The Battista of Battista’s Hole In the Wall Italian eatery, located just east of the Strip on Flamingo Rd. across from Bally’s, is Battista Locatelli. A first-generation immigrant, he left his native Italy in 1949 as a teenager with his sister, brother, and two cousins. They disembarked at Ellis Island, New York. Battista had earned a little money working as a waiter in the ship’s dining room.
The family took the train to southern California, where Locatelli continued working as a waiter. He also drove a truck in California and to pass the time, he sang while driving, which attracted the attention of a Las Vegas show producer. He moved to Vegas in the ‘50s to sing in a stage show, but the show didn’t open, so he went back to waiting tables and bartending in southern California, eventually working at the Bel Air Hotel and La Scala, both in Beverly Hills; La Scala at one time was the quintessential fine-dining Italian establishment for Hollywood's high society. There, he made the acquaintance of a number of celebrities of the day. He also kept singing; when the restaurants had parties and banquets, he’d get up and belt out a few tunes.
In the late ’60s, he moved back to Vegas and purchased a small bar called the Dive, intending to turn it into an Italian restaurant. In 1970, with his wife Rio in the kitchen, he opened Battista’s Hole in the Wall.
The combination of good solid Italian, the killer location, and the Locatellis’ friends from So. Cal attracted plenty of celebrities to Battista’s. When they came in, Locatelli asked them to send back autographed photos. He told them, "Hey, if you send me a photo, I’ll put it up on the wall and make you famous." Or, if they were game, he snapped his own pictures with a camera he kept handy. He was always tactful and respected their privacy. "I never went up while they were chewing their food or something."
Hundreds of signed celebrity photos -- everyone from Frank Sinatra and Andy Griffith to Bill Cosby and Tom Cruise, along with a collection of wine bottles from the old brothels of the Wild West -- adorn the walls.
Battista’s is also famous for its all-inclusive dinners, which include unlimited garlic bread, minestrone ladled tableside from a tureen, all the wine you can drink, and a cocoa cappuccino, along with a strolling accordionist who's been there forever and has played "That's Amore," perhaps, 10,000 times.
Battista’s was extremely successful from the start and, at is peak, boasted it served between 600 and 900 meals a day. The Locatellis bought the entire shopping center where the restaurant is located in 1978. In 2005, Locatelli sold the land, and his restaurant, to Harrah’s and, after 36 years, retired.
But Battista remains active. He’s run three Boston Marathons and countless other races. He also bicycles up to 30 miles a day, although he’s now in his mid-70s.
