{"id":774,"date":"2010-11-12T16:05:12","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T22:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/?p=774"},"modified":"2010-11-12T16:05:12","modified_gmt":"2010-11-12T22:05:12","slug":"bravo-italian-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/italian-cuisine\/bravo-italian-restaurant\/","title":{"rendered":"Bravo! Italian Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bravo!<\/p><\/div>\n

I went to Bravo! Cucina Italiana<\/a> at the Promenade in Chenal twice last week for a business lunch on one day and a casual lunch on the other.\u00a0 I usually don\u2019t go to chains very often but after the business lunch on Friday, I\u00a0took the chance to go\u00a0again on Sunday with my family.\u00a0 It was a beautiful sunny day and we chose to eat outside in their spacious outdoor eating area.\u00a0 Bravo! has a very nice appearance on the inside (and out) and I must say that I felt a little underdressed in my hole filled jeans and Arkansas Razorbacks T-Shirt, but such is life on a lazy Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We started with the Grilled Steak Flatbread ($7.99)<\/strong>\u00a0appetizer\u00a0that they describe as \u201cTenderloin, grilled to medium rare and sliced, served over arugula, with red onions, Portobello mushrooms and Reggiano Parmesean cheese\u201d.\u00a0 It came out promptly and reminded me of a huge dorrito (but not in a bad way) topped with arugula,\u00a0tender steak, caramelized onions, mushrooms, and aged parmesan cheese.\u00a0 The steak was very flavorful and the onions added a nice punch to the bread.\u00a0 It was very good and I had to stop eating it lest I fill up on the appetizer.\u00a0 I also forgot to mention that they brought out fresh warmed bread with a spiced olive oil to dip it in.\u00a0 It was much better than the typical bread and oil appetizer you get at other restaurants and is something I will look forward to in the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Grilled Steak Flatbread<\/p><\/div>\n

For my entree I ordered the lasagna and salad combo called the\u00a0Mezza Lasagna Insalata ($10.99)<\/strong>.\u00a0 I opted for the\u00a0Insalata Della Casa salad as the salad choice.\u00a0\u00a0They describe the entree as \u201cHalf order of Mama\u2019s Lasagna with choice of Caesar, Chopped or Insalata Della Casa\u201d.\u00a0 The salad that came with it is described as\u00a0\u00a0\u201cChopped greens, cucumber, tomato, bacon, crispy pasta and creamy Parmesan dressing\u201d (Included w\/Lasagna; Normally $3.99).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The salad reminds me of a 7-layer salad (a southern dish,) and was exactly as described.\u00a0 Did I mention it was huge?\u00a0 It\u2019s a very large salad and could most likely be a meal in itself if you weren\u2019t very hungry.\u00a0 The parmesan cheese sauce was very creamy and the bacon added a great smoky flavor to the dish.\u00a0 I will definitely order it again!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lasagna<\/p><\/div>\n

I was expecting a modest slice of lasagna since I ordered the combination plate but I received a huge piece of lasagna.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine what a full order would look like.\u00a0 It had a lot of cheese over it and was heated thoroughly.\u00a0 The meat was on the fatty side and it had too much cheese for my liking.\u00a0 The sauce was okay but nothing exceptional.\u00a0 All in all it wasn\u2019t bad, but it wasn\u2019t great either.\u00a0 It needed less cheese, more spice, and finer meat.\u00a0 I won\u2019t order it again but I will order the salad.<\/p>\n

My wife ordered the\u00a0Pasta Woozie ($11.99)<\/strong>\u00a0that they describe as \u201cFettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken and fresh spinach\u201d.\u00a0 It was a full order and the size represented \u201cfull\u201d as it was huge.\u00a0 It also tasted great.\u00a0 The alfredo sauce was cheesy and the pasta had a nice bite to it.\u00a0 The chicken was very tender and the spinach was well seasoned and cooked.\u00a0 I wish I had ordered her dish as I liked it much better than the lasagna.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Insalata Della Casa<\/p><\/div>\n

As an honorable mention I can\u2019t forget that I had the Spaghettini Carbonara ($9.99)<\/strong> for lunch previously and it was very good.\u00a0 The pasta was cooked perfectly and it had a very smooth Parmigiano-Reggiano sauce to it with tender asparagus throughout.\u00a0 My only complaint is that I couldn\u2019t taste the egg.\u00a0 I was expecting a soft-boiled egg on top but that\u2019s not what I received.\u00a0 Overall it had a great flavor to it though and is something I\u2019d order again.<\/p>\n

I left lunch (both times,) very satisfied for the money spent and had a good time.\u00a0 I\u2019m quite surprised to find a decent Italian restaurant that is a chain.\u00a0 I normally don\u2019t like chains but Bravo! does a good job and although it doesn\u2019t have the personal touch of a local unique restaurant, they do have\u00a0good food.\u00a0 I recommend you give them a try.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Promenade at Chenal
\n<\/strong>17815 Chenal Parkway
\nLittle Rock, AR 72223
\n(p) 501.821.2485 | (f) 501.821.2486 | Add to Contacts (V-Card)<\/p>\n

Hours of Operation
\n<\/strong>Sunday- Thursday: 11:00 am-10:00 pm
\nFriday & Saturday: 11:00 am-11:00 pm<\/p>\n

BRUNCH \u2013 Sundays: 11:00 am-3:00 pm<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Bravo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com I went to Bravo! Cucina Italiana at the Promenade in Chenal twice last week for a business lunch on one day and a casual lunch on the other.\u00a0 I usually don\u2019t go to chains very often but after the business lunch on Friday, I\u00a0took the chance to go\u00a0again on Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,4,205],"tags":[283,285,13,284,16,72],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-italian-cuisine","category-reviews","tag-bravo","tag-cucina","tag-italian","tag-italiana","tag-pasta","tag-restaurant"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}