Piazza Bella

I never write bad reviews, but felt compelled to after my experience at this restaurant. The food is nothing special here and it’s over priced. But what really ruined my entire dining experience was the poor service. The drink I ordered was an Old Fashioned and it was nothing but a cup of ice cubes and maybe a few ounces of liquid — of which was pure sweet juice flavor. I’ve had plenty of Old Fashioned’s in my life, and this was like drinking a juice box. I asked the waiter if he could add a splash into my drink since it was weak. He told me «no they could not add a splash into my drink because the drinks are all measured». He didn’t even offer to get me a different drink! «No»?? Never in my life have I heard that word when at a restaurant before. They always accommodate me to the best of their ability. Foolishly, I ordered a second Old Fashioned — this time with no ice. Not from the same waiter because he never came back to our table to ask us anything about how the food was or if we needed anything. The second Old Fashioned comes and I taste it and it is nothing but pure sugar and some kind of juice — no trace of alcohol was detectable. I was extremely bothered by this, yet I was stuck drinking it since the waiter made it clear that the restaurant doesn’t care if I like my drink of not — I just have to deal with it because everything is «measured». $ 12.50 for an old fashioned — one of which was completely ice and juice while the other was just juice? I can go to RPM and get an Old Fashioned for around the same price with actual ALCOHOL in it!!! SO it gets even better, the bill comes and it’s around $ 100 (which only included 3 drinks) — for 3 people. That seemed unusually high and I was skeptical of its legitimacy. At this point our money is in the checkbook and the waiter comes by and frantically takes it off our table and starts walking off. I tell him to come back because I want to look over the bill. After reviewing it, I found that we were charged $ 15 for an appetizer we didn’t even order. We tell the waiter and he apologizes for the mistake and comes back with the corrected receipt. The whole thing seemed very strange to me — everything from the drinks being measured and not replacement being offered to the waiter running off with the checkbook and «accidentally» charging us for something we didn’t even order. I would never recommend this place or take anyone here, not only because the food is nothing special and over priced, but also and mainly because the service was terrible. I feel like I was robbed my $ 40 I spent there — DO NOT GO HERE.

Everything we requested was promised but ignored. Place wasn’t even that busy. Good came out hot and was good. But the time we had to wait to order, drink refills and ignored requests killed it. The waiters think they’re doing everything right but two of the waiters who were wearing glasses have the memory of a goldfish.

What a terrible experience. We were looking for a nice family dinner and instead were greeted with mediocre food and the most obnoxious patrons I have ever experienced outside of a sports bar on St. Patrick’s Day. I could barely even hear my husband over the loud table behind us, and it just seemed to get louder as the meal wore on. It’s sad when one table’s dining experience trumps another, and it was impossible to even converse, much less just eat in peace with the noise from the other guests. I had a pounding headache by the end. For the price point, we would have been so much happier at Mia Francesca’s instead — much better food and atmosphere/​clientele. This wasn’t our first time at Piazza Bella, but it was most certainly our last.

I am adding a star back. They seem to have improved the food. Service good. Come back time Piazza Bellla.

Piazza catered our wedding, which is not something they typically do. However, we love their food and they did us a HUGE favor! The service was excellent to say the least! Our venue did not make it easy for the owner Chris. Piazza had to supply liquor licenses, add on fees you name it. However, Chris did everything he could to make the process as seamless as possible! Lupe, Cuco, and Dave all were so helpful as well as the rest of the Piazza staff that took time out of their busy Saturday’s to make our wedding the best! We are so thankful for Piazza, and I would highly recommend them to anyone for gourmet Italian!

What happened to you, Piazza Bella?
I’ve not been coming recently, so I may have missed an ownership change or something, but the empty restaurant perhaps should have alerted me.
The service was good, but the food was completely boring in every way. Meh soup, meh salad, boring overcooked salmon, with no discernible flavor, and my 10 year old’s friend said the ravioli was dry!!! lolol. It would’ve been funny, except that I spent $ 100 for a disappointing dinner for one adult and two 10 year olds:-(

Taking a star off because now that I’ve been to Sapori, I can’t justify giving this place the full five. Four solid stars though, and if you’re in the area, I recommend it.

A gem not hidden, but right out in the open. Consecutively great food, service, and atmosphere.
Went to this place night for a birthday dinner and left completely satisfied. Our waiter, Solomon, started us with two fresh bread baskets (complimentary), a crisp green salad tossed in balsamic vinaigrette. She ordered a custom vodka angel hair and chicken pasta dish (there’s an option to make your own), and I ordered the 10 oz. ribeye that came with a grilled red onion and bell peppers sautéed in a light tomato sauce. Fantastic.
Definitely recommended time after time.

I decided to try out this nice decorated italian restaurant for my birthday and loved it! I tried a bite of everyone’s dish, and they all tasted great but mine was the best. Order the Cod, it was sweet and super delicious! The staff was great and I was able to make a reservation for 10 earlier in the day. The atmosphere was relaxing, with dim lights, and nice décor. Can’t wait for my next visit!

Came here for my brothers birthday, beautiful interior, white tablecloths, great food! Fried calamari appetizer was so good and the chef’s special cod was the best cod I’ve had; the sauce was this amazing sweet sauce that complimented the fish perfectly. Will definitely be back!

What a great dinner we had here with the kids. Fresh and had great flavors from the appetizer to the entrees. Always great to see a chef think out of the box and this restaurant does it well! I will def be back (Squid Ink Pasta was awesome!) and will recommend others as well! It just so happened the weather was awesome and the outdoor seating made it even better.

The service was good, but the food was bland. They also didn’t put pepperoni on half of one pizza like we asked. We didn’t leave upset we ate there, but we also agreed we’d never go back. It was literally just «okay nothing special.» Not authentic Italian.

This is a local fav. They get five stars for service. In reading the reviews, hint, don’t go here during one of our hoods famous street fairs and expect a romantic time. These folks LOVE the street fairs and prepare to be what they need to be during them, a place to get better drinks than the beer and lousy sangria served in the street. On a weekday, sit outside, have a beer and some pizza, meet the locals. Only thing I wish they would do is bring back the risotto!

We have been going here for 8 years however, since the change over portions are smaller, prices higher, selection limited and has a very weird energy. The staff used to be happy and it seems like there is a cloud over what was a sunny place. Huge loss to Roscoe St.

Cute small local place with pretty good service. Came here for my birthday and I guess my boyfriend told them it was my b-​day when he called for reservations but they didn’t do anything. Food was decent.

Gave it nearly two years since my last visit and I can still say without a doubt that the food here is not good. However I will say the service is wonderful, which is unfortunate for the FOH staff here.
Tonight we had the filet with barolo glaze, asparagus and potatoes, and the potato gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce. Both dishes were boring boring boring.
The filet was overcooked by two temps, waiter recommended med-​rare hubby asked for rare it came out medium. The filet wasn’t seasoned in the slightest and was bland. The supposed glaze on the steak didn’t come through at all. It also had a few big fatty tendons running through it. The asparagus and potatoes that came with it were severely disappointing, just boiled, unseasoned cut up baby red potatoes and chopped up miniscule pieces of asparagus thrown together. I made this concoction at home better last week with some leftover porkchops. $ 28
The gnocchi wasn’t much better— an overly rich cream sauce with pieces of gnocchi. Nothing to this dish at all. Even a sprinkling of parsley would have went a long way but there was nothing colorful or overwhelming here. $ 16
I feel like this establishment is ran by people who just woke up one day and thought, «I think I’ll open an Italian restaurant today.» The food is simply not good and is severely overpriced for the quality.
I won’t be back– I’d rather take a $ 15 cab ride to a much better Italian restaurant.

Don’t go here and expect to get any service. I don’t know why people go into the service industry with customers if they are going to REFUSE to provide, well, service to customers. I went here on the Saturday of Retro on Roscoe and decided to go to the bar to order drinks. BIG MISTAKE. Apparently, only the male bartender was capable of operating the cash register and running credit cards, and the female bartender was only interested in waiting on male customers. What did Julia Roberts say in «Pretty Woman?» BIG MISTAKE. I usually tip half of my bill, and I’m fairly certain the average Joes the bartender was waiting on, who weren’t even standing at the bar while I was waiting for 15 minutes, were not tipping at that level.
I made eye contact with her, tried to flag her down, she actually took time to clean the bar off and continued to ignore me — intentionally. I finally had to flag down the male bartender, who motioned to the female bartender and said she would wait on me. I informed him that that was not going to happen because I did not have the right, er, anatomy. Once I got my drinks, a young black guy standing next to me asked «what it took to get a drink in this place.» When I responded, «you have a penis, she should wait on you,» she ran and told the bouncer she is schtupping to throw me and my friend out. This was pretty hilarious because we couldn’t wait to get out of this dump and were planning on leaving as soon as we got our drinks.
Obviously, I’ll never go back to this place. Way to attract new customers at Retro on Roscoe Piazza Bella!

Piazza Bella has awesome Italian food in Roscoe Village… the waiter (Jeff) was awesome and super chatty! We even had a shot of limoncello as our dessert with him!
Food was good and they are very accommodating whether you want to change something on the entrée. Overall it was a great experience and when I am in the area I will stop by again for more goodness!

I feel my three star review is actually quite generous given how hit or miss Piazza Bella can be. I was excited that there was a neighborhood Italian place since I moved away from my beloved Caro Mio, but Piazza Bella does not even compare.
I’ve dined at Piazza Bella for brunch and dinner. Their brunch service is decent, it is a buffet. No major issues with the food or service, and the price is pretty good. Also, you usually don’t have to wait to have brunch unlike the other popular brunch establishments in the neighborhood.
Dinner however, is a completely different story. The dishes range from «not bad» to «wtf is this?». On my most recent visit, a pasta dish was ordered that you could add shrimp to for an additional $ 6. We waited almost 45 minutes for the food to arrive, and when it did the pasta dish had three shrimp on it. That’s $ 2 dollars a shrimp folks! Insane. The pizza I had was fine… this time. A later visit I was given pizza with dough that was not completely cooked. Some dinner pluses include the lasagna. My mom ordered it when visiting me and she loved it. I tried it and it was pretty good.
So you see, by eating at Piazza Bella, you take a risk. A risk of having to wait ages for food, being disappointed in the food, and paying too much for the food. Or, it could turn out just fine and you have a lovely lasagna and wine. So if you aren’t too picky or you’re too lazy to go get decent Italian food, Piazza Bella may be worth the risks.

I wanted my 300^th review to be special and I couldn’t have
asked for a better place/​restaurant to review.
Piazza Bella is a class act all the way, from the moment you enter
and see the stunning romantic interior, a beautiful wooden bar, and
tables lit with candlelight.
I was a little taken aback at first because I thought this place might
be too upscale for me, but that feeling went away very quickly because
we were welcomed by the nicest of servers and treated so well!
There is not one negative thing I can say about this place because
everything they do here is solid, and they do it with style!
And as if all that’s not enough then they bring you this great bread
basket to the table with olive oil and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Absolutely delicious!
And Piazza Bella has a great menu with many choices but I would advise
you to order a thin crust pizza from them because truly, it was one of the
best I have ever had in my entire life!
I am so impressed with Piazza Bella, and. I just have a feeling
this will be one of my favorite new spots.
And. they also have a great wine list, or various beers if that’s what
you would prefer.
Honestly, one of the nicest places I’ve been to all year.
Thank You Piazza Bella,
It was a great dining experience, one that I will be repeating soon.