Count's Vamp'd & D'Amore's Famous Pizza Las Vegas Restaurant Review
This is a guest post by @24K.
Several days ago, Bill and I were presented with an opportunity to visit Count’s Vamp’d House of Rock and the new home of D’Amore’s Famous Pizza. The D’Amore name should be familiar to Las Vegans, but Count’s Vamp’d is new. The location is on 6750 West Sahara, Las Vegas, NV and was formally Feelgoods by music legend, Vince Neil.
The attitude and attention to the customer has changed for the better. When Bill and I arrived to Count’s Vamp’d, Joe, a straight shooter that knows how to make the customer feel welcomed, greeted us. I mentioned earlier that people would know the name D’Amore, as Joe is successful with the Blondies sports restaurant, located in the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood hotel.
Before ordering from the newly created menu, with food that is prepared by a chef that Joe trusts, he talked to us about his restaurant operations philosophy. He is very adamant about his staff, so the staff is excited to prepare the best food they can.
Joe has also worked on restaurants, nightclubs and other venues around the country with celebrities like Matt Damon. Joe and his family are from Boston, MA, but he grew up in Southern California, where he honed his skills as a restaurateur.
Joe gave us a few tips on what to order, so we had a tasting of garlic knots served with marinara, Italian Meatless salad, chicken tenders, a split pizza half cheese and what Count’s Vamp’d calls Bianco, Baked Ziti and finished it all off with a slice of cheesecake. The menu describes what the cheese D’Amore’s pizza by the slice contains and is quite surprising.
Joe let us know that he uses imported Italian water and EVOO, that costs about ten times as much as lard does at some pizza shops. The result is a cheese pizza that tastes good, stands up when you pick up a slice, less fat, calories and carbs compared to some national pizza chains.
The garlic knots were brought out first and were so large that they can’t be dismissed as easily as chips. You will want to spend extra time enjoying them with the marinara sauce made on-site. The sauce has discernable slices of tomatoes and was cooked for a few hours. The point to all of this is to create flavor, because who wants to go to an Italian restaurant and eat food that has tasteless marinara sauce.
The Italian Meatless chopped salad was delivered next and includes mixed greens, mozzarella cheese, garbanzo and kidney beans, tomatoes, olives and pepperoncinis. The light sauce was refreshing; unlike what’s poured on salads I eat, like the spinach or the Caesar. We agreed with Joe on this salad because it’s fresh and is not like what’s normally available at other restaurants’ menus.
Normally when one orders chicken strips, you get four or five small tenders that are breaded and fried to the point of a hard crust that literally scrapes the roof of your mouth. The chicken tenders at Vamp’d are larger than normal, light breading and a series of available sauces like, honey mustard and ranch, which is creamier than normal because it is also made on-site.
When visiting a restaurant that includes ingredients that are special and are imported from around the world, a great idea is to order a split pizza. Joe made another recommendation of trying the no tomato sauce pizza bianco and I wanted to make sure to try their plain cheese. Pizza bianco is their signature slice that has no tomato sauce, fresh spinach and onion sautéed in olive oil and fresh garlic; topped with roasted peppers, ricotta, romano and mozzarella cheeses.
I recommend those that are healthy conscious try a tasty slice of pizza bianco. Also, try a slice of the cheese pizza. The imported Italian water and EVOO makes for an enjoyable experience and a healthier alternative.
The last entre for tasting was the baked ziti. I ordered this specifically as it is a favorite around Las Vegas and is commonly used as a baseline dish for Italian restaurants. The amount and type of cheese on the baked ziti was smooth and I would enjoy ordering it again on a future visit. Again, the signature marinara sauce is used in this dish.
For dessert, we had the option of ordering New York Cheesecake, homemade apple pie or chocolate cake. We struck out on this selection. I would have enjoyed a larger and creamier cheesecake. We were told that the same chef that made the rest of the dishes didn’t make the cheesecake. Next time I’ll order the homemade apple pie.
Take a look at the menu for the details on any dish you may want to try and ask for Joe, if he’s around, he’ll help you decide. Joe and his staff are passionate about what they do and cook for their customers. Joe’s father built his restaurant business one slice and customer at a time and that’s the way Joe has decided to continue the successful legacy. Photo Credit: Bill Cody | www.FineHomesLV.com/Blog
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Disclosure: We were guests of Count’s Vamp’d and our meal was comped.