Opening day for Wichita’s newest Italian restaurant is in just a few days

They passed their final inspection on Thursday morning, meaning that Visi and Makayla Milushi are cleared to open their new Wichita Italian restaurant on Tuesday as planned.

Amore Italian Restaurant is taking over the space at Clear Lakes Shopping Center, 2315 W. 21st St., that’s best known as the home of Neighbors. It’s been vacant since March, when Town & Country Classic closed after a brief run there.

The Milushis are part of a family that operates several Italian restaurants, including two in Mississippi. Visi Milushi’s cousin, Tony Demaj, just opened a sister business called Roma’s Italian Restaurante at 216 N. Main in Hutchinson.

Amore will serve a long list of Italian dishes prepared by Visi Milushi, who offered a tour of his new kitchen on Thursday. He makes everything from scratch, he said, and proudly pointed out that he doesn’t even have a microwave on the premises. If the restaurant is busy, he said, patrons will have to be patient while he prepares the dishes one by one.

The menu, which is included below, lists pasta dishes like lasagna, manicotti, cannelloni, spaghetti and meatballs and more. Visi Milushi also pointed to a list of entrees like veal piccata, chicken marsala and chicken Alfredo, and he promised that diners could not go wrong with any of them. (His favorite is chicken marsala, he said.)

The restaurant also will serve seafood dishes including shrimp scampi, salmon piccata and lobster ravioli as well as appetizers, salads and fresh-baked bread. It will offer lower-priced lunch specials until 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and it will eventually have a full bar. Visi Milushi also put a large pizza oven in the kitchen, and he said he’ll likely start serving pizza after the initial craziness dies down.

The dining room will still be recognizable to people who frequented the restaurant during its most recent iterations. It has new chairs and tables covered in white tablecloths, and the walls are decorated with large photographs featuring views of Rome, Florence, Venice and Portofino. It’s a full-service sit-down restaurant, the couple said, and they were even able to hire two former employees from DeFazio’s — the beloved Wichita Italian restaurant that operated nearby at 2706 N. Amidon until it closed in October 2021.

The restaurant’s hours, starting Tuesday, will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Makayla Milushi said she’s excited to start getting Wichita diners through the doors so they can see what her husband can do in the kitchen.

“You know how it is in a big city: People don’t know how to slow down,” she said. “I’m hoping they can get a taste of that here.”

Andrea Ray of Landmark Commercial Real Estate represented Amore’s owners in the deal for the space.

Amore Italian Restaurant Wichita menu

This story was originally published November 9, 2023 at 12:10 PM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.