Diners gather at BiBa's Italian Restaurant to enjoy from-scratch Italian recipes in a relaxing atmosphere that is designed for friends and family.
"We're a family-oriented Italian restaurant," says BiBa's founder Krist Biba, who will celebrate his restaurant's third year in Hixson this February. "We want to make good quality food with big portions. We take care of our neighbors as best as we can, especially in this tough economy."
The restaurant is family friendly with entertainment for young guests available at every meal. All children are given their own ball of dough to play with and can draw pictures that will hang in the restaurant's picture gallery.
"It's so cool to support your community and have them support you back," Biba says. "It's a small town and I love it. I am so glad I chose to open a restaurant in Chattanooga."
All the recipes at BiBa's are created by Biba and prepared every day from scratch, including the restaurant's famous rolls as well as the fresh dough used to make pizzas, calzones and Stromboli. Handmade meatballs are baked in the restaurant's brick oven and many of the recipes depend on house-made sauces.
The bianco white pizza is a ricotta and mozzarella cheese pizza prepared with a garlic and olive oil spread instead of marinara sauce. For a traditional pie, guests can choose a meat lover's pizza with ham, pepperoni, meatballs, sausage and bacon.
An eggplant parmigiana with freshly cut eggplant topped with mozzarella cheese and the house-made tomato sauce is a popular entrée. Diners can also enjoy stuffed shells prepared with extra large pasta shells filled with ricotta cheese then topped and baked with mozzarella cheese and tomato. The Rigatoni Putanesca is a popular pasta entrée featuring rigatoni pasta with olives, capers, anchovies, fresh basil and garlic cooked with a spicy marinara sauce.
"We're going to come out with another menu by early spring," Biba says. "Most of the items will stay the same, but we are going to add some new recipes. We want people to have lots of choices to choose from."
The new menu will feature items like a low-carb entrée for diners recovering their waistlines from the holiday season as well as a steak entrée for those guests who want a savory meal. The popular crabmeat ravioli that appears often as a daily special will be added as a permanent menu item as well.
Along with the wide variety of Italian dishes available, BiBa's is equipped with a full bar to satisfy the thirsts of 21-and-older customers. For adults, there are also several televisions throughout the restaurant for catching up on the news or sports.
ADDRESS: 5918 Hixson Pike.
PHONE: 843-0001
HOURS: Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
WEBSITE: www.bibasitalian.com.