Bella Vita Ristorante - Elkhorn

I really wanted to like this restaurant but I cannot honestly think of anything that went well with the service while we were there. I am the type of person that never speaks up to a server about an issue but this was the worst service I have ever had atany restaurant. It began with us having to wait 45 minutes which turned into over an hour. When we checked in with the hostess,she told us she called us and we made a to go order. We informed her we hadn't and we were still waiting. She did not apologize.She only told us she now had a table for us. She put menus on the table and then told us to go to the table and then just leftus standing at the door to go seat ourselves. We then got our waters and sat for over 10 minutes before someone came to take ourdrink order. We ordered a drink and they offered us a free appetizer. Our table was so cold, we were both wearing our coats butwhen I asked to move to another table I was told there were no other tables open but we could see other open tables. They werejust 6 tops. We ordered and the appetizer and wine were actually very good, however, after we got our drinks, no one came backfor over 20 minutes to take our dinner order. During that time we watched as every table around us could not find their serversand they could not get their checks. We also kept swatting away gnats at our table and noted the same with tables near us.Finally our server returned to take our order and we could not bare to remain for an entire meal when our experience thus farhad been a series of unfortunate events. We honestly did not want to spend any more money here. Our server did appologize butalso gave several excuses about why we were skipped for our wait time and then that she was busy with a large party upstairs. Iam sorry. I really wanted to like this business and support local but this is honestly the worst service I have ever had at anyrestaurant. We left and had a frozen pizza at home for our rare date night.

Arrived at 5:15 with our party of 8. With one being my 83 yo dad. We have a very good understanding that everyone is short help. However, it took 2 hours to get our food. We were never approached by waitress to see if we needed anything or toexplain the wait. After one hour, we had to flag down the waitress to ask an eta. We hadn't even received our salads. BTW,upon arrival, we were approached by waitress and we ordered a $40 bottle of wine. She never came back to see if we wanted more. My husband repeatedly tried to flag down someone just to get a beer and finally had to go up to bar and file a complaint. Wefinally got our food, got boxes to go because now Dad is ready to go home. The entire mediocre meal was $210. Everyone at ourtable told me not to leave a tip, but I went ahead and left her $40. I physically took her the check because she was veryaloof. I told her that I went ahead and gave her a 20% tip even though service was horrible. Her response? Yeah, well, we'rehiring if you think you can do better! Not thank you or I'm sorry. What a snotty, disrespectful young lady you are, Callie. Have regrets I left her anything. We were not rude or demanding, but we were very disappointed and will not go back.

I am not sure how this restaurant gets so many great reviews. I went here for a date night on a Friday and the service was really slow. We waited for drinks, food, and went to the bar to get our tab to leave. The wait staff didn't stop moving so Ican't necessarily get mad about that but with slow service the food has to make up for it. The Bruschetta was AMAZING and theonly thing I would recommend about this place! I ordered risotto with scallops. The risotto was dry and scallops didn't tastelike they were seasoned at all. My husband ordered the lasagna and he thought it was more of a cheese and sauce dish with a fewnoodles. We were disappointed with the experience and won't be going back.

This little Italian joint in Elkhorn is a nice surprise for those looking for good food off the beaten path. Like me, you'll probably want 75% of the items on the menu pizza, pasta, salad but you'll have to narrow it down. Luckily you'll havebread, water, wine, and some time to mull it over! In the end I went with the Parmagiano with Veal and she got the classicLasagna. Both were excellent. Their red sauce is tangy, sweet, and lightens up your taste buds. I have no doubt that the sauceof contender options like the Lemon Orzo's basil pesto, or the Tortellini di Manzo's black peppercorn brandy cream sauce would be just as excellent. It was busy on the patio at 7 o clock (one hour to close) on a Wednesday. Though our waitress wasquite busy and took a while to get to us, we didn't mind. They gave us everything we wanted (you want some space at a place likethis). I was impressed that she went table to table taking orders without writing a single order down. Somehow she managed toget everything out perfectly. So yes, I would absolutely recommend this restaurant for a casual evening out with your spouse ora few close friends. I myself will be returning to try the other 70

Food was fabulous, service was exceptional! Nicole handled our party of 30 with ease! Her experience, professionalism and patience are qualities you don't see every day. Absolutely recommend for family dinner, date night or the 301 room for a specialoccasion.