One of our favorite locally-owned restaurants! They're got the best Italian food! The Salmon Florentine is amazing, as is their Byrne Special Cannelloni! Their pizza's and calzone's are some of the very best in the Tri-Cities area! Amal, who runs the restaurant, is an incredible man - super friendly and a great businessman! Don't dare overlook this gem of a restaurant!! You'll be so happy that you've eaten here! Oh yes, and their bread, served before the meal, is off-the-chain!! read more

Needs to improve quality, quantity and wait time to match the prices. Was brought to eat here for Mother's Day. (I usually don't comment on gift meals unless it's positive.) It was early afternoon and busy, so we sat at the bar to save time. When we looked at the menu, we thought everything looked pricey but figured it would be worth it. We ordered the namesake dishes: the Chicken Bella Vita for me and the Veal Bella Vita for my husband. Wait staff was very nice and indicated it was a good choice. We also ordered a bottle of wine (way overpriced for what it was). The bread and the extra olive oil dip we ordered were delicious, as were the salads.Then we waited. And waited. Over an hour after finishing our salads, the entrees finally arrived. I'm patient with holiday crowds, but no place should take this long. When the food arrived, I was not impressed by the portions for a $25.99 entree, but I hoped the taste would make up for it. It didn't. There was no taste at all! It was supposed to be a champagne sauce, but it tasted like flavorless biscuit gravy with no salt--and no cheese was offered to help it out. My 'Bella Vita' plate had only about 2 bites of chicken, 3 shrimp, and a few pieces of artichoke with some sun-dried tomatoes. I get that poor planning can make a holiday meal prep a challenge, but we paid full price--over $100 for two people before tip. We won't be returning. read more

Bella Vita - Bella Vita Chicken. - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

My husband and I went there for lunch and no one was there. Very dark inside for lunch. I can see it being low lighting for dinner. I ordered the Minestrone Soup! It came after about 20 minutes and it tasted and looked like they opened a can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce puréed with something and had 4 pieces of over cooked small round pasta pieces in it. It was not even hot and was lukewarm barely!!! I also ordered the Manicotti with a house salad. The salad was very small and did not have anything on it and did not look anything like the menu picture....the Manicotti was not hot and the cook said he just got it out of the oven. The dish was not hot...I could touch it and it looked like they poured the Soup over the shells and melted cheese on it. My husband ordered the Cheese and sausage Calzone. It was all bread and filled with some cheese and sliced sausage with hard green pepper cut in squares. The bread was hot because it was pizza dough, cheese was barely in this large Calzone and had no Marinara sauce with it or in it. This was our first time there and we told the waiter this. It took them 20 minutes to bring the bread out and we asked for butter. It took so long to get our meals we asked for more bread and the waiter brought it with tongs from the back and put it in our bread basket. Did not even get the basket and take it back to put the bread in it. We did not eat anything but bread and butter and were there over an hour. We told our waiter we did not enjoy the meal and did not eat it, which he knew because he saw what was left on the table and never removed. We told him we did not think we should pay for the meal and he said he would not charge us. We left and got home and my husband realized he did not give our money back. We called and talked with the manager or owner. I really don't know. He said to come back and he would give our money back. The strange thing was that there were only two more tables with 2 people at each table and before we left 2 more ladies came in. I am sorry, but I know we will not be going back. I wish I could recommend this restaurant, but I cannot. read more

So my review is for my meal and my wife's meal. Let me say that this is a very nice restaurant. Their salad was excellent, and the same with their bread. We got their house Italian salad dressing and it was super good. Service was prompt and timely, as we had a waiter and several others serving. I ordered the Lasagna and I enjoyed it; my experience was a four-star meal. My wife had their Chicken Parmesan and I was not a fan. The chicken was not that crispy, so the texture was not what we are used to. My wife did not like the sauce, too bold. Overall, the food was good but we are still missing our Italian places in Northwest Chicago. Ambiance is very pleasant here and we do recommend you try it as palate is such a fickle thing. read more

Bella Vita - Lasagna - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

Granddaughter wanted to go for her birthday we had a great meal... portions were large and delicious. Would recommend the fetachinia Alfredo granddaughters' favorite read more

It is hard to find good Italian Food around the area and was told this place is good. The service is great, friendly and fast. we ordered the lasagna and the eggplant parmesan. Eggplant was pretty tasty. I was told the lasagna was ok but not very flavorful. read more

Bella Vita - Lasagna, not very flavorful - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

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Tried a new-to-me Italian restaurant in the Tri Cities. Came on a week night and it wasn't too busy. We were seated right away. Friendly service from this family owned restaurant. Hubby ordered their family recipe Lasagna. I tried their Chicken Parmigiana. Unfortunately, the chicken parmigiana is soggy. Their red sauce is different and not to my liking. A bit sour/ bitter. But that's personal preference. Some may like this flavor. It's a smaller dining area but you still feel separated from other tables. Room was decorated all Valentine. Their house salad dressing (Italian) is very good and so is their freshly baked bread. read more

Amazing place! Not sure how I've missed this fantastic restaurant definitely a hidden gem! Best salad I've had out, hot bread, yummy entree and amazing tiramisu read more

What a hidden gem! This place deserves more attention. No pictures of our food because we inhaled it but our meal was wonderful from the bread, salad, to entrees. We all agreed the Penne Vodka was the best dish! Waiters are attentive and make you feel welcome and the restaurant feels like a welcoming old-style family owned Italian restaurant. read more

My experience with Bella Vita's food and service have been primarily take-out / to go; I do plan to return for a dine-in experience! The restaurant is open during lunch hours, closes and then reopens for dinner with the exception of Saturday for dinner and Sunday 11am - 9pm. The main dining area is very intimate; dining areas taking the most advantage of small square footage. They do offer a private room and there is a bar area in the back. The staff that I have engaged with have been very helpful and very friendly to speak with. My orders have always been ready for pick up at the allotted time frame they provide. The cheese pizza is very good. The crust is crunchy and cheese not too salty; I love being able to fold my pizza in half because any other way is not a pizza to me. :) My only call-out would be the parking lot outside the restaurant; when they are busy, it is very difficult to find a parking spot even for patrons who are just picking up to-go. If there can be even one designated spot for takeout customers, that would be most appreciated! But seeing how packed the lot is means there are folks who truly enjoy dining here. I look forward to my dine-in experience!! read more

Back for a second time...they are consistent. Best Italian food in town. If you haven't made it here, you are missing out. read more

Bella Vita - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

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Excellent Mediterranean cuisine served by people who have a passion and pride for their craft. Welcoming staff, classy ambience professionally crafted cocktails. And I found it in Johnson City, Tennessee. It's a diamond in the rough. read more

Bella Vita - Negroni - tastes like grandma Leoni's kisses. Muahh! - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

We were a party of 4 and two of us were from California. Bella Vita was highly recommended our dining experience was disappointing. Food was average! One friend ordered a calzone which came almost 10 minutes before the rest of the entrées. Server had no apologies, didn't clear the table between plates, very disappointing. read more

The food was excellent! I had the chicken francese. My husband had the shrimp scampi. Our friends had the chicken parm and spaghetti and meatballs.All of us took home half our dinners. The portions are huge. Service was beautiful. Very friendly. Will definitely be back. read more

The food was great I liked the staff and ambiance. The waiter forgot to put my bf's order in and my daughter and I ate before he did. The manager took it off the check without us mentioning it. When his food did come out it was just 3 manicotti's and they were small so he had to eat when we got home. We will probably give the place another chance, but we definitely won't order the manicotti. read more

My wife and I went to Bella Vita on Valentine's Day, the food was great. Bella Vita truly has some of the best Italian food in East Tennessee, however improvements can be made regarding service. The restaurant can benefit from an POS system and better compartmentalization of roles. If the chefs could focus on cooking while the servers ran the food, this would decrease wait time. If servers are assigned based on covers instead of assigning a server a section, they would be able to better control restaurant pacing. My wife and I waited for an hour and a half on our food after we ordered. However, we were very pleased with the quality of food and completely understand the increase in wait time was due to the influx of people due to Valentine's Day. Regarding the ambiance, Bella Vita is cozy albeit slightly dated. I also believe the restaurant could perform better if they adjust portions and pricing. If the restaurant can tighten up on their service, I truly believe they have the potential to be one of the best restaurants in the Tri-cities. Overall, this restaurant is without a doubt worth your time. We look forward to returning! read more

think this is the most overrated restaurant around. Atmosphere is so old school and unorganized and just weird. the dinners are almost mediocre and the pizza is honestly the worse I've had in the area. Place needs a revamp, kick up their recipes few notches Wanted to really like it but been a few times just can't. read more

Absolutely amazing I'm from California, but this is probably the best Italian restaurant I've ever visited. From the staff to the overall excellence of the food and I tried many dishes as well as appetizers. It was fantastic. Next time I'm in Johnson City. I'm gonna make it a point to stop at Bella Vita read more

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It's a little dark and dingy. Needs a good cleaning overall. But service was good. Portions on the pasta were generous. Way too much sauce though. This was our first time there so we will give it another try. read more

These guys rock. Some of the best pizza around. Solid taste and always served with some great conversation. Our business team eats there usually every week. They are amazing. read more

If you live in Johnson City and haven't tried Bella Vita, what are you doing!? This is some of the best Italian food and I'm proud to say it's here in JC! I usually get the Rollatin Alla Margarita! MUAH! It's declicious. The last time we went with family, we decided to get a cheese pizza, pasta, bread, wine, apps, etc. My uncle who's from up North said he can't even get pizza like this! Whatever they do to their pizza is magic! Don't sleep on this! The service is always prompt and the staff are always ready to serve you. The food and the warm atmosphere makes this place a hometown go to! If you're visiting or just live here and haven't been, you won't be disappointed. The owners greet you like family and are just full of joy that you are there, that's rare! You can't beat that! read more

Bella Vita - Cheese pizza - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

Went with the GF and she got the lasagna ($18.99) and I went with the Fra Diablo seafood (shrimp , scallops, calamari) dish ($32.99). The bread here comes hot out of the oven and very good. I asked for the olive oil dish for dipping and it came with added seasonings. The olive oil here is VERY bold ...a bit too bold for my taste as it overpowered the bread a bit. Dip sparingly The lasagna portion was huge ...enough for a take home meal for sure....especially the extra sauce . My Fra Diablo was very good with all three seafoods cooked perfectly . Also a large portion fit for a take-home box. It definitely will clear your sinuses by the end of the bowl...buts it's not so ridiculously spicy that it overtook the dish. Perfectly done. It was my birthday so I got a free dessert and opted for the tiramisu. Excellent and very light..even if you're stuffed you can safely order some. My ONLY real gripe on the dinner was the lack of freshly grated parm grated to order at the table ...they have your basic pizza parlor powdered parm in a shaker. The food here is definitely worthy of fresh Parm ..doesn't have to be Parm Reg...just a grocery quality brand. Service was very good and friendly. Staff seemed to be well-organized. Just fix that cheese muh peeps !!!! read more

Great lil Italian Restaurant . Every dish I've tried has been excellent ! Their homemade bread is amazing and the Ranch dressing is some of the best around ! Recommend getting there early because the place fills up rather quickly . read more

The food is awesome, the service is great, and a very relaxing atmosphere. I would recommend this place.

So this breaks my heart to update my review of this location because we truly felt at first that we had found a gem..... the last two experiences fell short. I didn't speak on the last visit before this one because I thought maybe they just had an off night, but their pizza was randomly way off from the norm, this visit..... was just awful. We ordered the classic meat lasagna and the chicken parm. My husband didn't even eat more than three bites before his appetite was just gone. There was minimal meat in what was supposed the MEAT lasagna. He had to dig and dig just to find a very thin layer at the bottom. The sauce was thrown about over the dish with an undercooked almost raw tomato flavor. My dish, the chicken parm had that same undercooked flavor in the sauce, I will say the chicken was flavored nicely but for the price, I'm disappointed. You get double the portion with better consistency at Olive Garden. It really does pain me to write this because we wanted to love this place but the inconsistency of plates makes it hard to ever want to go back. To be fair we have visited before these last two let downs and tried other menu items, the calzones were tasty but more like Strombolis but again.... Tasty so I didn't feel the need to complain, and the penne vodka is phenomenal and reminded me of my grandmother's recipe that I just personally cannot duplicate because she passed before I could learn. So that's why I leave this three star review here because depending on the night you'll either be blown away, or upset that you just paid $18.99 for something stouffer's could do better read more

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My wife and I have traveled around the world and when we were interested in something more than just Olive Garden we found it here! Excellent service, great sauces, and the choice of wine was perfect! Atmosphere was good, a little dated but in the end the wine, food, and engagement with server and owner made this a special place to return. read more

Best Italian in the tri cities. Ran by family who is actually from Italy. Great ambiance and alternative to our American Carrabas and Olive Garden. Definitely worth the visit! read more

Bella Vita - Lasagna was on point, very hefty portion. - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

I genuinely think this business buys their reviews, because our experience was ABYSMAL. What are the chances that all of their recent reviews are all 5 stars? We spent two hours at this restaurant waiting on our food and didn't even get to eat it. The service was terrible. I work in the service industry and spent nearly three years in food service. I try to be understanding and patient, but their staff are negligent and would rather talk to other tables for long periods of time instead of checking on other customers. On top of that, instead of taking 20 seconds out of their "busy" schedules to take our drink order, all of the servers wanted to sit at a table together while talking and rolling silverware. We tried to express this to our server and he was rude, unapologetic and couldn't offer any explanation. We took our food home. This is advertised as one of the best restaurants in Johnson City, but their unprofessional staff should advise you to steer clear of this place. read more

Our son was looking for Italian. We didn't want to go to a chain restaurant. We found this on yelp. We couldn't be more delighted. It was very authentic and so delicious. The staff were excellent and very timely. The surroundings may need to be updated a little bit, but once you get into the flow of the food and the wine and the chatting, you don't even notice it. Would definitely want to return again and encourage anyone else to do so. read more

Terrible service and too long of a wait for the food. Olive Garden is more Italian than this place

The food was excellent. The appetizer was brisketa, and it was of significant size. 4 people could easily have shared. One person could have made a meal out of it very, very worth the money. The service was excellent even though they were overworked. Bella vitas, like all other restaurants in this area, cannot find servers that want to work for good wage. I would most definitely recommend this restaurant. If you want good authentic tasting italian food, skip the box italian stores that do not compare. read more

Wonderful food and very friendly service. We had a party of seven and everyone loved what they had. Homemade sauces with great ingredients made for a delicious evening. Thank you Bell Vita. read more

Great little place. Food was fresh and delicious. Service was great. Their Italian dressing for the sandwich was outstanding as were their fries. My husband had their creamy garlic soup he loved it. Would definitely go back again. read more

Best shrimp Alfredo hands down and the spicy shrimp are a close 2nd. Looking forward to trying the pizza on the next visit! read more

This restaurant is amazing. It was very crowded and we still got seated quickly. The service was amazing, drinks and bread were at the table immediately and refills were so fast. The bread was incredibly hot and melted the butter perfectly. The salad might be the best I've ever had, the Italian dressing is homemade and incredible. I got Penne Vodka with chicken and it was 10/10 while my gf got Chicken Alfredo that she loved. Also the portion sizes were huge. For dessert we got a cannoli that was perfect and sweet. The best part was by far the staff though. Multiple people went out of their way for us. It feels like everyone knows you. read more

By far one of the best restaurants around. Very friendly and great quality. I like the willingness to modify most entrees and having things I've never tried before read more

Love this feel good, hometown place. Food is good; drink pours are even better. The restaurant is very clean & the staff are amazing. Even the customers were very welcoming. Liked the vibe instantly. My co-worker and I chose this place from Yelp. I had the eggplant parm & she had Alfredo. Both cooked with love & flavored. The Sunday gravy was amazing. Owner poured our drinks & they were heaven. Will def be back. read more

Bella Vita - The Beautiful Bar!! - Italian Near Me - Johnson City, Tennessee

Amazing food and service!!!! The best kept secret in JC. I'd give these guys a 10 if I could.

The first time we visited Bella Vita was unplanned but delicious! We were waiting for our car be maintenanced. Recently, we decided to try it again (we don't live close by) and it was as good as the other time. It's a small place but don't let that fool you. The portion sizes were generous and the flavor of both our meals was just perfect. The service was great too! We were very pleased with the whole experience read more

What else can you say? They're just the best. Pizza? No better. Italian? No better. People and atmosphere? No better. read more