Vita Nova Restaurant

Always a treat to be pampered at Vita Nova! No longer Newark's best kept secret... plan ahead and make reservations early!

Once again, a great experience all around. We have been here many times and always come away wowed. Our guests also loved the experience. while the food was great as always, we really enjoyed our interactions with our student wait staff. Bravo

We ate the buffet lunch. Unfortunately, the food was rather bland (except for the desserts). We had never eaten here before and looked forward to this for months (it took months to get a reservation—we tried for 6 months to reserve dinner but ended up going with lunch instead, since even those time slots were barely available). Positives: A good variety of food and the desserts were amazing. Service was top notch—you do not see that type of service anymore! We will try again to get a dinner reservation and hoping the food tastes superb like I see others typically rate.

The foods are well prepared with a variety of salads, two delicious main courses with vegetables and potatoes and side dishes. Various types of delicious desserts. This restaurant is the best deal in town. Great foods and reasonable prices

It is nice to eat in a restaurant with a decibel level so low you can talk with your tablemates. The four course meal was served elegantly by UD students. The food was excellent. This is a long (three hours) meal but the quality of the food and ambiance make the investment worthwhile.

Absolutely great experience while guests support students learning. Co-creation of happiness. Love it. 🎉🎊🍽️ 🍷

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My party of 4 enjoyed our lunch buffet experience. The food and service was wonderful. Mohammad and Nick were exceptional! Thank you both! We would love to return for dinner.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Staff are knowledgeable, efficient, and unobtrusive

As always, this was fine dining at its best. The Filet Mignon was excellent and the scallops were delicious. Being served by individual servers is so nice and we get a chance to talk to University students as an added bonus. We look forward to dining here anytime we can get a reservation

Came here last week with some of my boys from the frat house for a nice lunch. Our chef at the frat house likes to put starlite in our food which is an alkali builder for laundry and it’s nasty so we eat out a lot. This place is a nice fine dining restaurant and its student run so that’s nice ! Good food I got a salad and my friend Adam, Tyler and Kyle got steak, mashed potatoes and a bunch of other weird dishes. We laughed loud and had an amazing experience here we will definitely be returning! Guess what this food isn’t made by our crappy frat house chef !! Even better! We all eat shirtless but here it’s fine dining so we can’t do that unfortunately.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Vita Nova is, by far, the best restaurant experience in Newark, DE, or surrounding areas of PA, NJ, and MD. The restaurant is a teaching lab for the University of Delaware Hospitality Program -- all of the wait staff and kitchen staff are students and faculty from the program. The food is absolutely phenomenal, the experience is wonderful, and the wine list is extensive -- and everything is very reasonably priced. I highly recommend Vita Nova to anyone who lives in the Newark, DE area, or is planning to be in the area for business or leisure travel.

Wonderful dining experience. as usual. Many gluten free choices plus they brought us delicious savory gluten free scones. Extensive wine list. Excellent service.

Fantastic experience for student workers, gaining career experience in the field. Food was excellent! And what a value for the lunch buffet.

Always a great experience. I especially like when the students share what they hope to do after school.

The overall experience is amazing even given that this restaurant is run by the UD students as part of their degree program.

Service was over the top, food was exceptional, plus you have plenty of time to talk and enjoy your meal.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Creme Brulee, Appetizer Trio