EAT Restaurant Partners’ new Italian restaurant, Civita Italia, opened Monday in the mixed-use GreenGate development in Short Pump.
While EAT’s portfolio already includes two Pizza & Beer of Richmond locations, Civita marks the local restaurant group’s first foray into classic Italian dishes. The menu includes fresh pastas, entrees such as chicken marsala, and antipasti including arancini and caprese salads.
The concept is led by and named for EAT chef Kevin LaCivita, who said he built the menu after traveling throughout Italy last summer. Pasta dishes at Civita range from about $24 to $35, and entrees from $27 to $84.
Kevin LaCivita
The majority of EAT’s restaurants are in buildings that the company leased or moved into, but for Civita, the group bought a 0.2-acre plot at 3401 Haydenpark Lane within GreenGate and built the 7,000-square-foot restaurant from scratch. EAT president Chris Tsui said it allowed them to control the design.
“We made it a little more unique with the butterfly-shaped roof. It looks completely different when you walk inside,” Tsui said.
Other design affectations include the frame of a vintage Ferrari mounted above the bar, a private dining area with a wallpapered drawing of Tuscany by a local artist and a visible pasta prep kitchen near the dining room.
“We make some of the pastas in-house and we have a little pasta room that people can see through the glass,” Tsui said.
Michael Pellis Architecture designed the building and Design Therapy the interior design. FasTrac General Contractors handled construction. Tsui declined to share the project cost.
Civita held its grand opening Aug. 3 with a staff of about 70. Tsui said for the first two weeks it’ll just be open for dinner, with lunch added after that.
It’s the company’s third restaurant in GreenGate, joining Red Salt Chophouse & Sushi and Wong’s Tacos.
The opening of Civita adds to a busy year for EAT. In the spring, the group opened a Wong’s Tacos in Hanover in another new-construction building, and also recently added a Lucky AF location at Short Pump Town Center.
It has another Lucky AF in the works for Forest Hill in The Evelyn, a new mixed-use building in the neighborhood. Tsui said that spot is slated open in September.
The company is also signed on to open a restaurant next to CarMax Park, in a building that is the subject of an ongoing dispute between the Diamond District’s developers and the Flying Squirrels’ ownership group.
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