The old Bella Vita space on West Street is about to have a new restaurant tenant
The restaurant space on West Street that Bella Vita Bistro occupied for 15 years but left last August is about to get a new tenant.
Husband-and-wife Nayeli Barbosa and David Hernandez, who also own David’s Express at 5619 E. Lincoln, will open a new restaurant in the space at 120 N. West St. and will call it David’s Mexican Grill & Bar. It should be open within the next two weeks, Barbosa said: The couple is just waiting on a liquor license.
The new restaurant will serve many of the same items that make up the menu at David’s Express — fajitas, tacos, enchiladas and burritos — but it will have a few extras, including burgers and wings. The West Street restaurant will be a sit-down place that will also have a full bar and will serve margaritas.
“We always wanted something on West Street because we know it’s always busy out there,” Barbosa said.
The couple completely remodeled the interior, she said. As Bella Vita, the space had been divided into two separate rooms, but the new owners removed the dividing wall to create one large dining room.
Readers might remember that Bella Vita’s owner Lory Wooley left the West Street address because of a mouse problem she said she couldn’t get under control, later relocating Bella Vita to 9506 W. Central.
But Barbosa says that mice are no longer an issue. She said the owners hired an exterminator and deep cleaned the restaurant.
“It’s gotten solved,” she said. “We have not seen anything. If you go into that place, a lot of people say it’s nothing like it was before.”
The new grill and bar will open at 7 a.m. for breakfast and will stay open until midnight during the week and until 2 or 3 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. The kitchen will be open daily until midnight.
Sometimes, Barbosa said, they’ll offer live music or DJs in the evenings.
The couple opened their first David’s Express at 2110 N. Maize Road in 2023 but closed it about a year ago. Their quick-service David’s Express at Lincoln and Edgemoor, which they opened in November 2024, will remain open, she said.
David’s Mexican Grill & Bar menu
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