Zefferino's at the Canal Shops at the Venetian

Ok.  I know I said I wasn't into fancy-shmancy fu-fu places so you're probably wondering why I'm writing about a place at the Venetian.  Well, it wasn't that fancy, we went for lunch and it was a special occasion.  It was my neice Holly's 16th birthday and that's where she wanted to go.  If you know my fondness for traveling to the strip you know how much I love her.  But, once I finally got there, it was good.

I say once I finally got there because I wandered around the Palazzo, where I parked, and the Canal Shoppes for about 25 minutes.  Fortunately I only said half of the thoughts in my head out loud and there were no kids around.  After stopping several people for directions, including some guys who apparently were trying to sell time shares and not Venetian concierges, I arrived. The outside of the restaurant is deceptively small.  The first floor where you enter is the bar area and the actual restaurant is upstairs on the second floor.  I somehow got in back of a big group of convention-goers walking up the stairs and couldn't figure out why they were all milling around a seating area and why there was nobody sitting at any of the tables in the restaurant.  I finally meandered through several rooms and came upon occupied tables, including my family. 


It became apparent to me later that they seat parties in the far away room first because it has the best views.  Our table was overlooking the canal shoppes and the canal.  The windows were decorated with flower boxes and the tables all had flowers on them. We were able to get the people watching experience without all of the noise since we were one floor above the mall.  Overall the atmosphere was quite pleasant.

We all opted for the 3 course $19.95 lunch.  You could choose an appetizer and an entree and the desert course consisted of assorted pastries.  The appetizer selections included fried calamari with spicy tomato sauce, chicken tenders with spicy tomato sauce, pizza, Ceasar salad, and a tomato mozzarella salad.  The entrees included chicken parmasean, beef medallions with mushrooms, chicken picatta, cheese ravioli with truffle oil and handmade fettucini.  There was also a special pasta you could choose for an additional $4, which was penne pasta with tomatoes, shrimp and spinach, and a special dish for an additional $5 which was grilled swordfish with asparagus.  We had to ask the waiter to tell us the specials.  The regular menu consisted of most of the items on the special menu as well as some additional pastas and meats.

For the appetizer course my sister and I had the Ceasar salad which was very good.  It was cold and crisp and not over or under dressed.  Holly had the fried calamari which came with fried zuchini.  The calamari was lightly fried and (I'll take Holly's word for it), really good.  Fred's chicken tenders (which I never thought I'd be talking about when I wasn't with my 6 year old) were also good. For the entree Holly and Fred had the chicken parmasean, which Holly said was amazing.  Lynn and I had the homemade fettucini, which was in a light tomato sauce with grape tomatoes, julienned basil and fresh mozzarella.  It was very good.  The only critique I had was that I would have liked the mozzarella to be a bit warmer and melted. 

It was good that we were all full from the lunch.  The "assorted pastries" consisted of 3 1/2 inch little cakes.  One of them was a nice chocolate, one of them was a key lime (we think) and stawberry and the other was date and cranberries, which remained on all of our plates.  

All in all the food was very good and the price was reasonable, especially given the location.  As for the service, it was not so great.  When I looked up the restaurant on the internet I learned it is a chain so maybe the services in other locations is better. My friend Beth always says that whenever you go anywhere on the strip they swarm around you when you get there but then disappear.  At one point we had 3 or 4 people around us but when we were finished it took us about 30 minutes to get the check, have the waiter pick up the check and return with the credit card receipt.  He did come by at one point to apologize it was taking so long to get the credit card receipt but it was because someone else had to take it downstairs since they had no credit card machine upstairs. Great system considering all of the tables are upstairs.  I'm sure everybody pays with cash right?  As Lynn pointed out, why don't they tell you to bring your check downstairs and pay on the way out?

After lunch we went to the wax museum.  The admission is $25 but only $10 with a Nevada ID.  We also took a look around Emeril Lagasse's Stadim at the Palazzo.  The next time I venture down to the strip I'll definitely let you know how it is.  It looks fantastic so I'm sure it will be bitterly disappointing. Also coming up some old favorites, and a guest review from Beth Stephens.

 Thanks for lunch Fred and Happy Sweet 16 Holly!