LAVO Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Paradise

I am not one of those people who go out to criticize no matter what and hate but there’s a limit to anything I think. I don’t want to disrespect anyone but it does really blow my mind how an inspired Italian hotel has such a bad Italian restaurant, the room is nice as well as the lighting and the atmosphere but that would be it. I am attaching the pictures of the food for everyone to see. I really do not understand how this restaurant as such as amazing reputation based on the food me and my wife had tonight and what I have seen on other tables nearby this restaurant should be compared to diner food, today we have so many good restaurants in Las Vegas that I truly regret coming here.

Calamari - nothing major, marinara was good . Calamari had a good breading, nothing mind blowing tho.

Meatball - a massive amount of meat and cheese, not much flavor. If you like just a lot of food and don’t care about taste then go for it.

Penne alla vodka - the most dry and unflavored pasta I have tried, pasta needs to have its sauce and have a kinda “creamy” texture (not that needs heavy cream but just like a cream velvety feeling to it) just really bad execution of the dish and also nothing special in it.

Chicken Marsala, very sweet, extremely sweet. Maybe they use a sweet Marsala for the base and a sweet Marsala at pick up on the line, too sweet. Spinach and mushroom came with it and they were the only decent thing I ate. I did eat everything on the dish I was starving that’s the only reason why.

Eggplant parm - worse thing ever seen, how is this supposed to be a fancy boogy place and serve such and atrocity ? I manned up and at least tried it, oh boy it was not good sent it back right away. Who does An eggplant parm woth 89 layers of eggplant and zero sauce or cheese in between. Look at the picture.

Cheesecake - took roughly 30 minutes to get the simplest dessert on earth , a slice of cheesecake with some berries and light sauce on a plate shouldn’t take so long I mean I appreciate it was comped (as well as that atrocity of eggplant parm) but when you go out and try to celebrate , spend a good amount of money and you get bad food and take forever to enjoy at least a dessert it’s really not ideal, for that you go to a mom and pop restaurant. Cheesecake is decent, nothing major for a $19 dessert.

Overall I know no one will care about this review, but I just had to say something maybe few people that care about food will read and avoid themselves such a bad food experience. It blows my mind how a place that put really bad food on a dish can make so much money based on what ? A music vibe? The decor ? What is good about the food in this place ? A restaurant should shine for food and service not for the beauty of its room.

Anastasia the server and the food runners were absolutely amazing, service was good and attentive. Really...

Unfortunately, this is the worst restaurant I've tried in the Venetian, and most of Vegas, so far. I'm accustomed to giving 5-star reviews, so this had to be bad. We had a 5:00pm Sunday dinner reservation for 3. Our waitress, Jen, was attentative and so were the server assistants that delivered the meals and bread. The main issues are with food and management.

We ordered two 20 ounce ribeyes with lobster tail add-ons, the short rib pasta, and 3 appetizers for the table. The steaks were not seasoned at all, not one pinch. We had to ask for salt and pepper just to have some taste. My husband ordered medium, and it was medium rare/rare. The eggplant parmigiana appetizer was also tasteless, and took a long time because the kitchen had to layer it, we were told. We weren't upset about the length of time it took, and were happy to eat it alongside our entrees, but it better be good... and it wasn't. We all just tried it , and let it sit. The fritto mistook was very good, and cooked perfectly though. We let our server know the steaks were not seasoned, she brought the salt and pepper and I believe she let the manager know. The manager, Alex, came to our table, and told us they received complaints about the steaks being too salty in the past, and are trying to find a happy medium. Then walked away. Ehh, sorry that's not enough. We order steaks everywhere we go, and have never been served a tasteless steak. I've been a chef and restaurant manager for over 20 years, you need to offer at least a small gesture here. Ask to have it re-cooked, offer a glass of wine or something for the table. Even a dessert would smooth it over slightly at this point. Use management skills. I'm sorry, but the restaurant was more than half empty, and the staff was congregating, talking and staring at the patrons. This is a management issue. Our poor waitress seemed afraid to come back to the table, even though it wasn't her fault. I don't think she's getting the support and training she needs to satisfy customers' needs. She seemed too accustomed to complaints sadly, and just tried to keep a smiling face and avoided it. This not her fault.

There is a considerable disconnect in true customer service, and no heart in the food. I'm not a harsh critic, just experienced in the restaurant industry, and I often overlook mistakes because I know how difficult this industry is to master. I hope management takes a deeper look, because there is a lot to...

This was our 1st time dining here, and unfortunately we won't be coming back. Our reservation was set for 5pm which we were quickly seated Jen was our server, warm, attentive, and overall very pleasant. The ambiance here did not give an Italian dining vibe whatsoever. In fact, it was more of an out dated upscale Asian restaurant, that (loudly) played 90s hip hop & R&B (not that there's anything wrong with that, but.... As mentioned, we're supposed to be having Sunday dinner at a more upscale Italian restaurant, not chicken wings and burgers at a sports bar). Moving on to our meal, which was to be absolutely fair: atrocious. Our appetizers existed of Frito Misto (which was fried up very well), the grilled octopus (which lacked flavor), and eggplant Parm (which took an extra 20min to come out from the other appetizers because they were preparing it "fresh" and it lacked flavor too). My mother in-law ordered the Zitoni Genovese (which had very little short rib meat, and lacked flavor), and my wife and I both ordered the 20oz Ribeyes (which had ZERO seasoning and ZERO flavor... Are you starting to see the pattern yet?) since nothing on the menu looked that exciting to us. When our steaks came out, the Server Asst gave us the wrong dishes, and weren't sure which one was Med Rare, and the other was Med (and they forgot the gorgonzola topping too). As we began to eat our steaks, I quickly realized my Med steak was cooked to perfection.... If I had asked for it rare. I chose to just have the charred edges, and leave about 17oz of the 20oz, and just call it a day. When the Manager "Alex" came to touch our table, we expressed to her our experience and to her reply "oh well we were getting complaints about how our chefs were seasoning the steaks too much, so now they just don't. Sorry, I'll let the chef know." and with a half ass smirk, just walked away. I can honestly say, out of the countless dining experiences we've endured here in Las Vegas, this is probably at the top of the list. Seriously how hard is it to mess up a steak? We were better off saving $300, and going to Texas Roadhouse if that was the case. But I digress.... Jen, thank you for doing your best and keeping a great game face on, knowing we weren't happy.... You rock, and should seek employment elsewhere in an establishment that seems to actually care about their patronage. Lavo is an establishment we won't waste our time and...