Family-owned Italian restaurant opens in Olathe: ‘We will surprise this city’
Instead of old carpet and big screens, Bella’s Italian Restaurant has hardwood floors and landscape paintings.
Instead of boneless wings and fiesta lime chicken, it now serves chicken Parmesan and shrimp scampi.
The former Applebee’s at 16110 W. 135th St. in Olathe has the same setup as before — an open, raised seating area with a U-shaped bar in the middle — but everything else is a far cry from its previous life.
Owner Limi Veliu opened the spot with his brother, Ginci Veliu, a couple of weeks ago. Limi’s wife Shenda Veliu, whom he lovingly calls “Lady Boss,” is also helping.
It’s been a whirlwind start at the location, which won’t celebrate its grand opening until January.
“This is kind of the soft opening, but you cannot tell it’s the soft opening because it’s crazy busy,” Limi said. “Right now, everybody’s working 16, 17 hours a day.”
Bella’s has a location in Lee’s Summit, but Limi said he sold that spot to open the Olathe one. It’s still open at 511 SE Melody Lane under new ownership. That spot has been around for seven years.
Managing two locations so far from each other is too much at the moment, Limi said.
Fans of his Lee’s Summit restaurant will be happy to hear Limi is bringing beloved dishes from the old spot to his new one.
Options include its chicken marsala for $19.99, lasagna for $16.99 and lobster ravioli for $22.99.
Limi especially bragged about the seafood combo ($25.99) with shrimp, shell clams, calamari, baby clams and mussels in the customer’s choice of marinara or alfredo sauce, served with linguine pasta.
Pizza options (a 10-inch for $12.99 and a 14-inch for $17.99) include margherita, vegetable, meat lovers and supreme.
Its lunch menu includes chicken alfredo ($14.99) and chicken Parmigiana ($14.99).
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Limi said the spot’s current menu will only grow. Right now, he’s starting with the basics as his crew gets used to the new space.
“We will surprise this city,” Limi said. “I believe the location is great here, we’re just trying to make it right.”
Limi first learned to cook in his grandfather’s restaurant in The Bronx decades ago. His family had several restaurants in the Fort Worth area in Texas for several years before Lee’s Summit mayor, Bill Baird, convinced Limi to move his concept to the Kansas City metro.
The team at Bella’s promised that everything is made from scratch and is never frozen. Limi took The Star back for a tour of the kitchen Monday while Ginci cooked a seafood combo.
Ginci filled a warm pan with mussels, calamari and other shellfish before pouring wine over the mixture. Flames jumped in the air as he swirled around the pan, then added creamy Alfredo. The sauce bubbled at a lower temperature before Ginci added linguine to the mix.
The bread, like everything else, is baked fresh daily.
Limi said they completely redid the kitchen after Applebee’s closed abruptly in October 2024.
At the time the Olathe Applebee’s closed, so did seven others in the Kansas City area. Only ones in Blue Springs, Excelsior Springs and Gladstone remain.
Bella’s — named after Limi’s grandmother — is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.