Mastrioni's Cafe

You know you can't go wrong when you just drive by a place and can smell the garlic.  I had driven by Mastrioni's, located in a shopping center (as all the greatest Italian restaurants are) at Desert Inn and Hualapai, hundreds of times.  I don't know why I never went in but after a got a gift card from my friend Yvette for my birthday how could I not go?  Yvette swore by the place and since she's never steered me wrong so I was pretty excited about it.

Not to be disappointed we could smell the garlic before we got to the parking lot.  From the outside it doesn't look like much but the inside is actually lovely and much bigger than you would have thought.  With white linen table cloths and a black and white theme throughout, the atmosphere was elegant but not pretentious.

Without reservations at 7 o'clock on a Saturday night we were pleased to be seated immediately.  The menu offers traditional Italian fare and seafood.  The appetizers consist mainly of seafood items, shrimp and crab cocktails, clams oregenate, calamari and claims on the 1/2 shell. They also offer caprese, antipasti, garlic bread and bruschetta.  Most of the seafood appetizers were priced between $10 and $12.

My husband Steve and I opted to share a salad as an appetizer.  There was a nice variety of salads including a house salad, a salad with pears and gargonzola (my favorite as Yvette knows), a greek salad, salmon salad and a Ceasar.  Most of the salads were $10 to $12.  Steve and I chose the chopped salad with tomatoes, avocado, onions and big chunks of salami and provolone.  They split it for us which I like.  The choice of dressings were balsamic, raspberry and lemon feta vinaigarette.  We had the lemon feta and it was fabulous.  The dressing was light and didn't overpower the salad.  I had a good feeling about our entrees.

The entrees included pasta like baked ziti, ravioli, fettucini alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, linguini with clams and shirmp and scallop vodka.  Most of the pastas were $14 to $16. They also had the traditional dishes, in chicken or veal, like parmagiana, picatta and marsala.  I was particularly excited about the shrimp parmagiana, a dish I love but hardly ever see on menus.  The chicken dishes were $18, and the veal and shrimp were $22.    They also have a fish menu and have salmon, tilapia, swordfish and tuna.  You can get the fish prepare a variety of ways including grilled, or broiled with tomato, garlic and basil or olive oil lemon and garlic. The fish dishes were $22-$28.

I ordered the shrimp parmagiana and Steve (really me) ordered my second choice, grilled swordfish with oliveoil, lemon and garlic. One of the nice things was that you have a choice of side dishes which are penne marinara, steamed vegetables or sauteed spinach.  I chose the marinara and Steve (again really me) chose the sauteed spinach.  The food was, in a word, excellent.  Both the shrimp and swordfish were really fresh.  I'm a huge swordfish fan but am undoubtedly disappointed whenever I order it in Las Vegas.  It's almost always frozen and usually overcooked.  The dishes were cooked perfectly and nothing tasted remotely rubbery.  The marinara was spicy but good.  The sauteed spinach was also excellent and prepared just right.  We didn't eat much of the pasta but it was only because we wanted to save room for everything else. 

We didn't have room for desert but what we saw going by looked delicious.  They had tiramisu, cheesecake, espresso pie, and a roasted banana gelato.  All of the deserts were $7-$9.  Next time we go Steve and I will share an entree and save room for desert.

The service was as great as the food.  It was quick and efficient but they didn't rush you.  The waiter was charming but not stuffy.  And he didn't disappear after he took our order.  The staff was all pleasant and eager to please. 

Due to how the restaurant is set up with the open kitchen there is no bar.  There is a counter, however, that you can sit at and get a bird's eye view of the kitchen .  There are also some tall bar tables in back of the counter.  There was no bartender in view but our drinks magically came from somewhere in the back.  We had martinis, Steve a gin martini and me a mixed berry, both of which were fantastic.  They also had a pretty big winelist with losts of inexpensive options.  We had a bottle of prosecco with our dinner.  There was only one prosecco but it was a good one.

All in all two thumbs up.  You can breathe easy once again Yvette!  Thanks for the gift.