Bella Cucina

We did enjoy the ambiance of the place. We had poor service, which was the biggest turn off. I tried the Chicken Lemonata (that was raved about), but wasn’t that impressed by it. We had two from our party order the chicken parmesan and neither cared for it. Our youngest, ordered the meat lasagna and devoured it, guessing it must have been pretty good.

After a long flight into MSP, this was well worth the detour. Caesar side salad and Chicken Leomonatta hit the spot when I loaded it up with pepper and parm.

I came here for a celebration with my family. The salad was fresh and flavorful, the bruschetta with caramelized onions was amazing, and all dishes that we ordered were top notch. Between the four of us we could think of nothing that would improve the experience. ⁵⁄₅. I don’t know what happened since this place opened but they have created a gem of an italian cuisine experience here in west Bloomington.

My wife and I live in the area, but passed over this place more than a few times. One night we decided to give it a try for something new. We were very pleasantly surprised with this smaller, locally owned Italian restaurant. We were seated promptly and our drink order was taken right away. Ordered an affordable bottle of wine. The bread was good. I had the lasagna and it was stellar. My wife had another pasta dish (can’t remember the name) and it was very good as well. For desert, we shared piece of lemon cake that was delicious. The chef came out onto the floor and was going from table to table asking how things were. Thought that was a nice personal experience. Really enjoyed the food and atmosphere here. I think my wife and I found a new local hangout for us. Really want to try their pizza next!

We walked in the door and there is a window into the kitchen where a twinkly eyed Italian man greets us. It seems that there are only two people working here on this Wednesday lunch; our server/​hostess and the Italian chef who brings us our food. And what a team they are!
There were too many choices on the menu calling to me, but I selected the Tequila Lime Scallop linguine. It was done perfectly! What great flavors!
If you want to create your own pasta dish, the menu allows you to choose your noodle type, sauce and protein.
Would love to go back!
— Feed back for management: Please find more environmentally friendly go-​boxes. The big white Styrofoam containers are baaaaaad. No one gets out of here without one and that is a lot of damage.

I found this little place off of Unilocal!Family owned-​yay! I love the small yet available outside seating. This cozy restaurant has linen at each setting. It’s clear from the moment we walked in this is a local hot spot-​so many people just for lunch! But not overcrowded. The food was good! I ordered the combination plate with rigatoni and pesto. It was delicious and large enough I had a take home box. I wish the lunch menu had a bigger variety but the tiramisu I had for dessert was arguably one of the better ones I’ve had in the Twin Cities metro and I love trying tiramisu! The staff is courteous, welcoming, and efficient.

Just sat down and getting cheesecake for app, special request basil-​angel hair-​scallops-​shrimp in pesto mix. Cheesecake is good, plain. just right. Service is great. Nice older setting here which I do like. Not modern but maybe could say classic. The bread is just ok. Main dish just came. Beautiful and fab taste, but lots of oil. Too much. I would probably not return.

I had never heard of this place before, but was down in the area giving blood and figured… hey, 4 star Italian, why the hell not eh?
Very nice little place, great décor and great staff. They do have split lunch/​dinner hours (11 – 2;ish for lunch and 5 – 10’ish for dinner), so plan accordingly. Can definitely tell it’s more of a pick up and go lunch/​dinner place as opposed to a sit down area.
Get seated in the dining area, get some table bread and look the menu over. The chicken lemonata was recommneded by another user on here, and it looked like a lighter dish — so I’m game. Ashley decides to go heavy artillery and rolls with a meat calzone, and we split a half cesear salad for an «app.»
Salad was ok. A little heavy on the dressing for our liking. The house made croutons where some are over cooked, was really nice.
Wait for food was around 10, which was nice considering we were both famished. My pasta was good, not great, lacked a little sum-​sum though. Had the noodles, peppers, lemon-​butter, artys, boiled chicken (?), and fresh basil. I did really like the fact it was a lighter pasta dish. The lemon zest part was fantastic. However, the chicken was lacking anything resembling flavor (grill it with lemon pepper at the least) and the overall flavor was lacking. Maybe sun dried tomatoes? Maybe some sort of lemon pepper overall? Either way, it was good, but, didn’t blow wind up my skirt.
The calzone was interesting. There was a little too much braided bread at the edges, which is that fine line for a calzone. Also, it wasn’t nearly as stuffed with meats as you’d think for having all the meats ordered. And the cheese was hit and miss inside it. Some bites had tons of cheese, some were completely devoid. The red sauce with it was solid, a sweeter marinara. But, overall, the feeling was a meh.
There were some good, some bad, and some meh to this place. Overall, we’ll go with a 3 as it was A-​Ok for the both of us.

Favorite Italian restaurant nationwide! I found Eddie’s place by accident and I’m so glad we did. I’ve been eating at Bella Cucina for about 10 years and refer friends and family every chance I get. I live on the road and try every restaurant that I can and no one lives up to Eddie’s delicious dinners!
Lobster ravioli — By far my favorite. Not always on the menu, but ask if they have it and you may get lucky.
Baked Marinara w/​Rigatoni — is my 2^nd favorite. So flavorful and delicious.
Husband love the Amitriciana best, but you really can’t go wrong at Eddie’s. We move away from MN 4 years ago, but a trip home is never a trip home w/​out dinner at Eddie’s.
Love it!!!

We loved the atmosphere and service. The food was reasonably priced. The service was excellent.
I ordered the Marco Polo, which was a Thia sauce with lots of vegies. It was good, but not great. The sauce was watery as if the noodles were not drained. The chicken lemonata was light but the fettucini was boxed, not home-​made.
The bruchetta came out in 6 big slices of italian bread, (not crostini) along with tomatoe slices, chunks of carmelized onions and very salty bacon– but no basil — along with goat cheese. I was slightly disappointed.
The beer prices were very reasonable and wine was sufficient. Overall, we had a good time and we will be back to try other dishes.

Hidden secret for Italian food. Quiet and cozy place where you and guests can have a conversation with food.
5 star if they had more service staff

A group of us (3 adults and 2 kids) went the day before NYE and it was pretty busy for a cold Tues. night. Due to the upcoming holiday, the hostess said they were understaffed, so we knew service might be a little slow. It was, but they kept the bread and drinks coming until we got our food. They also had paper and markers for the kids to draw, which is always nice. The food was very good and decent portion sizes. I had the pasta with broccoli/​mushrooms/​goat cheese, my brother had the spaghetti and meatballs and my husband had a really yummy pizza. The kids meals were great too. Generous portions of pasta, which the adults helped them finish. We will be back. Great atmosphere, good food and kid friendly.

We have dined here twice. The first time was a holiday party and it was very good to excellent. The second time the service was very poor. Our server disappeared for most of the night, no beverage refills and she never smiled. Actually none of the servers looked happy.
The chicken lemonata was very good and my family enjoyed the lasagna and spaghetti.
Not sure if we will be back because they are not too friendly.

This is one we could’ve skipped! Hoping for cozy quiet yummy lunch. Well it was quiet… maybe others have been there. Lots of cheese even before we sat down… in the décor. Maybe just too much light as others seemed to enjoy the ambiance for dinner. Ordered a nothing special Mediterranean salad and cannelloni the server recommended. Pasta sauces were ok, cannelloni filling was bland and unimaginative. I couldn’t eat the salad as the vinegar used was just too strong. Usually Unilocal helps us find winners. Not this time!

Pretty good for a neighborhood Italian restaurant. Menu is varied and seems to include a lot of Asian influences. Spicy potato appetizer seems a bit of an odd inclusion but tastes great! Pasta dishes are varied and refreshingly unconventional. Tequila lime (heavy on cilantro) was decent but needed a little extra seasoning. Amerixxxxxx (not sure of spelling), which we had ‘hottest’ was rich, tasty and very spicy!
Overall food is good with some dishes better than others. Ambiance and décor is pretty good. Pretty good wine list, not just Italian! Given excellent value, it’s worth four stars, just.

First time here today. Fantastic sauce. Great ambiance.
I love their use of fresh herbs in the marinara sauce. Very flavorful. I will definitely be back to this place.

I love that I can drop into Minneapolis on business, Unilocal the area for Italian food, and find this little gem tucked into the corner of a neighborhood strip mall. The room is infused with rich aroma and lively conversation. The menu is impressive. I had the spicy potatoe sausage pizza. Yum!

A nice casual place in an unassuming building. We called for reservations on a Saturday night but there were plenty of tables and no wait to be seated. The bread was flavorful. Our waitress was pleasant but seemed shy or extremely busy… I practically had to knock her down to order a glass of wjne as she almost ran away from our table after ordering. The wine list is small but our waitress was willing to give advice. There is a small kids menu and the kids liked having a choice of pasta and sauces. We enjoyed our entrees and even opted for dessert which was also wonderful. The chef thanked us on he way out which was a nice end to the meal!

The food, portions and service are always well above par!
This place just feels like home.
Happy to have them in the neighborhood.

I’ve been to Bella Cucina twice now, the most recent being last night. I wish I could give a solid four and half stars, but alas.
My first time I went without knowing much about the place except that it is the new «Italian Café». I meet a girlfriend there, and we split a bottle of wine. Limited bar menu, no actual bar… I’m assuming just some bottles in the back. We started with the bruschetta appetizer, and it was the best and most unique one I’ve ever had. Instead of mozzarella (which, hold back the knives, is tasteless to me), they used fresh goat cheese. They used a combination of sauteed proscuitto and caramelized onions for the topping with the tomatoes and basil. It was awesome. It’s my new go-​to appetizer I make when friends come over for wine, and it’s an absolute hit. She got the pesto and I barely saw it on her plate before it was snarfed up. I got the putanesca, which I loved as well.
This time with Mom we both got a glass of wine. We ate a ton of bread, and the very friendly hostess kept refilling as much as we would eat. She got the scallop dish with angel hair and a pesto olive oil sauce. It was supposed to come with artichokes but unfortunately didn’t have any in it. I wanted something spicy, so I got their hot dish, which came in a choice of hot, hotter and hottest. I got hotter, and it had a slight kick. I added a couple ingredients because it seemed pretty plain to me, but with my additions it was awesome.
My only downside here is the iffy service. The sweet hostess sat us, watered us, refilled all our bread and water, checked on us, boxed our leftovers AND ran our bill. I could see our server in the back on her cell phone twice.
Food wise? GO HERE.