1st look inside Bellagio’s 1st new restaurant since 2019 — PHOTOS
Pool dining on the Las Vegas Strip can be trickier than you might think, especially at a property like Bellagio, which has a 25-year history of showcasing its signature dream of Italian opulence: part papal palazzo, part Palladian villa, with stops by the Lake District and the d’Este gardens.
But at the pool, opulence perforce meets bathing suits, a relaxed mood and, very often, the desire for chicken fingers. How to strike the right balance between elegance and ease? That question was top of mind about 18 months ago when the property began the renewal of its pool expanse.
The answer lay, in part, with Como, the new poolside bar and restaurant that is also the first restaurant to open at Bellagio since Mayfair Supper Club in 2019. Como replaces what had been a much more casual café.
“When we decided to redesign the whole pool area, it was a tremendous opportunity to re-contemplate the whole experience at the pool, to really round out our food and beverage offerings at Bellagio,” said Ann Hoff, the property’s president and chief operating officer. “To extend the experience more broadly into the notion of alfresco dining.”
Indoor-outdoor
Como is part of $12 million in improvements to the pool complex, Hoff said. The restaurant, debuting Friday, takes its name from the famed Italian lake on which the village of Bellagio sits. The restaurant is covered, sunlight softened by translucent roof panels, while also being open to the pool deck garnished with flora in giant urns.
The old café, for some reason, did not have a bar. Como corrects that omission, accommodating about 185 across the bar, front lounge and dining room at back. Seating is rendered in pale gray, goldenrod and nautical blue. Abstracted Doric columns, continuing Bellagio’s design vernacular, partition the space into larger and more intimate areas.
A cloche of glass — part cupola, part conservatory roof — crowns Como.
Floors striped in goldenrod and white and awnings striped in white and robin’s egg blue tie everything together, creating a balmy stylishness that welcomes “guests who want that restaurant feel, guests who want that bar experience and that pool experience,” said Dylan Fowler, general manager of pool operations at Bellagio.
Poolside classics and beyond
The old café menu “was a typical pool menu: chicken fingers, nachos and your hamburgers,” said Josef Wagner, vice president of food and beverage at Bellagio. “You can never get rid of those staples, but that doesn’t define your brand going forward, especially now that we have refreshed the pool experience. How do you weave those staples in?”
Scalability is also key, he said, with the new restaurant being the point of departure. “If I go to Como, that experience needs to carry into the pool deck and the cabana menus.”
Menu highlights
Work on Como’s food and drink included renovation of the pool kitchen. Menu development began last October.
Seasonal fruits are presented in a wide, shallow ice-filled bowl, not on a plate; the bowl and other tableware are fashioned from pool-safe plastic that resembles stone. “Vessels are what invokes Europe, what invokes Italy,” Wagner said.
Hamachi crudo takes up with fried shallots, ribbons of tarragon and jabs of citrus vinaigrette. Crudos have become a new staple, Wagner said. “People don’t want to be too full in the pool.”
In keeping with that lighter approach, a salad unites heirloom tomatoes, feta, olive oil and a gust of basil, while a burger becomes meatless with a falafel patty, microgreens and swipes of spicy cilantro spread.
Skewers of shrimp, free-range Mary’s chicken and New York strip steak are paired with pita and dipping sauces. Sushi makes its poolside debut at Bellagio on the new menu. A Como roll is draped with bigeye tuna and stuffed with tempura shrimp, cucumber, pickled jalapeños and chili crunch.
Like sushi, a platter lined with prosciutto and set with fried gnocchi and a blob of burrata could be scaled up for larger parties in cabanas. Nathan Frost, executive chef of Bellagio, offered advice on how to proceed.
“Those gnoccho fritto, they’re warm. You just wrap a piece of prosciutto around them and dip into the burrata.”
From day to night
Poolside liquidity at Bellagio is getting a makeover, too, thanks to the Como bar. One standout: a spritz tree, created by Fowler, holding five goblets filled with cocktails, including Aperol, Hugo and limoncello spritzes.
The former pool café only served breakfast and lunch. Como will serve those, too, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but then extend its hours with light bites and spritzes from 3 to 5 p.m. and entertainment after that until 8 p.m.
“The way we designed the menu before, most guests only came for lunch, maybe breakfast,” Wagner said. “It’s important that this becomes a destination all day, not just one visit.”
Think of it as the Como flow.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on X.
