Olivera’s Restaurant provides quality food and excellent service

Olivera’s is an Italian-American family restaurant located in Ionia County. It features a large dining area as well as a sports bar with an abundance of televisions situated for viewing sports.

Olivera’s was founded by Ionia County resident Ricardo Biella in 2002. Originally a small establishment in downtown Ionia, it grew into two large restaurants serving Portland as well as Ionia.

Ricardo’s son, Luciano, manages both locations.

“We specialize in excellent customer services as well as in great food,” said Luciano. “We take great pride in what we do. We constantly improve our establishment in such a way as to offer our customers the finest experience possible.”

Olivera’s does indeed go the extra mile.

“We offer catering and delivery, as well as in-house dining,” said Luciano. “We also host special dinners for larger groups of people. We take much, much pride in making sure that all of these things work flawlessly.”

The Biella family came to Michigan from Sicily in the 1990s. Luciano’s grandfather opened a small pizzeria in Kentwood upon arrival in the Grand Rapids area. Luciano’s father, Ricardo, worked on site at the pizzeria and he learned the business first-hand. After meeting his wife Haliana in high school, he and his wife opened a small restaurant of their own in Ionia in 2002. The restaurant expanded from this small operation to the two larger restaurants that the family owns today.

“The restaurant in Portland has a similar menu as the restaurant in Ionia, but with different specials,” said Luciano. “The Portland location is more intimate, however, with a special room for private parties.”

The food at Olivera’s is considered to be outstanding.

“We specialize in pasta and in pizza, as well as in fresh seafood and in steaks that we hand-cut daily,” said Luciano. “All of our sauces are made daily. Our food is made from scratch in our own kitchen. This is a great point of pride for us. From the standpoint of optimum flavor quality, this made-from-scratch aspect of our food makes all of the difference.”

The restaurant is currently redesigning its menu in an effort to enhance the dining experience of its customers.

“Our new menu will be available in early 2026,” said Luciano. “It will be the largest expansion of our menu in our history. We will offer incredible new dishes to our customers that we’ve never before featured. We are very excited about this menu expansion and we believe that it will offer our customers a new and special dining experience that will make their evenings out something really memorable.”

Luciano invites everyone to visit Olivera’s.

“We treat every guest as special,” he said. “We regard everyone as family.”

Olivera’s Restaurant

1417 E. Grand River Avenue

Portland, MI 48875

Telephone: (517) 994-6050

Hours

Monday: 3 pm to 10 pm

Tuesday- Thursday: 11 am to 10 pm

Friday and Saturday: 11 am to 11 pm

Sunday: Noon to 10 pm

oliverasrestaurant.com

Delivery and Pick-up available

Courtesy photo