{"id":463744,"date":"2026-10-12T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463744\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:00:11","slug":"the-sisters-behind-lake-highlands-newest-italian-restaurant-arent-in-a-hurry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463744\/","title":{"rendered":"The sisters behind Lake Highlands’ newest Italian restaurant aren’t in a hurry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnything worthwhile takes time\u201d rings true for most restaurateurs. The owners of Lake Highlands<\/a>\u2019 newest Italian restaurant would probably agree.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s spending six hours braising beef or six months renovating the space, sisters Vjosa Bajraktari and Gondze Ajro have taken their time in making Sorella<\/a> a reflection of their very particular expectations. They credit their mother for those standards, who they say set an impossibly high bar with her cooking while they were growing up in Albania.<\/p>\n

The chic, polished restaurant soft-opened on Aug. 24 without much fanfare or a marketing campaign and practically zero media attention<\/a>. And they\u2019re fine with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t run things like most of the big corporate people because they have investors and they have to get their returns right away here and there. So they make their huge promotions and this and that, and then they move on to the next one and to the next one,\u201d Gondze says. \u201cFor us, we\u2019re here. We want to be here for a long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vjosa has managed another Italian restaurant near her home in Trophy Club and has prior dining experience. She\u2019s also an artist, and plans to decorate the dining room\u2019s walls with her in-progress paintings, which she says will bring color to the sleek, modern space. Her sister works in real estate and is familiar with the neighborhood, which they say is an optimal setting since it reminds them of their hometown, where everyone knows each other and word of mouth spreads quickly. That\u2019s also why they haven\u2019t invested heavily in marketing: in Lake Highlands, a few informal recommendations from neighborhood moms can go a long way.<\/p>\n

\"VjosaVjosa, left, and Gondze can be seen working on dinner in Sorella\u2019s open kitchen.<\/p>\n

Food is a passion for the sisters, going back to their grandmother\u2019s table, where, like their restaurant, fresh ingredients took center stage, they say. Sorella, by the way, means \u201csister\u201d in Italian. And while they had planned to collaborate for a while, it was their own sister\u2019s recent death from pancreatic cancer that gave them the drive they needed to make their dream a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, okay, life is too short, and we\u2019ve been wanting to do this for a while; we needed a distraction,\u201d Gondze says. \u201cIt felt like our sister was watching over us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The space
\n\"LotusSorella\u2019s bar offers cocktails like the Sicilian margarita, which comes with amaretto. The sisters say they\u2019re working on a signature drink.<\/p>\n

After walking through an al fresco dining patio out front and through Sorella\u2019s twin glass doors, the space opens into a moody, well-lit dining room that shines as sun pours through floor-to-ceiling windows during lunch hours. Rich tan booths line an exposed brick wall to the right of the doors, beneath an exposed ceiling dotted with a variety of hanging light fixtures. It feels like a trendy loft, with an 11-seat white marble bar stocked with spritz-ready aperitivos and a succinct selection of Italian wines chosen to complement the menu.<\/p>\n

At 3,235 square feet, the space is expansive and includes a cafe that opens early at 9:30 a.m. From the small counter, the Sorella cafe team churns out espressos, lattes and cappuccinos, with grab-and-go pastries and sandwiches made on house-baked focaccia bread set to roll out soon.<\/p>\n

Vjosa says they want the space to create a \u201cfamily environment\u201d for a \u201cbit of everything,\u201d from casual weeknight dinners to date nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you invite everybody to stay and dine,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s how it is, and that makes us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sorella'sShrimp alla limone.<\/p>\n

The sisters at Sorella say they oversee most aspects themselves \u2014 from interior design and general operations to menu writing. Their offering is substantive yet confined to two pages, and features recipes they\u2019ve enjoyed since childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want it how we made it in our house,\u201d Vjosa says.<\/p>\n

Just like it was back home, they say fresh ingredients and farm-to-table preparation are central to each dish, with Vjosa adding, \u201cIf you don\u2019t have good ingredients, you can\u2019t prepare great Italian fare. Five people spend hours each morning prepping vegetables sourced from local producers, which is where they also get the meat for their six-hour braised beef and the meatballs, an early hit based on another family formula.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our sauces and stuff, I didn\u2019t even have recipes,\u201d Gondze says. \u201cI just knew how to make them. Because it\u2019s like \u2018How many cups of this?\u2019 I don\u2019t know how many cups!\u201d<\/p>\n

Vjosa and Gondze say their menu isn\u2019t confined to the traditional, and they call their fare \u201ca bit of everything,\u201d with steak and even a fontina cheeseburger starring alongside housemade pasta. The menu features authentic Italian classics such as broccolini and sausage orchetiette, served with chili flakes ($22), alongside more Americanized twists like Fettuccine Alfredo, a house specialty ($26). Starters include calamari fritti ($16), caprese salad and caponata (both $14), and a roasted Sicilian medley of peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes garnished with agrodolce, olives and basil.<\/p>\n

For a lighter starter or to soak up their housemade sauce, the restaurant offers four kinds of focaccia: rosemary; bruschetta; garlic and parmesan; and zucchini, tomato and ricotta confit. A small table portion of the rosemary bread is available for $4, and like everything else at Sorella, Gondze says it\u2019s always fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like sitting food; everything happens this morning for service today,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Early best-sellers include spicy rigatoni alla vodka made with Calabrian chilis ($21) and shrimp alla limone, lightly crusted in a lemon-and-white-wine sauce ($26). Our pick is the tortellini alla niavola, with crispy bits of pancetta and chilis in a robust, slightly spicy, light cream sauce ($22).<\/p>\n

Everything is cooked to order, to the sisters\u2019 specifications, Vjosa says, which is why customers may need a little extra patience while they wait. They may also need to wait a little longer for a grand opening or menu specials, but as with simmering a good sauce, the sisters aren\u2019t trading quality for speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s just getting it right first, just delivering the food how we want it, for every dish to come how we want it,\u201d Vjosa says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorella is at 9660 Audelia Road and\u00a0is open Wednesday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

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