Bella's Italian Restaurant

Bella’s Italian Restaurant is a family-owned Italian restaurant at 16110 W. 135th St. in Olathe, Kansas, run by the Veliu family. It serves from-scratch Italian fare built on recipes the family carried from Bari, Italy — by way of the Bronx, Dallas, and a six-year run in Lee’s Summit, Missouri — before opening this Johnson County location in November 2025.¹²³

Description

Bella’s Italian Restaurant is a full-service Italian restaurant occupying the former Applebee’s space near Kohl’s and the Olathe Indian Creek Library on West 135th Street.¹² The kitchen emphasizes fresh, made-to-order cooking rooted in the Veliu family’s recipes from Bari, Italy, with a menu of handmade pastas and classic Italian entrées.³ Popular dishes include lasagna, chicken parmigiana, fettuccine alfredo, and shrimp scampi.² Owner Limi Veliu has summarized the kitchen’s approach as “Everything is fresh, 100%. We do things the old-fashioned and hard way.”²

Ownership and history

The restaurant is owned and operated by the Veliu family, led by Limi Veliu alongside Shenda Veliu, with brother Genci Veliu and cousins working in the kitchen.² The Bella’s name and lineage trace back to Limi Veliu’s grandparents, who first opened a Bella’s in the Bronx after immigrating to New York from Bari, Italy. The name comes from “Bella” — meaning “beautiful” — the nickname Veliu’s grandfather used for his grandmother.¹³

The family later operated in Dallas, Texas before relocating to the Kansas City metro, where they ran a Bella’s in Lee’s Summit, Missouri for roughly six years; Lee’s Summit Mayor Bill Baird is credited with persuading the family to come to that city after dining with them in Dallas.¹² The family opened the Olathe location in the fall of 2025, soft-opening at the end of November with a grand opening planned for January 2026; the Lee’s Summit location transferred to new ownership around the same time.² Veliu has expressed interest in additional Johnson County locations, potentially in Overland Park or Lenexa.¹

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-23 · Source: Bella’s Olathe official website (food menu page) · URL(s): https://www.bellasolathe.com/menus/food · Confidence: High

The kitchen is from-scratch, “made-to-order and never frozen,” built on the Veliu family’s Bari, Italy recipes — handmade pastas, classic chicken and seafood entrées, baked dishes, and pizza.²⁴ All items and prices below are taken directly from the official online menu.⁴

Appetizers, soups & salads

• Calamari Fritta — breaded and fried squid with marinara ($13.99).⁴
• Stuffed Mushrooms — ricotta, mozzarella, and crab meat topped with homemade alfredo ($13.99).⁴
• Mozzarella Caprese — fresh sliced mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil ($11.99).⁴
• Bruschetta — toasted Italian bread, mozzarella, diced tomatoes, basil, garlic, side marinara ($11.99); Toasted Meat Ravioli ($10.99); Fried Cheese ($8.99); Garlic Cheese Bread ($8.99).⁴
• Soups — Minestrone ($8.99) and Italian Wedding ($8.99).⁴
• Salads — Caesar ($10.99); Tossed garden salad ($4.99).⁴

Signature pastas & entrées

• Lasagna — homemade beef lasagna baked in marinara, topped with mozzarella ($16.99) — among the most-reviewed dishes on the listing.⁴
• Chicken Parmigiana — breaded chicken, mozzarella, baked with homemade marinara, served with spaghetti ($19.99).⁴
• Chicken family — Piccata, Murphy (mushrooms, onions, jalapeños in pink sauce), Albanese (spinach and garlic in alfredo), Alfredo, and Marsala, all $19.99.⁴
• Fettuccine Alfredo ($17.99); Tortellini Michelangelo ($17.99); Tortellini ala Panna ($17.99); Linguine Primavera Alfredo ($17.99).⁴
• Baked dishes — Cheese Ravioli ($15.99), Baked Ziti ($15.99), Baked Tortellini ($15.99), Spaghetti ($15.99); Eggplant Parmigiana ($18.99).⁴

Seafood

• Shrimp Scampi — shrimp sautéed with garlic in white wine lemon sauce over linguine ($22.99).⁴
• Shrimp Marinara ($22.99); Shrimp Alfredo ($22.99); Lobster Ravioli (garlic, diced tomatoes, alfredo — $22.99); Shrimp & Chicken Piccata ($22.99).⁴
• Salmon Fettuccine (grilled Atlantic salmon over alfredo — $23.99); Salmon Piccata ($23.99); Mediterranean Red Snapper ($28.99).⁴
• Seafood Combo — shrimp, shell clams, calamari, baby clams, and mussels in marinara or alfredo over linguine ($25.99).⁴

Pizza, subs & lunch

• Pizza (10”/14”) — cheese ($12.99/$17.99), Margherita ($16.99/$21.99), Pepperoni ($16.99/$20.99), Vegetable ($17.99/$23.99), Meat Lovers ($18.99/$23.99), Supreme ($21.99/$26.99); plus Stromboli and Calzone pizza rolls ($17.99 each).⁴
• Subs — Meatball ($16.99); Chicken Parmigiana ($16.99).⁴
• Lunch portions (most $12.99–$14.99) — Chicken Parm, Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Albanese, Lasagna, Baked Ziti, Eggplant Parm, Spaghetti, and more.⁴

Desserts

• Tiramisu ($8.99), Limoncello Mascarpone Cake ($8.99), Chocolate Mousse Cake ($9.99), Italian Cream Cake ($9.99).⁴

A kids’ menu (spaghetti, lasagna, ravioli, fettuccine alfredo — $9.99 each) and full-tray catering are also offered.⁴ Prices verified from the official online menu as of 2026-06-23 and are subject to change.

Links

• Official site: https://www.bellasolathe.com/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bellas-italian-restaurant-olathe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Bellas-Italian-Restaurant-Olathe-KS-61580242324255/

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

Footnotes

1. Johnson County Post, “Bella’s Italian Restaurant opening new Olathe location soon” (Nov. 11, 2025). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/11/11/bellas-italian-restaurant-olathe-273803/ — asserts: name, address (16110 W. 135th St., Olathe), owner Limi Veliu, grandparents-in-the-Bronx / Bari, Italy origin, “Bella” nickname meaning, six-year Lee’s Summit history, Mayor Bill Baird, future Overland Park/Lenexa interest, made-to-order cuisine. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Johnson County Post, “Locally owned Bella’s Italian Restaurant opens in Olathe” (Dec. 16, 2025). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/12/16/bellas-olathe-open-276033/ — asserts: owners Limi and Shenda Veliu, brother Genci Veliu and cousins in kitchen, former Applebee’s space, end-of-November 2025 soft open / January 2026 grand opening, hours, signature dishes (lasagna, chicken parmigiana, fettuccine alfredo, shrimp scampi), “Everything is fresh, 100%” quote, Lee’s Summit handoff. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Yahoo News / The Kansas City Star (republished), “Family-owned Italian restaurant opens in Olathe: ‘We will surprise this city’.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/family-owned-italian-restaurant-opens-110000068.html — asserts: family operation, Bari, Italy recipe lineage, handmade pastas / classic entrées, family origin story. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Bella’s Olathe official website — Food menu page (verified 2026-06-23). https://www.bellasolathe.com/menus/food — asserts: full current menu and prices — appetizers (Calamari Fritta, Stuffed Mushrooms, Mozzarella Caprese, Bruschetta, Fried Cheese, Garlic Cheese Bread, Toasted Meat Ravioli), soups (Minestrone, Italian Wedding), salads (Caesar, Tossed), signature pastas/entrées (Lasagna, Chicken Parmigiana/Piccata/Murphy/Albanese/Alfredo/Marsala, Fettuccine Alfredo, Tortellini Michelangelo and ala Panna, Eggplant Parmigiana, baked ziti/ravioli/tortellini), seafood (Shrimp Scampi/Marinara/Alfredo, Lobster Ravioli, Salmon Fettuccine/Piccata, Mediterranean Red Snapper, Seafood Combo), pizza (10”/14” cheese, Margherita, Pepperoni, Vegetable, Meat Lovers, Supreme; Stromboli, Calzone), subs, lunch portions, desserts (Tiramisu, Limoncello Mascarpone Cake, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Italian Cream Cake), kids’ menu, and catering trays — with listed prices. Cross-checked against pricing reported in Johnson County Post (Dec. 16, 2025).² ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²