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Vivo! Italian Restaurant

12305 N. Rockwell Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 603-4456

Oklahoma City has several very good Italian restaurants, but until the opening of Vivo I had not found any in the far northwest part of the city, requiring a drive at least as far east as May Avenue for more upscale Italian. Vivo seems to be in a somewhat unlikely location, occupying the corner space of a strip mall at N.W. 122nd St. and Rockwell that for years housed a pizza franchise. When they were remodeling the building for Vivo I assumed it would be another casual eatery specializing in pizzas and take-out food. Vivo turned out to be rather upscale, but more so on the food and service than the setting.

The restaurant must have sprung from a love of Italian food, since I do not believe the owners are Italian or that they claim to be using "family recipes." Instead, they seem to have found the best cooking styles to produce quite authentic tasting Italian food.

Margherita Pizza has fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and olive oil

One basis for saying the food is authentic is the Margherita Pizza made with fresh mozzarella cheese and extra virgin olive oil rather than some of the types of pizza with which many of us have grown up. The easier and more marketable approach would probably have been to make a pizza with a more commercial cheese, tomato sauce made in large batches, and lots of meat toppings. I think Vivo is trying to provide something better, though, that cannot be found in many other Italian restaurants.

Other types of pizzas are served, with an emphasis on freshness and light flavors. I think the mozzarella cheese, more than anything, makes these pizzas better than others.

Cheese Raviloi is one of the "Classico" dinners with stuffed cheese ravioli served on top of linguini pasta and covered with Vivo's homemade tomato sauce. I was as much impressed with the cheese as with the sauce, and I thought this was quite a good dish. It was at least good enough to convince me that the high quality of the pizza was not an isolated case.

Vivo has a bar with a TV that does not have the sound turned on, but will show major sports events. Tables are comfortable and everything expected with upscale dining will be present here. The only thing that looks out of place is when you walk outside and reemerge in the suburban strip mall environment. At least Vivo made me think I was in a different setting for a while.