When Giada opened her first restaurant in Vegas, it had to be one of those spots that I went to the next time I went to Vegas.  I am in Vegas again and I find myself at Giada’s.

Went with all the guys from work and we were real interested.  I’ve tried a few of her recipes at home, simple ones.  I wanted to see if it would be executed well at her restaurant.

She is welcoming me!

You come up the escalator at the Cromwell and it’s quite pretty and nice.

The space is airy, and it does look really beautiful.

The service starts out with a bread board with condiments and assorted types of breads.

For appetizers we went with a nice Arancini.

The flavor inside was pretty awesome.  The cheese melted nicely and it really popped.

We also went for the Chicken Marsala Meatballs.  Not spectacular, the taste really isn’t quite there.

Bacon Wrapped Figs.  This didn’t do it for me.

A little Octopus.  Done well, but a little plain. It needed some more oil and seasoning.

My first course was Giada’s Lemon Spaghetti.

This was awesome.  The spaghetti was light, the lemon made it refreshing.  Just the right amount of cream sauce to go with two huge prawns that were cooked perfectly.

The main was a pan-fried Branzino.  I was sort of expecting it on the bone, but then I remembered that this was Vegas.

Either way, look at that fish.  Done to perfection, the skin crispy as anything.  A pretty well done dish.

  No room for dessert though!