Cafe Verona

Your review helps others learn about great local businesses. went for lunch and dinner, the food is amazing. I had the Mac and cheese and added peppers. It was not your typical Mac and cheese had several different cheeses mixed in, and I loved being able to customize it. Service was good and we will be back many times.

We visited Café Verona yesterday evening with a few friends. We arrived at the time of our reservation and were seated promptly. Our table was located upstairs. Café Verona is a nice little place. It’s charming and though we were in a room full of people, it felt intimate.
When we were seated we ordered drinks and discovered the first hint of the poor service. After ordering something directly off the menu, the waitress responded as though she’s never heard of it and grabbed the menu to see the name of the wine. This was off-​putting & set the tone for the rest of the meal.
After we placed our order (we ordered 5 different entrees at our table), the salads were delivered. My salad was incredibly tasty and I really enjoyed the house dressing. The poor service persisted, however. Between the 6 of us, we correctly received 5 salads. But instead of figuring out how to distribute the salads, they were left in the center of the table and we sorted it out ourselves.
Just a few moments after receiving our salads the appetizer arrived. It was nothing special. We didn’t even have time to pass it around the table before the entrees arrived.
Overall the food was fine. I’m honestly not sure if it’s any better than Olive Garden & it certainly isn’t as a good as you might expect given the beautiful ambiance. All the dishes seemed to be stingy with the sauce & the coating on the chicken parmesan was a undercooked… the chicken & the noodles were the same color.
The poor service persisted when the waitress was put out when we asked for grated parmesan. She obliged, but it was clear she’d rather be sitting at the desk behind the stairs than dressing up our dishes with this staple ingredient.
As a note, the wine selection is weak and the prices are crazy high for what you get. (For example, a pour of «Rex Goliath» that goes for $ 9 at Café Verona would net you 3 bottles of the stuff at Hy-​Vee. And it’s gross.) That said, the size of the pour on the wine was generous.
Once was enough for us and I’ve noted from Facebook reviews that others feel the same way!
The restaurant really only earned 2 stars, but it gets 3 because we were keeping good company!

This place is cute and it’s located in one of the most adorable town squares I’ve ever laid eyes on, but with that being said… we weren’t impressed with the food or the service. We came here for restaurant week and what we got we could’ve paid the same price for and gotten at any time, basically. Right when we sat down they put oil on our table but the bread was MIA for another 10 – 12 minutes, even though the place wasn’t busy.
We were starving so we ordered the fried cheese appetizer, which came out as three mozzarella sticks and two triangles of provolone cheese with marinara dipping sauce. This all basically tasted like something you could buy from the freezer section of any grocery store and was not worth the money.
Next, the bread made an appearance, and the oil was weird. I don’t think it was actually olive oil because it was very dark yellow, so I have no idea what I consumed, but it wasn’t tasty.
My boyfriend ordered the tomato basil soup which he said was good. I ordered a house salad with homemade Italian dressing that was not good. Most of my lettuce leaves were dead and had brown spots on them and the flavor of the dressing was very off.
For entrees, we both ordered chicken orecchiette, which was ok, but pretty bland. Neither of us finished our entrée.
For dessert we had about a two bite serving of tiramisu, and about a two bite sized pistachio cannoli. The tiramisu was nothing great, but the cannoli was the best part of the meal.
With the food being so «meh», I can’t imagine that we will ever return. It’s sad that this place isn’t taking restaurant week as an opportunity to show off what they do best to gain some repeat business.

The food at Café Verona is to die for! I have never had a bad meal yet. If you love Italian, this is a wonderful place to go. It’s not your mass produced Olive Garden. It’s a unique menu in a historic and fine dining atmosphere. Try one of their unique pasta dishes, flatbreads or my favorite, the lobster Mac and cheese!
If you go on the weekends at prime dinner hours, make a reservation or you can eat at the bar. Speaking of bars, Café Verona’s signature cocktails are amazing and nicely priced. The lavender martini is my favorite. The cucumber gin and tonic mojito is a wonderful twist on two different drinks to make complimentary combination that is refreshing and different and their red or white sangria is a house specialty.
The only negative thing I have to say is the service is consistently pokey. We are talking snail pace. A quick pop in for lunch will take 2 hours out of your day. This doesn’t deter me from going back. I just plan for the slow service.

Excellent, so great! They exceeded our expectations, both in food and service, as well as the ambiance of this place.
Definitely authentic Italian food, served by an experienced wait staff, so courteous.
Food was hot and delicious and came very quickly. Large portions. We took home a take out box, filled with what we could not eat.
Prices are very reasonable.

Mediocre at it’s finest. The calamari was tender however the breading had completely fell off. Spaghetti and meatballs and shrimp scampi were both nothing special. Service was fine, just nothing special. We will not return. Just boring. A no.

The best Italian place in Independence! The service was awesome and food was amazing and reasonably priced. And, to make things better, it was ½ price wine Wednesday! We sat in the patio. It was so charming and very romantic. I also loved the fresh basil and rosemary plants they had as decoration. We will definitely be going back soon!

Had dinner with the kids. The food was fantastic. Great food. Great value for the money. All well made and originally made with fresh ingredients. Kids meals were beyond the ordinary fair. Fantastic experience.

Love love this place! Unique and cozy atmosphere! excellent food! Wine tastings every month and a Happy hour on weekdays. A great place to sit on their patio for a appetizer and drinks or full dinner with dessert!

Dined tonight with friends. Everyone enjoyed their meals and said they would return. Shared two appetizers, the Sicilian Artichoke Dip and Toasted Ravioli. Both were excellent. Chicken, veal, and seafood dishes were all scarfed down after the house salads and focaccia bread. Service was good and well paced. Fair prices.

Exceptional service, the food is okay. Love their hummus appetizer. Atmosphere is romantic and a good place for dinner/​lunch for two.

I love this place! The chef is 5 starsi n my book! The location, parking, the building and décor… All very appealing.
The food is all wonderful. We were there with relatives for our anniversary. And the portions are generous, the wines complement the foods very well and the service is very friendly. Not pretentious, but they could be! (I shall return).

Sean Leventhal, Executive Chef, has made some truly amazing changes. In the past, I have had an «average» experience here. However, my most recent experience demands testimony. The coffee! The wine! The food! The service! Personally, I am surprised that you can even get in without a reservation! This is truly a celebration of culinary art. WHEN you go there, it won’t be «just a meal». It’s an EVENT!

Delicious food served by good people. Multiple dining experiences and never disappointed. The mac n cheese is a must try and upgrade it to steak. Honestly you cannot go wrong with any of the pasta choices. Charming location on the historic Square.

We stopped in to Café Verona the other day after an appointment in Independence. It is quite charming with their outside courtyard, which I would have loved to sit at on an unseasonably warm March day, but it was still in winter mode and didn’t look inviting. Maybe next time.
We ordered the calamari, which is a MUST HAVE with the lemon aioli. We also ordered Caesar salads, which were just okay– nothing awesome about them. I ordered Chicken Marsala, which was a huge portion (Two chicken breasts). The mushrooms/​sauce were fabulous. The chicken was good too, although I’d like to see a non-​fried version. It was lightly breaded, not overly crispy, though.
My husband ordered Stuffed Shells with Rosa sauce, which was a sweeter version of a blush sauce that I have had before– he liked it. It uses shredded chicken, which I thought looked a bit odd.
Overall, I thought the meal was really good and we’d like to come back to check out the wine menu!

Went to Café Verona for late lunch today. It was 2:45, not a busy time. There were a few other tables, most of which had obviously already finished.
Long story short, we have still not eaten here. We waited for over 5 minutes for someone to approach our table. We left! Bad first experience. Maybe we’ll be back, but probably not.

Not impressed at all. Doubtful to return.
Poor service, bland food, over ambitious cocktail menu that is out of their league.

Our anniversary brought us here to Café Verona, as suggested by a coworker. We were quite impressed. First, the service was amazing — attentive, knowledgeable, and prompt.
The food lived up to exactly as described on the menu. I had the Fruiti da Mare, which had a citrus base. The seafood was all fresh, flavorful, but not overpowering to the dish. My wife had artichoke ravioli. The lavender sauce was a flavor I had never tasted before, since I had to have a bite ;). We will definitely be back!

I can’t say that I was all that impressed. There were some good parts to the meal, but we drove from south Overland Park because it was recommended. It wasn’t worth the drive.
To its credit, my salad was good. but I found the portion to be rather small. The «olive oil» was too bright in color to be real olive oil and likely was something else. it also didn’t have the taste. The balsamic vinegar was okay, and the bread was not memorable.
I had a breaded chicken dish with capers and pasta. the chicken was slightly overcooked but was well seasoned. There were a lot of capers on the dish, which I like but others may not. The pasta was clearly from a box and not fresh-​made (which is not necessarily bad) but I felt the portion was way too small. When we were done, I felt like I needed to go someplace else and get something to eat.
My wife ordered eggplant Parmesan (a dish that I will never like but is one of her favorites). She ate maybe a third of it and left the rest behind, not even getting a «to-​go» box.
Everything appeared to be clean although some spots could use a fresh coat of paint. The atmosphere was not Italian to me at all but was more «plain ol’ Missouri» trying to act Italian.
If I were in the area and wanted a quick fix, I might go back… but I imagine there are better places to explore in the Independence area.
I really hate it when restaurants play «Italian» and don’t know what they are doing.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
First time and I can’t wait to tell others about the experience. I had three courses; Calamari w/​garlic butter and marinara (appetizer), a divine serving of a four cheese macaroni with a twist– a sliced 10 oz ribeye prepared under medium tempered fire on top (entrée), and lastly their infamous zepollis– a delicious dough all deep fried until golden and dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar served with sweet raspberry dipping sauce (dessert). A truly beautiful dining experience and Italian themed atmosphere. Reminds me of my time in Rome, IT sitting at a corner café.
Four words for you: I WILL BE BACK!
Excellent costumer service delivered by Katie. Thank you.