Carbone Riviera Opens at Bellagio and Already Wins Wine Spectator Honors

Major Food Group's new Italian seafood room has taken over the old Picasso space on the Bellagio patio, and Wine Spectator has already named its cellar among the year's most impressive new wine programs on the Strip.

A New Chapter on the Fountain Patio

For twenty-six years, the corner of Bellagio overlooking the fountains belonged to Picasso, the room that helped define what a Strip fine-dining address could be. That legacy now passes to Carbone Riviera, the newest project from Major Food Group's Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick, built in partnership with MGM Resorts. The space keeps its water view but trades Spanish-inflected elegance for an Italian coastal mood, all mosaic archways, mirrored banquettes, and Murano glass fixtures designed by Martin Brudnizki.

We think the setting matters as much as the menu here. A restaurant with a view like that has to earn its seat at the table twice over, once for the room and once for what lands on the plate, and this opening seems built with that pressure in mind rather than shrinking from it.

Wine Spectator Takes Notice Fast

What caught our attention this month was not just the opening itself but how quickly it registered with the wine world. Wine Spectator's 2026 Restaurant Awards, released this summer, honored more than 4,000 restaurants across all fifty states and eighty seven countries and territories, and Carbone Riviera arrived on that list with a Best of Award of Excellence, the tier reserved for lists built around 350 or more thoughtfully chosen selections.

The cellar reportedly runs close to 1,300 bottles on display with roughly 6,000 in total inventory, leaning into producers like Olivier Leflaive out of Burgundy, Fontodi from Tuscany, and Ceretto in Piedmont for the by-the-glass program. That is exactly the kind of regional pairing philosophy sommeliers keep pointing to this year, matching a coastal Italian menu with wines grown along similar soil and climate lines rather than reaching for whatever carries the biggest name.

A Menu Built Around the Catch

The kitchen leans hard into Italian-American seafood tradition without feeling dated. Expect baked clams casino, calamari fritti, lobster fettuccine, and whole fish finished either grilled or roasted alla Riviera, the kind of dishes that reward a slower pace and a glass refilled between courses rather than rushed through on a pre-theater clock.

There is a showman's touch too. A restored Riva yacht, one of only eighteen ever built in its limited Anniversario run, sits docked on the patio for guests who want the fountains a few feet closer. It is a flourish, certainly, but one that fits a room already decorated with pieces nodding to Miro, Picasso, and Renoir.

What It Signals for Las Vegas Dining

We keep coming back to timing. This opening lands in the same stretch of summer when the city is bracing for its first Michelin ceremony in over a decade, when chefs across the valley are reworking menus around shorter seasonal cycles, and when wine directors everywhere are chasing smaller growers instead of famous labels. A major Strip resort handing its most storied dining address to a seafood-driven Italian concept, then watching it earn national wine recognition within months, tells you plenty about where the pressure sits right now.

For the traveling diner or the local marking an anniversary, the takeaway is simple. The bar for a great Vegas wine list keeps rising, and a restaurant now has to impress on the plate, in the glass, and through the window all at once.

What to Expect at the New Bellagio Address

A few details worth knowing before booking a table at the fountain's edge.

1. The setting: Direct views of the Fountains of Bellagio, in the room Picasso occupied for twenty-six years.
2. The team: Major Food Group's Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick, in partnership with MGM Resorts.
3. The wine list: A Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence cellar built around roughly 1,300 bottles on display.
4. The menu: Italian coastal seafood, from baked clams casino to whole fish finished alla Riviera.
5. The design: Interiors by Martin Brudnizki, with mosaic archways and Murano glass fixtures.
6. The patio flourish: A docked Riva Anniversario yacht, one of eighteen ever built, for guests seeking a closer fountain view.
7. The hours: Open nightly for dinner service, with reservations recommended given the view and the buzz.

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