Considering the restaurant's pricey nature and my love of Italian food, I thought Gino's would be a great place for my birthday dinner. I was wrong. I went with my wife and two of our friends. As you'd expect at a place that charges $15 a plate, we were seated, the waitress (who I doubt was older than 19) took our beverage orders, then came back after a bit to take our entree orders. We all ordered the lasagna (which the menu claims is the best in Madison), except for my one friend who ordered some kind of ravioli. Then he tried to question the waitress on their wine selection. She rattled off their prices so fast he hadn't even finished asking yet, but when he wanted details (what wines do they have? what would go well with his order? do dry wines go well with tomato sauces?) her expression was absolutely vacant, and she quickly agreed to anything he suggested (um, uh, yes, of course whatever you just said will go great with your order!), obviously in a hurry to get his order and get gone. She brought us our drinks, then brought out a bowl of small but tasty pieces of garlic bread, then our salads (included with the entrees), and finally the appetizer I'd ordered, mozzarella sticks. The salad was decent -- essentially just lettuce, but a few shreds of cabbage and other greens kept it from being as dull as the usual side salad most places will give you -- and the garlic bread and mozzarella sticks were very good. She did get one of our salad dressings wrong, but that was quickly remedied. Finally, our meals came. The portions of lasagna were a little smaller than I'd expected for the price, but since we'd already filled up on appetizers, I didn't mind too much. Besides, that turned out to be the least of my complaints about Gino's lasagna. Let's start off with the presentation. Now, I'm not picky: I certainly wasn't expecting it to come with a little bow or anything, but they served it sitting in a lake of red sauce that completely covered the plate. I speared every bite oh-so-carefully on my fork, afraid if a bit of food broke off and landed on my plate it would splatter all over my shirt. Considering how hard tomato stains are to get out, I wasn't too happy about that possibility. Then there was the flavor. Really good lasagna is a delicate balance of meat, tomato, ricotta and even noodle. Gino's lasagna, on the other hand, was slathered in so much tomato sauce that it drowned out any other flavor -- except the salt, which had been applied in such copious amounts that it battled the tomato for supremacy. Frankly, the overall quality of the sauce reminded me of something you'd get out of a Chef Boyardee can. I will note that, while the three of us who ordered the lasagna were less than impressed, our other friend enjoyed his ravioli and wine.

negative

THE CUP Located at the City Center shopping center in the middle of the Las Vegas strip, The Cup offers coffee and smoothies to quench those who are caught in the desert heat or those who just want something delicious to drink while perusing the shops. We had the lemonade smoothie, which wasn't too sweet, and full of lemony taste. As we were thirsty at the time, it was much needed. In addition, we got a 10% coupon towards our next purchase. A refreshing taste of Las Vegas that warrants a return visit during our next trip ^)^

positive

Contacted by the owner about my review. She offered to refund my money for our dinner and invited us to try them again. Since I don't live in that area she kindly sent us our money back. She was very nice about our experience and apologized that it was not what we expected. So I really hope it was just an off night for them when we were there.

negative

Had the pleasure of stopping by the other day right before their soft opening to catch the crew in the middle of training. The space looked great! I'm so happy they're doing something positive with the John E. Carson building. A little concerned with how they're able to offer fresh cold-pressed juice on the go, home made ice cream, smoothies, AND soups in such a limited space, but I have absolute faith in them. I got to meet Shane & Nichole (owners). It's nice to be around people who are passionate about what they do on top of being absolutely knowledgeable as well. They pass that same energy down to their employees, which makes me excited and confident to be a customer there. Especially since all their ingredients are organic and mostly sourced locally. Shane made me the Dirty Chai smoothie out of the most obscure ingredients. I was definitely unconfident of how the beverage would turn out as I watched him toss things like cabbage, ginger, pumpkin, coffee beans, and wheatgrass among a bevy of other ingredients into the VitaMix. However, all my concerns were demolished once I took my first sip. My first thoughts were, "WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS?!" Immediately followed by, "Must. Have. More." Needless to say, that smoothie was inhaled swiftly without remorse. My only gripe with this place is how far they are from my home, and how early they close. Being a night owl is not conducive to my need for delicious & healthy items that I have to drive across town for before 3pm. BUT... That won't stop me from trying!
positive