Battista's Hole In The Wall is almost literally that - a hole in the wall.
Situated on Audrie Street right off of East Flamingo Road, this restaurant is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is fairly non-descript, and it is part of a small strip mall directly behind The Flamingo and Bill's Gambling Hall and Casino. Walk inside, though, and you are transported to "Old Vegas" - black and white photos of celebrities line the walls, and red leather booths and tabletop candles in red votive holders dominate the space. You feel as though this could have been an Italian restaurant for the mob in Vegas had it been around in the 50's.
The menu is everywhere around you. The walls are literally covered with the selections offered for dinner here: pasta, spaghetti, and ziti dishes, chicken and veal dishes, steaks, and fresh fish of the day. Each dinner is served with your choice of either Minestrone soup or a salad with Italian dressing, garlic bread, a pasta side dish, and a homemade cappuccino that is served at the end of the meal. Free red or white house wine is also included in the price of your meal, and when your selection is made, a carafe of wine is placed on your table to allow you to take as much - or as little - as you'd like. If you don't drink wine, soft drinks and other options are available for an additional cost.
Five of us dined together on a weekday night. The dishes we tried - and shared - were Cheese Ravioli, Eggplant Parmigiana, Veal Marsala, and Linguine with Chopped Clams. My dish was the linguine, and it was perfectly seasoned and the clams were not overpowering at all as they can sometimes be. One person got the Minestrone soup which they said was okay, and the rest of us opted for the Italian salad, which had a perfect amount of dressing (not too much and not too little) and was just the right size for an appetizer. We actually had two carafes on wine on our table - one red and one white - and we took sips out of each with our little old-fashioned glasses that made me think of restaurant scenes from The Godfather. At the end of the meal, only three of us opted for the cappuccino, which I felt was a little more like hot chocolate than a cappuccino, but it had a good flavor to it and was nice and warm when served in its tiny cup.
This is such an informal restaurant with an old-Vegas feel, I was not at all surprised when an accordion player came around to take requests from the diners as he strolled around in his tuxedo. For a $5 tip he played and sang a song I can't remember now, thanked us profusely with a wink and a little nod of his head, then moved on to the next group of diners. He certainly added to the authentic feeling of the dinner.
With five of us dining by candlelight and reminiscing, we had a nice, relaxing meal on a Tuesday night. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate our experience at Battista's as a 8.5. The ambiance definitely played a role in that rating, too, and I look forward to visiting again with friends.
Entree prices start at $20.95 for the various pasta dishes and head into the mid-$30 range for steaks. Still, the price is not bad considering that it includes soup or salad, bread, cappuccino and house wine in each meal.
Battista's does recommend reservations for weekends and holidays, or for the prime dinner hours of 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Dinner is served daily from 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., with cocktails available starting at 4:30 p.m.
Visit their website here for more information:
http://www.battistaslasvegas.com/index.html
Situated on Audrie Street right off of East Flamingo Road, this restaurant is easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is fairly non-descript, and it is part of a small strip mall directly behind The Flamingo and Bill's Gambling Hall and Casino. Walk inside, though, and you are transported to "Old Vegas" - black and white photos of celebrities line the walls, and red leather booths and tabletop candles in red votive holders dominate the space. You feel as though this could have been an Italian restaurant for the mob in Vegas had it been around in the 50's.
The menu is everywhere around you. The walls are literally covered with the selections offered for dinner here: pasta, spaghetti, and ziti dishes, chicken and veal dishes, steaks, and fresh fish of the day. Each dinner is served with your choice of either Minestrone soup or a salad with Italian dressing, garlic bread, a pasta side dish, and a homemade cappuccino that is served at the end of the meal. Free red or white house wine is also included in the price of your meal, and when your selection is made, a carafe of wine is placed on your table to allow you to take as much - or as little - as you'd like. If you don't drink wine, soft drinks and other options are available for an additional cost.
Five of us dined together on a weekday night. The dishes we tried - and shared - were Cheese Ravioli, Eggplant Parmigiana, Veal Marsala, and Linguine with Chopped Clams. My dish was the linguine, and it was perfectly seasoned and the clams were not overpowering at all as they can sometimes be. One person got the Minestrone soup which they said was okay, and the rest of us opted for the Italian salad, which had a perfect amount of dressing (not too much and not too little) and was just the right size for an appetizer. We actually had two carafes on wine on our table - one red and one white - and we took sips out of each with our little old-fashioned glasses that made me think of restaurant scenes from The Godfather. At the end of the meal, only three of us opted for the cappuccino, which I felt was a little more like hot chocolate than a cappuccino, but it had a good flavor to it and was nice and warm when served in its tiny cup.
This is such an informal restaurant with an old-Vegas feel, I was not at all surprised when an accordion player came around to take requests from the diners as he strolled around in his tuxedo. For a $5 tip he played and sang a song I can't remember now, thanked us profusely with a wink and a little nod of his head, then moved on to the next group of diners. He certainly added to the authentic feeling of the dinner.
With five of us dining by candlelight and reminiscing, we had a nice, relaxing meal on a Tuesday night. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate our experience at Battista's as a 8.5. The ambiance definitely played a role in that rating, too, and I look forward to visiting again with friends.
Entree prices start at $20.95 for the various pasta dishes and head into the mid-$30 range for steaks. Still, the price is not bad considering that it includes soup or salad, bread, cappuccino and house wine in each meal.
Battista's does recommend reservations for weekends and holidays, or for the prime dinner hours of 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Dinner is served daily from 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., with cocktails available starting at 4:30 p.m.
Visit their website here for more information:
http://www.battistaslasvegas.com/index.html
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