Enoteca San Marco
Published by foodette January 18th, 2008 in Cheese, Italian, Las Vegas, Mario Batali, New Year, Restaurant Reviews.
Ah, Mario Batali, you know that I love you, right? But, I just don’t understand your “less expensive” Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian. If this was meant to whet my appetite for your fancier restaurant there, B&B, it sorely failed. As a matter of fact, I am no longer dreaming of going to Osterias Mozza or Pizza (though I still will, for research sake, of course).
I was very excited when I first saw the menu at San Marco - you can order many Italian small plates, choosing from fried items, meats, cheeses, and vegetables, as well as pastas, pizzas, salads, and entrees. I definitely wanted to go with a few small plates for lunch that day, and I just knew my husband and I would love this. At home, I often make a makeshift meal of salami, crackers, cheeses, apples, and olive tapenade, so I figured this would be pretty similar. We ordered three cheeses (I chose Burratta and two other cheeses labeled as mild), fried zucchini blossoms, salami, marinated olives, broccoli rabe, and brussel sprouts.
While I enjoyed the cheeses, especially the Burratta, which was amazing, I was disappointed in the overall meal. For one thing, and maybe this makes me a total novice, I was expecting crackers. Foodies, please enlighten me. Are crackers the anti-cheese or something? Am I supposed to enjoy the full flavor of the cheese sans crunch? Interestingly enough, though, the cheeses did come with condiments: three tangy cherries, a floral honey, and spicy, rehydrated dried apricots. While this may sound strange, I actually did really enjoy that. My particular favorite was matching the Burratta with the cherries. The husband, however, not so much. Even worse for him was that he likes mild cheeses, and while the cheeses I ordered were probably the mildest of the bunch, they were quite pungent for his taste. Other than the mozzarella, they were strong, substantial cheeses.
As far as the other items, the salami was good. I enjoyed it, and so did the husband. But, again, no crackers? Nothing to put it on? Again, I guess this makes me a novice.
Another item I liked and the husband hated was the fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with cheese. I had never had these before, and was ecstatic to try them. The husband said, “It tastes like flowers.” Oh, well.
And then there were the vegetables (including olives). For me, this was the biggest disappointment. When I ordered the broccoli rabe and the brussel sprouts, I was expecting them to be hot. But, they were actually chilled. The broccoli rabe was steamed first, and the brussel sprouts were barely cooked, then (perhaps?) pulsed multiple times in a food processor. The olives were good, but there were just so many of them in contrast to everything else. I just felt like, how many olives can two people eat? Especially considering our cheeses were in such small samples.
While I was able to eat this meal without misery (after all, it wasn’t terrible, just disappointing), my husband was literally horrified. I believe his exact words were, “are we eating olives for lunch?” To appease him, I forced him to order a pasta dish with pork. While I enjoyed the fresh pasta, the sauce was too salty from all of the salted pork. It was okay, but nothing I would ever want to eat again. The husband was happier with this, but not overjoyed.
So, all in all, I would not go back to Enoteca San Marco. I am sure I would have had better luck ordering a pizza, so I think that there is hope for this place. But the prices are crazy, and the food just wasn’t too great. I am interested to go to the Mozzas here in LA, just to compare. I don’t want to judge the man on just one meal at one restaurant. But Mario, it just wasn’t that good.
Enoteca San Marco is located in the Venetian Hotel and Casino at 3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109 Phone: 702 677 3390
Your husband sounds like my boyfriend in many ways. I’ve always wanted to try fried zucchini blossoms.
Sorry about your experience and I have no clue about the lack of crackers/bread. Was there an option to order it as an additional side?
I’m interested to see if you visit Mozzas and your comparison.
Darlene - I still suggest the zucchini blossoms - I would say they were my favorite item that I ordered. You know, it’s a good point about ordering crackers. The table did have two slices of bread on it when we got there, but we ate it before our food came, not knowing it would be our last carb. Still, I didn’t want bread, I wanted a thin, crispy cracker. I guess I should have asked for it, but as our price of our bill kept climbing, I just really wanted them to have been included.
My wife and I enjoyed our meal at Enoteca on Friday night, but I understand some of the price concerns. We loved the brussel sprouts; they had a nice taste, with the cheese and the pepper. I was less impressed with the cauliflower.
I understand that some people like crackers with their cheese but that will rarely happen at any “authentic” Italian restaurant. I’m not saying that is good or bad but that’s just the way it is. You definitely could have asked for more bread too. Enoteca San Marco’s menu is almost exactly the same as Otto (in NYC).
Dinner August 8th for 7 people was just okay. Our server chose for us, so I expect we had a good cross section of the items they take the most pride it. Roast pork shoulder and the cheese plate with cherries, honey and apricots were the best items. Pasta and pizza were barely okay. Wine selection good but pricey. In the Venetian Zefferino’s is a more authentic Italian experience in both ambiance and food.
My wife and I ate there last week and the dinner was perfect. We started with the cheese and sauces and we were very please. It’s nice to eat Italian food that breaks the Olive Garden routine. I ordered the Chef’s Special for the day which was Pork Ribs in a Blood Orange reduction with a Blood Orange salad. My wife ordered the Prosciotto and Arugula Pizza. We shared each others dishes and they were both excellent. The service was top notch! For dessert we split the Peanut Butter and Banana gelato and it was the highlight of the night. We purchased a 50% off main course ticket from the tixtonight discount stands you can find in Vegas. With this our dinner cost us $50 for everything. We will go back next time we are in Vegas!
Went there with 3 other girlfriends last weekend and could have made a meal out of the cheeses & sauces, bread and my glass of Proseco. The sauces that accompanied the cheeses are to die for! Very, very good accompaniement and the Proseco just pulled it all together. I also ordered the penne pasta with a marinara and eggplant sauce and was bored with it. My vegan friend ordered the 3 vegies: lentils, brussel sprouts and eggplant and could only eat the eggplant dish. I tried the lentils & brussel sprouts & was disappointed that it was cold and bland. Too bad. My other friend ordered a cauliflower pasta dish that was very good and other friend ordered a salad that she enjoyed. I would go back, but only for the cheese, sauces and Proseco.
I know this is a really late response to the original post — but I hope you have gone to mozza by now. I’ve also eaten at this place in the venetian (had a pizza, which was not memorable). But I live around the corner from mozza, have been there twice, and I still dream of it. It is expensive, yes, but so good. Soooo good. For less money, and an equally good meal though not as posh, the pizzeria is amazing. The fennel sausage pizza is fantastic, as is the butterscotch dessert. Definitely go there and don’t let San Marco represent Batali (btw, I had one of the best meals in my life at his del posto in nyc)
If you go to ESM looking for American Italian food, you will be too disappointed. Italians don’t serve olive oil with there bread nether do they serve butter. Cracker with the cheese is also a big NO NO. the Servers at ESM are highly knowledgeable, if you want to have a beautiful experience, ask the servers to guide you and you will have an awesome time.
6 of us ate there on aug 26, 2009….
i thought the prices were great…
we had the 7 cheese platter and the 9 veg platter….
they kept giving us bread and bread sticks as we asked for them…
service was excellent….pasta was too aldente but delicious…
the food cost for 6 meals and the 2 appetizers was $140.00….
that was very reasonable…..
but the only disappointment was a rum and coke $14.00…wow
i would eat there again….