Battista’s Hole in the Wall is the restaurant’s name, which works. But holes in the ceiling are bad for business.
For that reason, and a few others, the famous Italian restaurant just east of the Strip on Flamingo Road has been closed since the beginning of the month. The restaurant is taking reservations on Open Table beginning June 23.
Owner Randy Markin has been on precipitation patrol since he took over two years ago.
“The building was built in the ’60s, we’d have leaks when it rained,” says Markin, who also owns Stage Door Casino next door and the rest of the strip mall. “We just decided to just re-roof the whole place and put all new air conditioning units in there and update the equipment.”
There will be no discernible change in the atmosphere of Battista’s, decorated by an estimated 4 million photos of Vegas celebs over the decades. Battista’s had been owned by Caesars Entertainment. Markin bought the restaurant to give it extended life.
“They were just going to close the restaurant. And I said, ‘You know, we’ve got a lot of people that work there. You’re going to put all these people out of work. I’ll run the restaurant,’” Markin says. “So now our group that owns the shopping center owns the restaurant.”
As Battista’s reopens, Markin is temporarily closing Stage Door through July.
“Stage Door is shutting down for the same amount of time and we’re doing the same thing,” Markin says of the money-making machine.“You would be surprised how much liquor we sell at a state store. I mean, it’s just crazy. I’ve been told by the liquor companies we’re the number one independent liquor store in the state.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
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