Bella

FOOD

Bella’s Sunday buffet is best described as a curated brunch rather than a sprawling catalog. The line is built around familiar breakfast comforts, but the restaurant gives it a grand centerpiece with a tenderloin carving station. Slices of beef can be finished with chimichurri or creamy horseradish, making the carving board the natural place to begin before building the rest of the plate around it.

The strongest regional turn comes from shrimp and grits. Bella serves the shrimp over smooth, slow-cooked polenta-style grits, bringing a richer Southern note to a room that otherwise carries an Italian identity. Biscuits and gravy stay in the same comfort-food lane, while cheesy potato casserole supplies exactly the sort of scoopable, savory side that rewards a return trip. Together, those dishes keep the buffet rooted in East Tennessee brunch rather than simply reproducing a generic hotel breakfast.

The breakfast fundamentals are there as well: scrambled eggs and bacon give the plate its familiar base, but they work best as supporting players rather than the reason to come. This is a buffet where it makes sense to take smaller portions of the standards and leave room for the dishes with more personality. That is especially true once the tenderloin, shrimp and grits, potatoes and biscuits begin competing for plate space.

French toast bake provides the buffet’s warm sweet counterpoint. Instead of requiring a made-to-order pancake or waffle station, it turns French toast into a casserole-style brunch dish that can be spooned onto the plate and revisited easily. A selection of fresh seasonal pastries extends that sweeter side of the meal, while fresh fruit offers a cooler, lighter reset between the richer savory choices.

The sheer enjoyment of brunch at Bella comes from composing a plate carefully, then going back to change the balance: more carved tenderloin on one trip, more shrimp and grits on another, perhaps French toast and pastry after the savory dishes have had their turn.

Brunch also carries Bella’s full bar personality, though drinks are separate from the buffet price. The Bella Mimosa can be made with several juice choices, and a mimosa flight pairs a carafe of sparkling wine with three juices. The Bloody Bella, Bellini and espresso-forward cocktails make it easy to turn the buffet into a longer Sunday occasion rather than a quick breakfast stop.

Groups also have unusual flexibility here because the buffet shares the Sunday menu with plated brunch dishes. Eggs Benedict, lemon mascarpone pancakes, short-rib hash, frittatas, quiche and herb biscuits with gravy can be ordered à la carte by anyone who does not want the unlimited spread. Bella can function as a true buffet destination without requiring every person at the table to approach brunch the same way.

For Buffet Authority, the draw is the combination rather than sheer item count. Tenderloin carving, shrimp and grits, Southern breakfast comforts and a polished downtown dining room make this feel more luxurious than the standard Sunday buffet. Bella uses abundance selectively, and that restraint is part of its identity: enough variety for repeat trips, enough refinement to make those trips feel like brunch rather than breakfast.