On the second floor of ARIA Resort & Casino, in the midst of the hotel's Adam Tihany-designed sculptural courtyard, lies a cul-de-sac of three restaurants: Sirio Ristorante, Jean-Georges Steakhouse and Michael Mina's American Fish. The courtyard is striking, as it's composed of marble- and mirror-clad pyramids surrounding small barrel cacti, above which is a skylight decorated with dangling, interlocked mirrored triangles. The piece is not without meaning, as the pyramids signify camaraderie between the restaurants while the cacti signify the good-natured competition between them. Once your eyes have digested the garden they'll likely settle on the travertine and marble entrance of Sirio Ristorante, marked by a marble column with a plaque bearing its name, which is repeated above in the form of large black letters mounted to the restaurant's marble facade. As you turn into the restaurant -- which also was designed by Tihany -- there is a marble hostess station beneath a modern, gold-hued circular chandelier. Further past the hostess station, where there's another plaque, as well as a framed menu, is a life-sized photograph of an Italian street on which is a brick building with curving arches that makes you feel as if you are walking the streets of Rome. Directly in front, meanwhile, lies a red couch with small round tables made of dark wood, which are delicately decorated with orchids. Near those, two end tables hold gold-hued table lamps in the same style as the chandelier above the hostess station. Perpendicular to the couch and directly behind the hostess station is a marble wall with beautiful red and gold stained-glass cubes, which form an abstract structure with plants placed strategically inside and underneath it. This seating area is separated from the more casual dining area by etched glass screens framed in dark wood.

Once you've passed the entryway, the first sight you'll see is Sirio's more casual dining area -- the café -- which is open to the courtyard. The café is an open-air café framed by marble columns, through which is a transparent view of all the ARIA action. Dark, highly lacquered wooden tables, each with a small inlaid checkerboard in the center, as well as a chrome base, are strategically placed throughout the café. Beside the tables that border the courtyard is a table-height etched-glass screen with dark wood and golden glass borders, which separates the tables from the courtyard. Lighting is direct and strategically placed throughout. Overhead, lights form a unique geometric pattern in the ceiling, where there are alternating squares of dark and light. On several of the columns, meanwhile, are lighting structures made of gold-hued stained-glass boxes -- like the ones at the entryway -- with lights inside them, illuminating the boxes from the center. Toward the far right of the room lies a glass wine cellar (Sirio's incredibly large selection of Italian vintages includes more than 650 labels, about 75 percent of which are Italian). Directly perpendicular to this is a life-sized picture of an Italian open-air café and a single table next to it; if you dine here, it feels as if you are eating outside. Chairs are wooden with semi-circular backs and brown leather seats framed in orange piping. The white travertine and marble floor reflects the light from the ceiling and from the adjacent courtyard, which creates a modern feeling that emphasizes the airiness of the café.