Potential Gold

Nove Italiano at The Palms Hotel, Las Vegas

While on the Las Vegas trip mentioned below, we were 'hooked up' at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas at the new restaurant, Nove Italiano where chef Geno Bernardo cooks up a storm.

I was first introduced to the Nove idea a while back while I was still working at Fra' Mani.  Nove was dedicated to working with us and they even wanted to set up a large glass display case for the salami in their restaurant.

To top off the fact that I had the Fra' Mani thing, I also went to school with one of the managers on the floor and the two of us even spent some time in Italy together.

Now, given that it was a busy Friday night, I'm sure if it were a slow Tuesday night my experience would be different.  That being said, don't get me wrong - we had a blast - but you can see from the photos below that there was more expected and less delivered.

The night started off with a really weak Amuse Bouche.  Now, this amuse was so bad that I only ingested it because of the hunger which developed throughout the day.  Toasted baguette with Olive Tapenade - they do this at Olive Garden these days...  Just look at the way it was presented - it shows such poor taste and it almost instills a disdain for the person tasting this.  Bad!

I remember being told that Nove Italiano at The Palms Hotel did 'crudo'.  Oooooo...

So - being a HUGE fan of Moreno Cedroni, I opted for a taste of the crudo and I should have known better then to expect Cedroni in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas - 99 Cent Margaritas

Only in Las Vegas...

We recently went to Las Vegas for a birthday party.  We stayed at the The Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa just off of the Las Vegas Strip.

The hotel was really nothing special with the only positive comment being the great shower the Westin offers.  I truly feel that this hotel being a Westin reduces the brands mark and appeal.

The restaurant is a joke at this hotel and the casino is barely that.  I originally booked this room by force, as it is what I was given from priceline.  I was really upset that I wasn't given a hotel ON the strip.  So after trying to fight priceline, I gave up as I read that there really isn't any hope in trying to fight the scamming web based Travel Company.

The thing that pissed me off the most was that the week before our trip, I had offers for hotels on the strip for less money.

Look, it happens and you can't get all giddy - sometimes you have to get shat on.  Priceline definitely shat on me.

So – to make myself feel better I drank 99 cent margaritas all night long…na, just kidding…  I saw this sign while on the way to Nove, the Italian restaurant at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas.

Nove will be another report, and I hope that by the time I’m done writing it, the place will have dramatically improved its food and service.