VEGAS DINING NEWS: Bellagio’s Carbone Riviera Opens, Havana 1957 to Close
Posted on: November 7, 2025, 03:34h.
Last updated on: November 7, 2025, 03:40h.
Carbone Riviera revealed details of its new menu and décor just hours ahead of its opening night, November 7 at the Bellagio.
The crown jewel of the entrée list is a nightly whole fish program consisting of sea bream, red snapper, Dover sole, branzino, turbot and myriad obscure varieties of varying weights and provenances, allowing guests to experience fish from every corner of the world in one meal.
“Here, we’re leaning into seafood at the highest level in a way that’s far beyond anything we’ve done before,” chef Mario Carbone, co-founder of Major Food Group, said in a statement.
Carbone classics such as spicy rigatoni vodka and Caesar alla ZZ also appear throughout the menu, along with a selection of Snake River Farms steaks. Dessert crowns the meal with the Carbone’s take on traditional dolci, such as stracciatella tiramisu and Sicilian lemon cheesecake.
Carbone — which opened in New York’s Greenwich Village in 2013 — has since expanded to 10 global locations, including one at the Aria, where the brand made its Las Vegas debut in 2015.
According to its owners, the 240-seat new restaurant — featuring terra cotta leather, mirrored banquettes and custom Murano glass scones and chandeliers — was designed by Martin Brudnizki, who took inspiration from “the Mediterranean and from Picasso’s Vallauris years.”
That’s last reference was to the famous painter’s 1948-1955 residence in the South of France, not to the restaurant Picasso — though it will be difficult for Carbone Rivera not to immediately evoke comparisons to chef Julian Serrano’s Michelin-starred eatery, which closed, after 26 years, in the same lakefront spot in August 2024.
Docked on the patio, of course, is the restaurant’s $3 million yacht, Fortuna, whose disappointingly puny speedboat-like profile you can’t say we didn’t warn you about.
Dining Ins & Outs
Vital Vegas reports that the Cuban eatery Havana 1957 will close at the Flamingo by year’s end will be rebranded by the same operators, Vida & Estilo Restaurant Group, as Café Americano. Also, the bayou-inspired Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux was walked out of Harrah’s.
Randy’s Donuts will open its fifth Las Vegas location at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Summerlin. The legendary LA glazery will debut in early 2026, following the January 2 closure of Federal Donuts & Chicken.
In December or January, a new Irish pub rather unoriginally branded the Irish Spot will replace the former Crown & Anchor British Pub. But really, nothing can replace the Crown & Anchor, which closed after 30 years with no warning in July. The beloved dive near UNLV was where Brandon Flowers, singer of Las Vegas rock band The Killers, wrote the monster hit “Mr. Brightside” after entering the establishment to see his girlfriend cheating with another man. (A smaller, newer, not nearly as renown Crown & Anchor forges forward on at 4755 Spring Mountain Road.)
Basketball great Shaquille O’Neal has closed the newer of his two Big Chicken joints in Las Vegas — the one he opened in January 2023 at West Tropicana Avenue. His original location, which debuted at Paradise Road in October 2018, remains open.
Panini Kabob Grill, a chain with about 30 locations in SoCal, will open at the Fashion Show mall by next summer, in the space formerly occupied by RA Sushi.
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