Cheyenne Restaurant Guide

I discovered Avanti Ristorante in Cheyenne, Wyoming midsummer 1996. I was sixteen; we added the Wyoming city to the travel from Maine to Texas to see the Rockies in Colorado and the Jessica Dubroff crash site/shrine on Kornegay Court in Cheyenne.
It was a waiter at Avantis who informed us where the place was.
Since then I have returned dozens of times including 3 times this past year w/ friends & family. Each visit we've gone to Avantis. I have eaten at restaurants in 48 states and Avantis is tied with 2 other favorites (in Texas). I hope that I may find a contact e-mail so I may be able to personally express my gratitude to the most excellent Italian restaurant ever. Though I'm from Texas I believe most there recognize me now. I will always love going to Cheyenne and will always love going to Avantis when I'm there!

If you have never eaten at Avanti’s Italian Restaurant just off Dell Range, it is a rather enjoyable experience. This isn’t just a come in, sit down eat and go all in twenty minutes type restaurant though. Avanti’s has more of a sit down and enjoy a hearty meal with your family atmosphere. The top three things that I enjoyed about Avanti’s was their friendly service, menu and atmosphere.
For starters, the service was exceptionally well. From the hostess to the waitress, they were all very friendly and cordial to the customers. My waitress didn’t fail to smile and make eye contact when speaking to me and my friend and something that really impressed me was the fact that this lady didn’t even need me to ask her for a refill on my drink; she just asked me if I would like some more tea. That kind of service is hard to come by usually. I know at some restaurants it is hard to even speak to your waiter/waitress much less get a refill on your drink. So that was really cool, I thought. As far as the menu goes they have many delicious, and authentic Italian items to choose from. But what I recommend to you is the buffet, which is what I had. The buffet has a salad bar, a main entrée bar, and they also have a dessert bar. This will be more than enough food to fill anyone up and there are quite a few choices that will hit the spot. These choices included barbeque ribs, lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, spaghetti, and spinach and cheese shells. The dessert bar has a whole bunch of fresh fruit, butterscotch and chocolate pudding, vanilla wafers, jello and the night that I went there was chocolate cake.
In terms of atmosphere, it’s pretty decent at Avanti’s. The lighting in the dining room is a little dim, which I think gives it a little bit of the downtown in Italy feel. They also play music that is all in Italian and some of the songs are interesting. I got a pretty good laugh out of a few of them! All in all though, Avanti’s is definitely worth going to if you haven’t gone before. I promise, unless you dislike Italian food, that you will enjoy your experience at Avanti’s!

Avanti is a great place to go if you like Italian food. There is good food, nice people and a great atmosphere. On one occasion my family and I went out for an early dinner, and we all ended up getting the buffet, which is normal for us.
The food at this restaurant is always excellent and they have a great selection. They usually offer the basic Italian favorites: spaghetti, ravioli, salad, etc. Also, their buffet usually offers a kind of main course of some kind of meat dish. On this trip it was wine cooked pork. It looked like a pork roast cut into fairly thin slices and cooked in some kind of white cream sauce. Everyone agreed it was wonderful.
I also had the minestrone soup this time around. It was really good, except that it was just warm, instead of hot. As it turned out, we had got there just as they were opening and the soup warmer hadn’t been turned up to the proper level. That said, it was still delicious, if not as hot as most would have liked. However, that was an exception and not the norm (as we have been there several times and never had a problem). The waitress was very gracious and asked if I would like have some warmed up in the microwave. I considered that very thoughtful and it made us feel like welcomed guests. This is just one example of the kind and generous staff.
The restaurant itself always is very clean and has an attractive atmosphere. There is always some kind of music playing and usually is Italian in some way. Usually they have a gentleman playing live music there during dinner, but we were too early for him on this occasion.
Along with the music, they have done a lot to make the whole place feel like you are eating at a traditional Italian restaurant. From the red painted walls to the nice wooden chairs and green linen table cloth. It is always presented nicely and I feel very comfortable when eating there.
Now you may be thinking that some place this nice would end up being very expensive. As it turns out, it really is not. In fact, with the amount of food you get, the atmosphere and the great people; it ends up being very reasonable. It ended up being about $34 for a family of four. Granted, we have a five and a seven year old, but still; that’s pretty dog gone good.
About the only thing that I really do not like about the place is the bathroom. I don’t know about the women’s room, but the men’s could use some work. It is a fairly large bathroom, but there is only one toilet and one urinal. Going by the size of the place, they really could use at least one more urinal. Also, although they do keep it pretty clean, it needs some general maintenance work. The door handle was worn and looks like it’s going to fall off. There are places on the walls that need fixed and they use a condiment container to hold the hand soap. This is a pretty big clash with the rest of the restaurant and probably one of the only things that would keep it from a five star rating in my book.
Other than that, this restaurant is probably one of the best in town. The only reason I don’t say it is the best is because I haven’t visited every restaurant in town. Then again, why should I, when I’ve found someplace that I like so much. My fiancée and the kids always like to come here and I have to agree. If we have the money, we’d probably eat here every week.