Buona Sera Ristorante — Restaurant in Wilkes-Barre

April 11, 2021 . . . “Scoperta Italiania” ! What a surprise to discover this quaint Italian restaurant, Buona Sera ( Good Evening) in Wilkes-Barre , PA! Our long trips between Maine & North Carolina we try to avoid chain restaurants. We seek out “one of a kinds” for our lunch & dinner stops. Good food, cozy atmosphere, and excellent service builds a solid 4.7 rating! There’s a few suggestions I would offer, for that “ perfect score of 5”!

Wilkes-Barre is an iconic old manufacturing city that’s trying to find its way in the 21st century. As we pulled up to the address on North Washington Street, Buona Sera is a simple historic two story structure tucked into a blue collar neighborhood. Not what I expected . . . Stop in, and give these folks a chance to IMPRESS you!

You’ll find Italian dishes served up for half their value, $20 is the average price . . . includes entree, garden salad, and crusty bread! My wife loved the garlic in Linguine & Clams! I asked for the Veal Tre Funghi that encompasses sautéed mix of mushrooms, our veggie carrots & zucchini prepared Julian style, but with a prosciutto served in a creamy brandy sauce! The food was prepared well, and delicious! Marisol’s polished & pleasant demeanor illustrated an experienced server in any top Boston or Chicago restaurant! As we wrapped up our meal, we were the only patrons in the dining area, which allowed Marisol to introduce the owner, Richard Hart. Mr. Hart mentioned how he’s the new owner of the restaurant (since last September 2020) and is also into real estate. After a few minutes of enlightening conversation, we were treated to the best Tiramisu (light & creamy) .

The menu’s variety offers pasta, chicken, veal, and seafood dishes prepared in white ( Northern) and others in red ( Southern) sauces found in Italy. The quality is good! This really is a good Italian restaurant, offering a quality meal for a reasonable prices. Imagine with a few small changes, and in a more modern setting or business district. . . Buona Sera could easily charge $30 or more per entree.

Suggestions: (Not that they “need” to change )

Wine list with glass & bottle prices

Salads could be smaller, a few specialties A. Antipasto salad? B. Mixed greens (not only iceberg) ? C. Salad with fruits & nuts? D. Specialty homemade Vinaigrettes

Menu that lists desserts as homemade? ( I realize desserts change, see on a tray)

As soon as COVID era over, turn outside tents into a flower garden area for outside dining!

Or expand upward to 2nd floor for groups!

Wilkes-Barre History

Pre 1600’s - Nanticoke, Shawanese, Delaware Indians lived in this area 1662 - Charles II granted some land to Conn. 1681 - Charles II granted some land to W. Penn 1700’s - Indians pushed off land 1768 - Anthracite Coal discovered 1769 - British Capt. John Durkee names town (after John Wilkes & Isaac Barre) 1806 - Wilkes-Barre incorporated 1821 - Stegmaier started Beer Brewing Co. 1908 - Planters Peanuts & Chocolate Company 1930 - Wilkes Barre population 86,000 Late 1900’s - Home of Bell Telephone, Lion Brewery , HBO Current...

To the manager of Buona Sera restaurant, It is necessary for me to comment on my most recent visit on 2/20/21, in order for this establishment to rectify itself. My family of eight people visited this establishment on 2/20, for my brother birthday celebration. It was unfortunate that due to Covid, we were looking forward to get together as a family and enjoy a nice meal. We had a reservation for 6 pm for a table of 7 adults and 1 child, the table was not ready when we entered the facility at 5:55pm. We were eventually seated where we sat for 30 min before the waitress took our drink orders. Then we ordered our meals about 40 min after being seated, only to wait again for our apps about 20 min. We then waited again for our salads and had to address the manager who had no answers as to why we never received our salads, after already being there for an hour. We had my niece with us who is 6 and had to be supplemented with a snack bar while seated at the table patiently waiting for her food. The “said manager” brought out the salads and told us that they ran out of mashed potatoes and they would give us double veggies, which was apparent that they had never put in our order. We also witnesses tables after us receive their food before us. This is highly unacceptable. The manager offered us 25$ gift certificate to use towards the bill, and stated that “sometimes this happens and we got slammed with take our orders.” This is appalling to me that your take out services take precedence over guests seated in your “fine dining” establishment. In my opinion, the bill should have had more money taken off as we had cold dinners and wilted salads. They gave my brother free dessert as we were leaving the table after sitting there for 2 hours total. This was an awful experience and unfortunately my family and I will never be back. What you don’t know is that many of my family members who were dissatisfied, work in the healthcare setting and when asked about our experience will state that we will never be back there. It’s very unfortunate that given these unprecedented times, when restaurants our struggling, you have lost our business and the future business of those we come in contact with. Regards, An...

We had reservations for a Thursday evening. My fiancé loves Italian food so we decided to try this place for his birthday. I didn't see a parking lot nearby/behind the restaurant so we parked on the street. When we entered, we were greeted within a few seconds and seated. A server immediately came over and filled our water glasses and asked if we wanted anything else to drink. I ordered a Cherry Kamikaze martini, which was amazing! We looked over the menus provided--We ordered the calamari app (my guy's first time trying it and he loved it!). It was perfectly fried and tasted very fresh. They also have a separate menu with dinner "specials," where I chose the Ribeye. I wanted it with the Chimichurri sauce but was informed they were out of the sauce. I settled for the Au Poivre sauce, which was a peppercorn gravy sauce and was very good, extremely flavorful. My ribeye was cooked perfectly--great job Chef! My fiancé ordered the crab/lobster ravioli in a pink vodka sauce and he really enjoyed it. It was a birthday celebration so we had to have cake! My guy is partial to red velvet and he loved it here (and they played the "Happy Birthday" song over the speakers and put a candle in the cake). I had the Tiramisu and wasn't disappointed. Prices are very reasonable here. A very nice gentleman I can only assume is the owner walked past our table and asked if everything was ok and had a little small talk. Very nice guy. Service was GREAT. Our server was very attentive. We were never without drinks and plates were cleared from the table expeditiously.

This really would have been a 5 star review but the reason for the 4 stars is that the bread they brought us before our meal was wrapped in a towel, so we expected it would be warm. It wasn't. It also tasted stale. I love a crusty bread, but even the white part of the bread...