In our weekend of dining, we wanted something nice and elegant to go to celebrate a birthday and be among friends to celebrate the gender of our baby. We decided on Vora Restaurant European. It’s the new sleek European spot on the ground floor of Uptown Landing at Douglas and Hillside. The chef, born in Milan, spent the last three decades cooking in Kansas City. He brought his years of experience to Wichita and we were ready to see (and taste) the final result.
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3252 E Douglas Ave
Wichita, KS 67208
316-977-9277
Monday – Thursday: 11am – 3pm; Dinner from 3pm – 10pm
Friday – Saturday: 11am – 3pm; Dinner from 3pm – 11pm
Closed on Sunday until Feb 17th
Cash/Card Accepted
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The restaurant spared no expense. It was really well designed. Residents in College Hill should be really excited there’s an upscale option in their neck of the woods.
With a party of 12, I didn’t have time to go through and get everybody’s opinions on all the dishes. I’ll briefly cover some of what we had but before that here’s a visual guide to some of what we had.
Of all the dishes, probably the most well received one was the Osso Busso which happened to be the one I ordered. I loved it. The plate was a monstrosity that gained a lot of attention. The pork shank was more than I could handle, I passed some of it around the table so others could sample it, they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was tender, flavorful and even better dripped in the chianti vegetable sauce. Since it was too much to eat, I had to take half of it home. For what it’s worth the to go container was probably as big as the plate itself. By far the biggest bang for your buck of all the meals we had. 100% approved over here.
After that, some other big hits were the escargot, grilled Caesar salad and the pork tenderloin. A friend sitting by me really marveled at his pork tenderloin and complimented it multiple times. The escargot was probably the best of all the appetizers we had. After a quick survey around the table, it was interesting to get some of the feedback I did. Half of the table REALLY enjoyed it while the other half was a little lukewarm. In regards to the criticism, one person thought the salmon was a little dry while another thought the chicken spiedini was a little overcooked but fortunately the sauce made up for it. In fact, the one big agreement was the sauces used in the dishes were phenomenal.
We had absolutely no problems with the service. Our drinks were always refilled, beers came right after they were ordered and the service time for food was perfect.
Once we were done with dinner and sitting there talking about it. Vora Restaurant European definitely had a polarizing reception. Some people really enjoyed it while others weren’t too impressed by it. The funny thing was I already predicted that would be the case. Fine dining is a tough beast to please everyone; expectations go way up in this realm versus other styles of restaurants. At a place like this, you really have to order the right meal to make your experience great. For me, I had the Caesar salad and the best meal of the night, the Osso Bucco, so my experience was much better than some others. Had I went with the salmon, it could have been a totally different experience.
For those wondering about price, a majority of the entrees range from $19-27 so it’s not crazy pricey if you are just sticking with a meal. All apps are between $9-12. We didn’t dry the pizza and those were between $12-15 for a 12inch pie.
This is a restaurant, you’ll have to go in and find out for yourself whether you like it or not. If you want my personal opinion, I really enjoyed it. In case you didn’t figure it out by now, that Osso Bucco was amazing.
Here’s their dinner menu:
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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