A Vibey Italian Restaurant With a Candy Shop Is the Latest Retro Throwback to Hit the Strip

Planet Hollywood Resort. | Caesars Entertainment Planet Hollywood’s newest restaurant is leaning into 1970s Italy Las Vegas is clearly having a moment with all things retro. Following other restaurant openings this year themed to the 1960s and ’70s, the latest entrant to the Las Vegas Strip is embracing a design inspired by 1970s Italy. This winter, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino will debut a stylish new Italian restaurant with a swanky lounge and candy shop, in a space designed to evoke the throwback decade. Caramella will be the newest project from Tao Group Hospitality, the company behind other high-energy restaurants like Stanton Social Prime at Caesars Palace and Lavo Italian Restaurant at the Palazzo. Tao Group’s chief culinary officer, Ralph Scamardella, is putting together a menu of steaks and chops to pair with Tuscan-style sides and bowls of pasta. The restaurant will also have a stylish lounge and a fun candy shop. Caramella will be Tao’s third Italian restaurant in Vegas, joining Luchini at MGM Grand and Lavo. It’s also the latest retro-inspired spot to open this year, joining the Safta 1964 residency at the Wynn Las Vegas and the brand new Diner Ross, adjacent to the Discoshow theater at the Linq — picking up the theme after the Retro by Voltaggio residency wrapped at Mandalay Bay. Caramella will feature decor and design inspired by 1970s Italy, a pivotal — and politically fraught — decade in Italian history. The Italian restaurant is going into the mezzanine level of Planet Hollywood, next to the Criss Angel Theater in the space formerly occupied by Koi Restaurant and Lounge — which closed early this year. It will open this winter — ahead of a new food hall in the property’s Miracle Mile Shops which opens in 2025 — with locations of Fat Sal’s, Tacotarian, Carnegie Pizza, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Lobster Me, and Fat Tuesday.