Va Bene Italian Eatery

Oh my goodness get in my tummy! I ordered the brocolini salad and added grilled chicken. Divine. The goat cheese + dried fruit are a goated combo. Mahomes and Kelce perchance. The fam ordered the appetizer sampler first. Fried fare--nothing special. Two got the lasagna and one got the chicken piccata (watch out for the spice on the piccata). I was playing eye tag with their meals. No complaints. Out curtain call was the limonincello cake. Not life changing but as Goldilocks would say, "Ayyy whaddya meaan, I'm walkin here, that cake is just right Tone."Ambience? Ngl I felt like an Olathe farmer from 1990. Very upscale and trendy vibe. Service check! The hosts and wait staff were so welcoming and truly made my family's night. Eat your heart out Prairie Village!

I recently met a business colleague at Va Bene for lunch and it was delightful. I love to support local restaurants serving amazing food.The restaurant is intimate, beautifully decorated and features an open kitchen. It's a perfect neighborhood dining hangout.The restaurant was about a quarter full when we arrived, so we had awesome service during our brief meal.My dining partner who frequently dines here, told me the Rigatoni is to die for. I tried some of her order and would be the first to agree.For lunch, I'm more of a salad guy, so the Chopped Salad was a homerun. Loved the creamy Italian dressing, oregano croutons, cherry tomatoes and cured meats. The portion was so large, I had lunch for my wife when I returned home.I'd love to return for a dinner so I could check out more of their menu. I heard rave reviews for their pizzas, as well as other pasta dishes.They have a half price wine special on Wednesday and Sunday, as well as live music on Thursdays.

This place was rated well on a couple different instagram feeds & google. However it was way over priced for the experience. It was a double date night for my friend's 50th birthday also mentioned in the reservation. I can now see why there were still so many open reservations & so many empty tables on a Saturday night. The ambience felt more like a place you ordered at a counter from then went to a table than a fine dining experience.It took over 25 minutes for the server to take our initial drink orders. Then we had the wrong drink orders brought 20 minutes later. When we finally got our drinks, 2 glasses of house wine ( $15 a piece) & 2 Tito Litos ($11 a piece) the tiny glass for the Tito Litos were half full. It was a glorified lemon drop & a waste of money for the amount of sugar added. They had a " bites & flights" feature that was based on 3 different regions in Italy, which cost $15pp per region/bite & flight. After 45 minutes our server was still not really able to tell us what this new menu pairing items were (ie What kind of wine or the color of the wines for each the 3 flights or what the bite was for each one.). However she continued to suggest each person order all 3. The would have been $45 per person per place of the 3 places multiple times. What we eventually found out was that it was a "taste" of wine & a piece of cheese or small piece of hard meat depending on which region of the 3 offerings she mentioned. So for $45 a person you could have 3 samples of wine, 2 pieces of cheese (which she didn't know what kind of cheese & a piece of some random meat from another Italian region). We were clearly hungry at this point & continued to be pleasant throughout the night however very frustrated. We asked about the simple sliced bread & oil, that the table had next to us & if we needed to order the bread on the appetizers menu ($9) to get that. The waitress said yes to get any bread that's what we needed to do. My boyfriend & I shared a half beet salad ($8, full $16) in which the 6 tiny beet pieces were covered with arugula & a couple slices of radishes. Truly disappointing. Then our bread appetizer comes out it looks very different than the sliced focaccia bread with oil on the side. We asked why it looks different to the manager who dropped it off. The manager said well we only bring out the other bread after the appetizers which was not stated at any point. So, $9 wasted and disappointing for the experience. At about 1.5 hours into the meal the server finally takes our food order. The entrees came out about 20 minutes later & were pretty delicious, the only reason for the 2nd star. All in all for over a $125 bill just for my boyfriend & I. They also never acknowledged our friends birthday which was mentioned on the reservation. All of that to say I will NOT be recommending this place or go back. Kansas City has way too many other options especially Italian options to throw away money on an experience like this.

Delicious food, great service! Definitely can share. Honestly the appetizers were the best! I'd skip the side salad. I also had a blood orange spritz cocktail that was DELICIOUS!

Starting with the positives, the service was great. We were seated quickly and a friendly waitress was over the help almost immediately. She asked many times throughout the meal if there was anything she could do for us and constantly brought more waters to appease a thirsty table. The inside has a nice set up with a warm tone and there is lots of outdoor seating for the nicer weather. Then the fresh bread arrived at our table. Warm from the oven, seasoned simply with salt and rosemary, and served with olive oil. Unfortunately in terms of the food, that was far and away the best part of the meal. We got the appetizer trio that came with Fried Ravioli, Fried Zucca, and Mushroom Arancini. They were all deep fried so couldn't have been that bad, but nothing I'd order again. For the entree, the Fusilli had more flavor than others at the table and the shrimp were well cooked, but the dish lacked excitement. My mom's Orechiette was severely under seasoned to the point where she had to ask for salt and pepper, something I've rarely seen from her palate.

Italian place that actually has good hours! The restaurant was cute and cozy and our server was great. The food was just okay, the bolognese was good, but the tagliatelle was not very flavorful and does not advertise that it has red pepper flakes which was a big bummer. The bruschetta was just okay, not bad but we have had better. We did order dessert and the ice cream it was served with was supposed to be a vanilla ice cream I believe, and it came out with coffee ice cream, also a big bummer because I don't like coffee ice cream. But my hubby does and enjoyed it haha. Over it was good and we would come back but definitely order differently.

Food- mostly goodService - goodAmbiance - goodWent to VB on Wed 1/31/04."Had" to get the lunch special due to a menu mixup.The Caesar Salad was good and the Gia Sandwich was ok, if only due to a few issues, IMHO.The bread seems to be a cheaper variety/brand than before, lot less flavor to it.There used to be like a olive spread/tampenade on it and after making my sammie open faced I saw no olive spread.Spread seems to be replaced with a creamy aoli (aka fancy word for mayo) instead.The other menu mixup that kind of "grinds my gears" is a mismatch of items online menu vs @ the restaurant.Specifically the appetizer scallops are online but NOT in the restaurant."I don't mean to go on a rant here" but....if your online menu does not match you actual menu, IMHO, to me that's tantamount to listing your phone number in the so called Yellow Pages incorrectly.

We took advantage of KCRW week to try new places which is how we came to have lunch at Va Bene, but it won't be the last. We already perused the menu to start to plan our next visit. I am sorry to say that I cannot remember our server's name. He shared the right amount of information so we could determine what we wanted to order. He noticed how much we appreciated the bread and gave us little bit more to enjoy. We enjoyed the large portion of Lobster Bisque, Rigatoni and Chicken Caprese Sandwich. We were so full (maybe all that wonderful bread) that half the Chicken Caprese sandwich came home with us. Oh and the potatoes were awesome!They opened in the middle of the pandemic and were impacted by challenges from the surrounding businesses. They have already shown preservation in tough times and hope that serves them well to continue to do well in the future. Cannot wait to bring friends with us next time.

I love this place and all the flavors of each plate. This place has that great neighborhood feel but you know you are getting the best ingredients and flavors on one plate.I have had a chance to visit them in the winter and the summer and you get two great experiences. In the summer they have a large patio that is great to enjoy your meal and in the winters it's nice a cozy, great for a date night or to get together with your closest friends. I love starting off my meal with their meatballs, if there is a meatball on the menu I am ordering it and Va'Benes meatballs never disappoint they have pork, beef, & ricotta meatballs, rustic marinara & fontina fonduta, parmesan reggiano, grilled focaccia. I also enjoy eating their bruschetta as a starter and I am not even a bruschetta lover but there is something about theirs it has basil pesto, confit cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, balsamic glaze, I think it's the pesto and the balsamic glaze that gets my taste buds going. I also love their mushroom arancini, which is PACKED with flavor it has Sicilian rice fritters, mozzarella, artichoke aioli, Calabrian chiles, don't sleep on the Calabrian chiles those pack a punch and add a great flavor to this dish. In the summers I like to eat light so I am a big fan of their Mediterranean Chopped salad, which has house greens, creamy Italian dressing, oregano croutons, olives, artichokes, cherry tomato, cured meats, egg, pecorino. I wish I had added a protein but I had meatballs on the side, which was just enough.I come here often and would recommend it to all my friends

Delicious pasta, salads, entrees, desserts, wine, and more can be found at Va Bene in Prairie Village! We started our meal off with the house Chardonnay, House Cab, and the amazingly fresh Berry Salad. The candied almonds stole the show! We also feasted on the Orecchiette Con Salsiccia which has a light but creamy sauce with broccolini, pine nuts, and ground sausage. We ordered this option because we could not pick between the several delicious options and had the server surprise us with his favorite...we were NOT disappointed. We ended the meal with the Gelato Trio and you need to too! Sit inside or outside on the patio to enjoy the good weather! Great service, great ambience, great food & drinks.