April 7, 2022

Maribella Ristorante will be the name of the new restaurant coming to Washington Square downtown.

It’s a nod to owner Riccardo Tarabelsi’s wife, Marybeth. The two also own R Wine Bar & Kitchen and the future Brix Wine Bar, which is scheduled to open later this month at Washington Square.

“I told the design team I don’t want this to look like anything else in Sioux Falls,” Tarabelsi said. “Our goal is to transport you to Italy.”

The design in the mixed-use building at 12th Street and Main Avenue includes arches, domes and wrought iron, which he said remind him of Italy.

The cuisine at Maribella Ristorante will be upscale Italian, inspired by northern Italy.

“It’s going to be the most authentic experience you can get,” Tarabelsi said.

While the menu will be revealed once it’s fine-tuned, it calls for doughs and sauces made from scratch, and “we invested in a pasta extruder, so we can handmake every pasta shape. So no matter what dish you order it’s handmade,” he said.

The wine list will be entirely Italian, and there will be Italian signature cocktails. Because Brix will be on the other end of the building, other wines by the bottle will be an option too.

Italian dishes at R Wine Bar will stay on that menu, Tarabelsi said, calling that approach more Italian-American fare.

Half the kitchen at Maribella will be open, with a visible pizza oven.

A glassed-in front bar area will offer its own seating and lounge menu.

“Each arch will serve to distinguish dining spaces,” Tarabelsi said, noting that a 15-by-9-foot mural also will be a focal point.

The restaurant is expected to open later this year, and it will include a large patio.

R Wine Bar owners to add second wine bar downtown