Bella Vita Bistro
Posted on September 13, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We always make fun of Wichitans because Wichita West-siders don’t ever go to the East side of town and Wichita East-siders don’t ever go to the West side. Ironically, with the exception of driving all over town pickleball (and Zumba classes back in my totally addicted to Zumba life stage), I am actually one of “these” people we poke fun at. Guilty as charged. In my defense, it’s human nature to want to stick to our comfort zones.
To that end, whenever we crave Italian food, we always end up at Carrabba’s or another Italian resto on the East side of town (the side where we live). I’ve heard many, many great things about Bella Vita Bistro over the years but we had never been. Why? Because it’s on West Street and we would actually have to drive to the “other” side of town to eat there.
We finally had a reason to go a couple of months ago when we were meeting some friends (Grant and Susie Ternes) who live on the West side. West Street, though closer to them than us, is actually somewhat centrally located all things considered. Plus, I had never been there and was curious to try it. And, although I’d be coming from home because I work remotely on Fridays, Brian would be coming from his office on the West side of town so the restaurant was actually super close to him.
I think for a long time Bella Vita was only open for dinner (5 PM to 9 PM Monday through Saturday) but they recently started this Friday lunch buffet thing so we decided to go there for lunch and check it out.
The restaurant doesn’t really look like much on the outside. So, unless you heard of how great the food is from someone else or a friend invites you to go, it’s not really a place where you’d drive by and instantly be like, “We gotta go check that place out!” Most definitely not something Brian gravitates to, restaurant-wise.
Naturally, I took pictures of everything. Or I tried to, anyway. The lunch buffet is quite extensive.
They had some smoked salmon as part of the antipasti and some beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp dishes. They literally had something for everyone.
These garlic bread knots were also great. They kind of remind me of the delicious bread you get at Genova in Newton but smaller.
Okay, now that I’m looking back, the Genova bread is way better but these garlic bread knots were pretty darn good too.
They also had a couple of salad options, some pasta salad, some soup, and a crap ton of desserts. Truly, they had something on the buffet for everyone.
These are the things that actually ended up on our plates.
Brian, who is kind of picky, didn’t think the dishes were hot enough. I mean, I get it. It’s a buffet after all, and the food is sitting out in the chaffing trays. But, at $20 per person, I thought the food was delicious and an excellent value.
I tried a little bit of everything, which you really can’t do unless you go to dinner with 12 friends who are nice enough to let you taste all their food. Or you would have to go to the restaurant 12 different times to order the various entrees on the menu. This way, I got to sample just about everything and, honestly, I thought all of it was quite good. I would totally do this buffet again. It is far less work than finding 12 friends to go to dinner and convincing every single person to order something different and asking them for a taste. Yeah, that’s probably not happening.
My friends are nice and they humor me by letting me take pictures of their food BEFORE they eat it but letting me influence what they order AND letting me taste their food is probably a stretch. I mean, I can think of a handful of people who maybe would let me but the rest would just laugh at my face.
Verdict? This is probably one of the best lunch buffets in Wichita. The food is good and the price is right. If you’ve never been to Bella Vita, I highly recommend hitting the lunch buffet first. For about $20, you can sample a great selection of the entrees that you’re going to see on their dinner menu and then, when you find the dish you love most, go back for dinner and order it so you can have it hot and fresh and made just for you. Bon appetit!
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