Battista’s Hole in the Wall Abruptly Closes for “Renovation”

By Scott Roeben, on June 02 2025
2 min read 16 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

A Las Vegas restaurant with passable food and lots of character, Battista’s Hole in the Wall, closed without warning on June 1, 2025.

The restaurant announced its presumably temporary closure in social media, leaving visitors who had dinner reservations S.O.L.

The sudden closure of Battista’s is awkward, like trying to explain to Criss Angel why he should keep his shirt on. Also awkward: Battista has no idea when it might reopen.

Before it was Battista’s, it was The Dive. This will win you a bar bet someday, assuming you frequent really nerdy bars.

At midnight prior to the restaurant’s closure, Battista’s shared: “For nearly 50 years, Battista’s has been serving up unforgettable meals in the heart of Vegas. To keep the tradition strong, we’re closing for a short remodel starting today, June 1. This place means the world to us—and we know it does to you, too. We’ll be back better than ever.”

In Vegas, there’s always more to the story.

One of the things that makes this closure strange is Battista’s will essentially be shut down in a few months due to F1. The restaurant and its neighbor, Stage Door, sued F1 because of massive losses due to disruptions resulting from the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Pretty much every business in Las Vegas has suffered losses due to F1, but these places were hit hardest (along with Ellis Island casino).

Despite our best efforts, the F1 Grand Prix will be back this year, which means Battista’s was bracing for another financial hit. The F1 disruptions last months, but why didn’t Battista’s wait until closer to the race to close for a renovation, as its business tanks leading up to the Grand Prix, anyway?

Rumors of the potential demise of Battista’s have been circulating for years (we should know because we circulated them), but those rumors haven’t come to pass.

Battista’s Hole opened in 1970 and was founded by Battista Locatelli and its Vegas kitsch has endured a lot of changes in the Las Vegas restaurant scene.

The restaurant’s walls are covered in hundreds of celebrity photos and enough cheesy memorabilia to start a museum. An accordion player named Gordon “Gordy” Jaffe was a fixture at Battista’s for more than 30 years. He passed away in 2022.

Battista’s is much more about the experience than the food.

The idea of a refresh is sort of the antithesis of the Battista’s vibe. As one writer put it, “Things don’t change much at Battista’s, and that’s by design.”

The overnight closure of Battista’s screams drama, we just haven’t been able to uncover specifics yet.

Visitation has softened in Las Vegas trending downward. There are lots of great Italian offerings, including Giada at Cromwell, a few steps from Battista’s and RPM, just across the street at Forum Shops.

We’ll see how the Battista’s saga unfolds. For now, we’re taking them at their word. It’s temporary, for a renovation.

In the words of Lorenzo de’ Medici, “Del doman non v’è certezza.” (“There is no certainty in tomorrow.”) A famous quote we knew off the top of our head in Italian and English for just such an occasion and that’s the story we’re sticking to.

Update (6/3/25): The original version of our story said Caesars Entertainment owns the parcel where Stage Door and Battista’s sit, but that’s no longer the case. Caesars sold the building to the owner of Battista’s, Randy Markin, a couple of years ago. Battista’s reached out to say the restaurant will reopen by the end of June 2025.