Allentown: VIVO Italian Kitchen (June 2019)

VIVO Italian Kitchen - Classy Italian Food and Surroundings

I dined at VIVO Italian Kitchen with two family members for lunch on a Sunday afternoon in mid-June 2019. VIVO is open daily for lunch and dinner. Diners can reserve a spot using the online Open Table reservation system. 

VIVO Italian Kitchen opened in October 2017 in the South Whitehall space formerly occupied by Chianti Italiano Ristorante (and prior to that, La Cucina). It is located near the intersection of Route 309 and Route 22, close to the former West End Raquetball Club (now transformed into Parkland Manor Senior Living). The owners of VIVO also operate Joey G’s (in Whitehall), Corked (in Bethlehem), and previously Taste of Italy (in Allentown). 

VIVO occupies a two-story building with dining on both floors. Guests enter the building into the bar area, which offers a small 6-seat granite-topped tiled bar with a booth opposite; hanging pendant lights and tiles featuring international cities decorate the bar room. The downstairs dining room offers seating at stand-alone tables or at tables that share a banquette on one side; windows along one side of the room allow nearly 30 patrons to enjoy dining in natural daylight. A larger, 60-customer upstairs dining room offers additional seating at booths and tables as well as private event space. Back-lighting in the bar area casts a chic blue hue, while the other two dining rooms feature attractive carpeting, padded booths, wooden chairs, and interesting lighting. 

As its name implies, VIVO serves Italian cuisine. While we perused the menu, our server delivered seeded bread, tomato dipping sauce, and oil. We shared the mozarella sticks as an appetizer. For our entrees, we ordered the lasagna bolognese, seafood di mare (lobster, mussels, shrimp, calamari, clams, scallops in a marinara sauce served atop pappardelle), and penne al forno (chicken, mushrooms, spinach, and ham in a pink vodka sauce, topped with ricotta and mozzarella and served atop penne). Each main dish comes with a choice of soup (two of us had Italian wedding soup, which was uniquely presented in a cup lined with spinach leaves) or a side salad. For dessert, we shared the almond layer cake (similar to an almond-flavored tiramisu). Portions were large, and we each had leftovers to take home. VIVO offers a full liquor license (beer, wine, cocktails), unlike many area BYOB Italian restaurants. 

We enjoyed our dinner at VIVO Italian Kitchen. We are happy to have found an Italian restaurant that has a chic atmosphere and interesting food (not just “red sauce Italian” like so many other area establishments).