Scarpetta Las Vegas Visited 6/26/2013 5 Forks

Scarpetta Cosmopolitan Hotel, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Full disclosure - this was a work meal and we got the total hook up because they knew we were coming in advance with some well respected chefs that we are planning on working with, so I know we were treated way better than if I had just walked into the restaurant as a regular person.  I'm going to keep this review short and sweet, mainly because I reviewed the NYC location before and the menu is exactly the same.  Plus given the special treatment we got here, I don't think it's exactly a fair and unbiased opinion but regardless it was an amazing meal that merits at least a short review.

You know a meal is going to be outrageous when they basically tell you that you don't have to order anything.  They literally started bringing food out at a constant stream as soon as we sat down.  We ended up getting a sampling of almost everything on the menu - for appetizers we got softshell crab, polenta, and raw tuna - all delicious -  and then we were served a ridiculous amount of pasta.  We got a sampling of almost every single pasta on the menu:  we each got our own serving of Scarpetta's famous spaghetti and then out came plates of sheep milk ricotta agnolotti with shaved truffles, duck and foie gras ravioli, short rib agnolotti, and pici with lobster to share.  Every dish was simply divine and I loved the fact that we could try a sampling of all of them without having a full serving of each.  The last time I was at Scarpetta in NYC, we ended up choosing our pasta dishes and eating an entire plate of duck and foie gras ravioli or short rib agnolotti, while delicious, was a bit too much to deal with.  Those type of heavy pasta really only require 2-3 bites before you feel overwhelmed.  I know I've gripped before out paying a lot of money for what seems like a basic pasta like spaghetti but the spaghetti here was definitely beyond anything I could ever make at home - totally worth it.  At this point, I was so full I needed to be wheeled out in a chair.  I thought we were done but then the waiter comes out and then asks to take our entree order.  Oh my.  I just couldn't bring myself to order anything heavy so I opted for the black cod and for one of the first times I can remember, I couldn't finish a dish that I loved.  The cod was perfectly cooked - flaky and moist - so it really killed me that I couldn't finish the dish.  Just when I thought dinner was over, they then wheeled out 5 different desserts.  I was so deliriously full that I can barely remember what we had but our table polished off almost every plate totally clean.

This was one of the most decadent meals I've had in a long time and the quality of each dish was superb.  I definitely think a lot of it had to do with telling them in advance of our arrival and who was at our table but this is not to say that we wouldn't have experienced great food and service if we didn't have such special treatment.  So this 5 forks rating is slightly biased but I did want to highlight what has been one of the most killer meals I've had in a while. 

Photo Credit: Yelp