium area.
- The pizzas deserve equal attention, especially considering how few and far between are good pies found in the city. Grotto's hand-tossed rustic rounds, cooked in a wood burning stove in the middle of the dining room, taste just like you'd expect from a street café in Napoli...but maybe a bit better. Our margherita, hitting the table in a cloud of aroma, didn't have a chance of survival.
- Chicken and seafood are clearly the strengths here (though they also make their own fresh pastas)...particularly the Roasted Herb chicken, a half-bird rotisserie with rosemary over white oak and nothing less than tender, savory perfection.
- The pizzas on special for $6 (happy hour is from 2-6). They were a great size for the price, thin crackery crust, and delicious toppings.
- Beware that huge dessert cart--it will call you, with the signature feather light wedding cake, dense and deadly chocolate mezza notte, respectable tiramisu.
- Ordered Sea Bass as a recommendation by the waiter. It was smothered in a dark mushroomy sauce, that seemed to be more suited for a steak....not a white fish. Didn't like it.
- Who knew gin and tonics and mussels are so good together! We highly recommend getting that when you go here.
- My friend and I had the cold tomato & mozzarella appetizer - she said it tasted like what she'd had while visiting Italy. We split the cannelloni and it was fabulous! The view of the aquarium and the people-watching made it a good time.
- Delicious Food - try the cannelloni; Casual/ Fun atmosphere; Great people/ aquarium watching.