The Best Italian Restaurants in Las Vegas

Austrian-American celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck's take on upscale Italian eats, Lupo is strategically located inside the immensely popular Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Besides exhibition antipasto, pizza, and salad stations, the restaurant is known for dishing out hearty portions of finely crafted Old World specials like braised veal osso bucco with risotto Milanese. As the first Italian restaurant ever opened by Puck, Lupo is home to some innovative and trend-setting original features like a glass-enclosed walk-in wine room, exposition pizza, salad, and dessert stations, and a focus on tableside service.

Known for both their extensive wine list and family-friendly but still elegant atmosphere, Bottglia is situated within the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino in Henderson. The menu here features fresh seafood and meat specials as well as traditional Italian pastas including the house special, papardella Bolognese — made with braised short ribs, truffle ricotta, and pepper gravy. Bottglia also considers itself an enoteca, the Italian word for a wine shop or repository, and they are one of the best Italian restaurants in Las Vegas for those looking for an exhaustive list of vinos from both the old country and California.

A no-nonsense Italian eatery that focuses on simple fresh ingredients and heaping helpings, Fresco Italiano is located inside of the Westgate Resort and Casino. Diners can choose their favorite type of pasta and then match it with one of the half-dozen sauce choices, or go straight for a pork loin or veal chop off the house specialty menu.

With an Italian menu so expansive that even vegans are comfortably accommodated, Panevino is a neighborhood Italian restaurant with strong local support. From homemade ravioli filled with shrimp and scallops to a house cioppino fish and shellfish stew, seafood items are well represented on the menu here. Voted one of the best Italian restaurants in Las Vegas in several different readers polls by local publications, Panevino also lives up to the "vino" in its name with a true global wine list that features bottles from specialty regions that are often hard to find.

Fitting perfectly into the shopping action along the canals inside the Venetian Hotel, Casanova Restaurant specializes in Italian coastal cuisine. While seafood-based dishes like the Mediterranean sea bass and Lobster Supreme are the focus of the menu, meat eaters will find their pleasure in plates like the Lamb Chops Scottadito, served with thyme-flavored butter and rice pilaf.

An Italian influenced steakhouse inside the D Hotel on always- packed Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas, Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Steakhouse combines two Sin City favorites into one. Lamb chops and a variety of steaks, including a 24-ounce long bone ribeye, share the menu with traditional pasta dishes like artisan potato gnocchi with shrimp, sun-dried tomato, and basil pesto cream. The secret to Joe Vicari's Andiamo success at being named one of the best Italian restaurants in Las Vegas is in their partnership with some of the nation's top butchers, like Stockyard Premium Beef and Strauss Lamb, which provide them with the best possible raw materials to work with.

Situated within the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson, Pasta Cucina is an Italian eatery that focuses on the many types of pasta invented in the boot-shaped peninsula. From Tuscan angel hair with pine nuts and feta cheese to baked penne with meatballs and Italian sausage, Pasta Cucina takes the art of the traditional first plate in Italian dining to new levels.

A true Las Vegas institution, Battista’s Hole in the Wall is a dimly lit, little authentic Italian eatery complete with a wandering accordion player who serenades diners. A part of the Vegas culinary landscape since 1970, Battista’s serves a complete full course menu that includes soup or garlic bread, pasta, and even a cappuccino, as well as a selection from among classic plates like chicken parmagiana and veal marsala. Besides the authentic homestyle food here, one of the factors that keep Battista's Hole in the Wall consistently near the top of lists of the best Italian restaurants in Las Vegas is that all entrees come with a free glass of house wine.

A blast from Las Vegas’s gangster infused past, Don Vito’s is a no-frills Italian joint housed inside the South Point Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard. Menu items like the Lobster Tail Milanese add an Old World twist to a Vegas favorite, while the Pork Chop Val D’ Aosta, which is stuffed with spinach, fontana cheese, and mushrooms and then pan seared, is a tried and true classic.

Billing itself as a luxurious take on the “Mob Style” speakeasy, The Original Capo’s is a modern version of what many of the original Vegas gangster dens looked and felt like. With live nightly entertainment, a “secret” backdoor entrance, and a pasta sauce recipe said to be passed down from the Capone crime family itself, this is the place for well-crafted spaghetti and meatballs (claimed to be the best on earth) and heaping mains like the Godfather’s piccata, a chicken or veal cutlet sautéed in lemon, butter, and a white wine caper sauce.

A relative newcomer to the Las Vegas Italian dining scene, Mezzo Bistro and Wine has already garnered some rave reviews from locals and critics alike. Italian-influenced steak, seafood, and pasta dishes round out the menu at Mezzo Bistro, with house specials like the Tuscan pork tenderloin, pan seared in Chianti wine and topped with fresh sliced apples, contributing heavily to their newfound fame.

Decorated with memorabilia celebrating the life and work of Frank Sinatra himself, Sinatra’s is another Sin City landmark Italian restaurant that has reaped several international critic’s choice awards. Located within the Encore Resort, Sinatra brings Ol' Blue Eyes right to the table with specials like the Ossobuco “My Way,“ a braised veal ossobuco served with saffron risotto Milanese and gremolata.

Straight out of New Jersey to the Las Vegas Strip, Buddy Vs is the creation of TLC’s “Cake Boss” star, Buddy Valastro. Located inside of the Venetian along the Canal Shops, this upscale Italian eatery has won over the hearts of locals with its housemade ravioli and cannelloni. Beyond the popular pasta items, Buddy Vs specializes in full portion meat-based mains like the bone-in Milanese veal chop and the chicken marsala in mushroom ragu.