Bella Napoli

Bella Napoli is a family-owned Italian grocery, deli, pizzeria and full-service restaurant in Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood, opened by Jake Imperiale in 2001 and built around imported Italian goods and Imperiale family recipes.

Description

Bella Napoli is an Italian market and restaurant in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, combining several concepts under one roof: an imported-goods grocery and market, a deli, a pizzeria, a coffee shop, and a full-service restaurant. The market side stocks Italian deli meats, cheeses, imported wines, olive oil, vinegar, pastas, olives and other specialty goods, with products hand-selected by the owner and sourced from Italy.

The restaurant and pizzeria serve traditional Italian dishes and sandwiches in a setting the business describes as the ambiance of a true Italian ristorante. The concept grew over time from its original grocery-and-deli footprint into the broader market-plus-restaurant operation it runs today.

Bella Napoli has operated in Brookside since April 2001 and is regularly cited in KC dining coverage as one of the metro’s go-to spots for Italian groceries and prepared food.

Ownership and history

Bella Napoli was founded in 2001 by Jake Imperiale, who opened the business under the guidance of his Italian-native mother and after extensive travels throughout Italy. The business presents itself explicitly through the lens of the Imperiale family: it honors “Imperiale family recipes” and a family ethos summarized in the motto “In the Bella family, food is love.”

The operation began as an Italian grocery and market (with a coffee shop). According to KC dining coverage, Imperiale added a full-service restaurant in 2006, expanding the original grocery-and-deli concept into the combined market/deli/pizzeria/restaurant it is known for today.

The founder’s mother is described as an Italian native; whether the family are first-generation Italian immigrants to the U.S. is not definitively established in available sources.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-20 · Source: Bella Napoli official site + Yelp lunch menu + Feast Magazine · URL(s): https://kcbellanapoli.com/restaurant/ · https://www.yelp.com/menu/bella-napoli-kansas-city/lunch-menu · Confidence: Medium (official site routes its full menu through downloadable PDFs; item names and prices below are cross-referenced from a third-party menu listing and KC press — prices may lag current pricing)

Deli sandwiches (handmade, Italian deli meats & cheeses)

Built on freshly sliced imported meats and cheeses — genoa salami, prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, capocollo and provolone.¹

• Giorgio Sandwich — house deli sandwich, $13²
• Porchetta Sandwich — roast pork, $13²
• Il Saro Sandwich — $12²
• Er Romano Sandwich — $12²
• Napolitano Sandwich — $11²
• Americano Sandwich — $11²

Pizza (Neapolitan-style, recipe learned in Naples)

Authentic Italian pizza made from a Naples recipe using imported Italian ingredients; all menu pizze are $10 on Mondays (dine-in after 4pm).³¹

• Margherita — tomato, mozzarella, basil, $16²
• Diavola — spicy salami, $17²
• Quattro Formaggi — four cheese, $18²
• Funghi — mushroom, $18²
• Capricciosa — $19²
• Fumoso Bianco — white pizza, $19²

Pasta (homemade)

• Carbonara — spaghetti, guanciale, egg, Parmesan, pecorino, black pepper, $20²⁴
• Tortellini — $22²
• Lasagna — $21²
• Tagliatelle Bolognese — $19²
• Pomodoro — $16²
• Homemade gnocchi — Thursday special, with choice of sauce; the owner has called it “my favorite thing”³¹
• Homemade risotto — Wednesday chef’s-choice special³

Antipasti & salads

• Arancini — fried risotto balls with beef, mozzarella, peas and tomato sauce⁴
• Caprino / Italiana / di Pinoli salads — $8 each²

Dolce (desserts) & café

• Pistachio cheesecake — $9²
• Torta della Nonna — $9²
• Espresso & biscotti — coffee-shop side¹

Italian market & deli (retail)

Imported groceries available for purchase — Italian deli meats and cheeses, olive oils, vinegars, jarred vegetables, dried pastas, olives, and a small-vineyard imported Italian wine program (half-price bottles on Tuesdays).³¹

Tier classification

Tier 1. Bella Napoli is a single-location, owner-operated, family-rooted Italian business in continuous operation in Brookside for ~25 years (since 2001). It is built around the founder’s Italian heritage and family recipes and sources its market goods directly from Italy. There is no chain or out-of-market ownership dilution; this is a clear Tier 1 expression of “pride and dedication to a business owner’s roots.”

Links

• Website: https://kcbellanapoli.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellanapolikc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcbellanapoli/

See also

• brookside
• garozzos-ristorante
• cupinis
• kc-italian-north-end
• Registry

Sources

1. Bella Napoli — official “Our Story” page (founder Jake Imperiale, 2001 founding, Italian-native mother, imported goods, family recipes) — https://kcbellanapoli.com/our-story/ — accessed 2026-05-30
2. IN Kansas City Magazine — Bella Napoli dining guide entry (2001 grocery opening, later full-service restaurant + coffee shop, concept description) — https://www.inkansascity.com/eat-drink/dining-guide/bella-napoli/ — accessed 2026-05-30
3. Feast Magazine — “At Bella Napoli, Authentic Italian in Brookside” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/at-bella-napoli-authentic-italian-in-brookside/article_7cf248d6-a1b2-11e4-ba46-af77b44707f1.html — accessed 2026-05-30
4. Inside Brookside — Bella Napoli coverage (April 2001 Brookside fixture) — https://insidebrookside.com/tag/bella-napoli/ — accessed 2026-05-30
5. Status verified active 2026-06-23 via Yelp — Bella Napoli (Updated June 2026) (accessed 2026-06-23). Address 6229 Brookside Blvd and current operating hours corroborated; official site hours page also live.

Menu sources

Verification

Drafted 2026-05-30 from web research; 4 sources (official + 3 independent). Verified: founder Jake Imperiale, 2001 founding, Brookside address, Italian-heritage family framing, market/deli/pizzeria/restaurant combo. Unverified/flagged: exact 2006 restaurant-expansion year (secondary press) and the family’s specific immigration generation/Italian region of origin.

Footnotes

1. Feast Magazine — “At Bella Napoli, Authentic Italian in Brookside” (Neapolitan pizza recipe & imported ingredients; deli meats — genoa salami, prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, capocollo, provolone; gnocchi as owner’s favorite; espresso & biscotti coffee shop; imported oils, vinegars, jarred vegetables, pastas) — https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/at-bella-napoli-authentic-italian-in-brookside/article_7cf248d6-a1b2-11e4-ba46-af77b44707f1.html — accessed 2026-06-20 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Yelp — Bella Napoli lunch menu (deli sandwich names & prices, pizza varieties & prices, pasta dishes & prices, salads, desserts) — https://www.yelp.com/menu/bella-napoli-kansas-city/lunch-menu — accessed 2026-06-20 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

3. Bella Napoli — official Restaurant page (menu categories: handmade sandwiches, dinner/ristorante, Italian deli, small-vineyard Italian wine program, dolce; weekly specials — Mon $10 pizze dine-in after 4pm, Tue half-price wine bottles, Wed chef’s-choice risotto, Thu homemade gnocchi with choice of sauce) — https://kcbellanapoli.com/restaurant/ — accessed 2026-06-20 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Bella Napoli third-party menu listing (arancini composition — beef, mozzarella, peas, tomato sauce; carbonara composition — spaghetti, guanciale, egg, Parmesan, pecorino, black pepper) — https://bella-napoli.res-menu.net/menu — accessed 2026-06-20 ↩ ↩²