My husband and I ended up at Steve Martorano’s Cafe Martorano: Yo CUZ! by mistake. What a happy mistake it was. We had gone to the Rio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA to see the much advertised magic show by Penn & Teller, only to find I had got our dates wrong and we were there on the wrong night. It was bitterly disappointing. I asked the young man at the ticket desk if there was a good 
restaurant in the hotel that I could treat my husband to dinner to make up for my error. He recommended Cafe Martorano: Yo CUZ!. It was a great shout.
The restaurant is on the second floor of the Casino area of the Rio Hotel in the Masquerade tower. I liked the trendy atmosphere very much. The settings were formal enough to make the evening feel special, but the 
dress code was relaxed and made us feel comfortable. We secured a table by the window overlooking the Rio pool area. It was a lovely to look out as the sunset lengthened the shadows. They have TVs which were showing old movies and videos of the owner giving cooking lessons. Our waitress was friendly. She showed us images of the specials on a tablet. This was great, and probably the first time I did not space out when someone went over the specials of the day. The food was great. The bread brought before the meal was excellent and since we got there right when it opened, it was nice and warm.
My husband had a domestic beer and I asked for a cocktail. Cafe Martorano: Yo CUZ! does not seem to have a house cocktail, so I chose a margarita. Both were good. I chose the tomato and warm mozzarella to start and my husband opted for the South philly cheese steak sandwich. both sounded simple, but were absolutely delicious.
For our main courses my husband had lasagna which he thoroughly enjoyed. He is partial to lasagna and said this was the best lasagna he had ever had (except mine – of course!). I chose 
the Spaghetti DOP. The staff offered us fresh paramsan too and that made all the difference. The meals really were marvelous.
I was much too full to order dessert. However, my husband, in the cause of research, of course, chose the red velvet cake. He needed to find out if this was as good as the other courses. He said it was, so I had to try a little to see if he was right. He was, the cake melted in the mouth. It was excellent.
We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience at Cafe Martorano: Yo CUZ!. We found the service delightful, the view interesting, the ambiance fun and, most importantly, this was one of the finest meals we had had in a long time. I do highly recommend Cafe Martorano: Yo CUZ! at the Rio Hotel, Las Vegas.
Valerie Penny
Val Penny's Hotel and Restaurant Reviews 