Carluccio's Tivoli Gardens is an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas Nevada. The restaurant was designed by non-other than Liberace who owned the restaurant as Liberace's Tivoli Gardens. It is located adjacent to the Liberace museum that he opened in 1979, just 8 years before his death due to complications related to AIDS. The current restaurant maintains the decor designed by Liberace, and although Liberace was found of cooking and even wrote his own cookbooks, the menu is not filled with Liberace creations. We stopped by the parking lot to the restaurant during the Haunted Vegas Tour we took.

Ghost Stories

The Ghost of who else but Liberace is said to haunt the Tivoli Gardens. His image can sometimes be seen peaking into the banquet room in the back of the restaurant from outside through the windows. There is a story thata one night all of the power in the restaurant suddenly turned off, but the power in the businesses nearby were still working. When one of the waitresses remembered that it was Liberace's birthday and the employees sang happy birthday to him, the power was restored. The owners had an electrician come in the next day to check out the building, and he found nothing wrong with the electircal system. One night someone said something offensive to Liberace and a large tree in a planet near the bar fell over. It took five men to get the tree righted. (there were no trees in planters near the bar when we visited for dinner)

Our Review

He Says:

The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. The decor was of course gaudy and dated, but one would expect that from a restaurant designed by a very flambouyant entertainer who has been dead for more than two decades. I wouldn't want them to change it. While Vegas my seem to pride itself on constantly changing and updating, it is nice to see a few remnants of the older days that does not seem to be in any hurry to change.

She Says:

The food was good and the room we ate in looked like almost any other italian restaurant. It seemed too normal for what I expected from a place Liberace would have helped design. However, after dinner, I explored and found that the Piano Lounge was really the place to see. With dangling lights and sparkles all over and a piano shaped bar (complete with the raised piano lid!) I particularly liked the stained glass window.

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