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| - I was a little nervous about going to Bravo because I hadn't had the best experience at Northlake and I generally HATE chain Italian places. But I came for one of their opening lunches where we got to try a lot of dishes and was blown away and pleasantly surprised! I would give it 4.5 stars if I could.
The Crispy Shrimp Napoli appetizer totally blew me away. Never in a million years would I believe that I would crave a fried shrimp app and drive halfway across the city to eat it, but this absolutely did. It's somehow light and crispy but paired with this rich unidentifiable but totally delicious red pepper/tomato cheesy creamy sauce and arugula. My party called it Crack Shrimp. The beef carpaccio also was absolutely delicious and admittedly even better than my favorite non-chain Italian place. Antipasto is also nice.
For mains, my pick is the Shrimp Fra Diavolo for the top menu item. It's not ultra spicy like some Fra Diavolo, so don't let it scare you off. It's also a bit creamier like a Vodka sauce, but not too creamy. It was absolutely tender and delicious. I also really enjoyed the marsala mushroom sauce over the marsala chicken and mashed potatoes.
We got to sample the chicken off the gluten free menu and didn't care for it - it didn't have enough sauce to it and was too bland and also didn't care for the sweet potatoes. But I appreciated that they had GF options and might opt for something else from the GF or light menu. I can't speak to the desserts because I haven't tried them. I look forward to trying their weekend brunch menu because there are such limited options around town for brunch, and I love a fritatta!
My favorite part (Attention parents!!) is that I saw a family with kids get some raw pizza dough to "make their own pizza" and they fire it up in the brick oven which is a super cute way to keep kids occupied before food comes. I thought it was a nice touch, and smart in such a family-oriented neighborhood like South Charlotte.
The service has been super friendly. Bottom line- It's a good value and love the outdoor area, especially where you can people watch and listen to weekend entertainment!
Sidenote: For people who commented that Bravo doesn't have authentic Italian, I would challenge you to find a restaurant here that does. No, not Villa Antonio, not Vivace, certainly not godawful Maggiano's or Carabbas. I just returned from Italy and was struck by the simplicity of the best dishes we ate there like Cacio y Pepe which is really simple pasta, olive oil, salt pepper and a little cheese which is ridiculously good, but you just won't find something that simple here. So let's just consider them all Italian-American, OK? So the bottom line is for a chain, Italian-American, Bravo's my fave.
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