Cafe Bella

The place was warm and inviting but could have used a bit more light. Several of the light bulbs were burnt out on the ceiling fans. Our waiter took our orders and we waited.
We waited. We waited. After a bit of said waiting, our food arrived. My meal was not to my satisfaction. The eggplant parm was basically breading with the skin of the eggplant with the skin sticking out like floss. It was also not an adult portion by any means. The flavor of the sauce was adequate although not HOT. My son’s meal of chipotle chicken alfredo was lukewarm at best. The dish was actually cool to the touch. My daughter’s shrimp alfredo still had the tails attached which may or may not be the standard and once again, it was not HOT. Let me cool down my food at my table. I ordered the canoli based upon (twinkie size) what was in the cooler section under the front desk. When I opened the Styrofoam lid, I was amazed they were about the size of two thumbs. This was not what I ordered. The service was ok and I did see the chef walk around but never stopped at my table. There was also a family of four with two young children and one of them was jumping off the seat and management did nothing to stop it.
In a nutshell, I have driven by this place for the better part of four years and decided to stop one Friday evening. I should have kept going.

Place is dirty, absolutely not fit for human consumption of food. (maybe that’s why it was empty at 6pm on a friday rofl)
Refused to turn on AC during a hot day. Tables had a layer of grease on the thick plastic table cover. Seats were placed (or scattered) haphazardly around the restaurant.
Chicken Alfredo tasted like wax with salt. Chicken was overcooked, with only slightly better texture than rubber. Noodles were undercooked as the insides still had a bit of grittiness, only way to consume the dish was to douse it with Parmesan cheese.
Please, save yourself and your mouth, don’t come to this shithole.

Five years ago, this neighborhood café was a pleasure to go to. The owner did the cooking and the kids waited and bussed the tables. The BYOB option was encouraged. The last year, every visit has gotten a little worse. Tonight, there were at least 5 un-​bussed tables the whole time we were there, each ceiling fan had at least one burned out bulb. The three young men waiting the tables were in dire need of direction and a little hustle, the pizza took 30 mins + to get to the table, no refills without asking, etc. Something here has changed and the café is sliding downhill fast. I really hate to see this because I really did like this place.

Read this review before you head into this dark and greasy place. When I ordered my food over the phone, the young man hung up without telling me a price. I, like so many other millenials, am accustomed to seeing prices online and trusting that the information has been kept up to date. The online menu lists the Lobster Ravioli (more on the food later) as 11.99. There is no mention of charge for extra sauce. I was astonished that 2 orders plus cheesy garlic bread cost me 40.02 when I arrived. The actual price was 14.99 plus 1.50 for extra sauce. I’m no mathmatician, but that is 4.50 more for each plate than I was prepared to spend.
When I spend 20.00 per plate, I expect that the food will be pretty good. The lobster ravioli, which should be called greasy imitation crab noodles, was drenched in oil so much that it stained the seat of my car during transit. My mouth is still coated in cheap olive oil from the few bites I choked down. Being fair, I did like the bread, but 3.99 for 4 small pieces seems pretty steep to me.
I always like to call and discuss with the company before I write a bad review, as I am aware how harmful bad reviews cfan be to a businesses traffic. When I called to speak to them I was put on with the owner, who told me «if you don’t like it, that’s your problem.» Apparently greasy pasta is done purposefully at this establishment.
I work right down the street from this place and am a great customer, until you treat me poorly. I will be taking my business elsewhere. You can keep your 15.00 grease.

Food was barely warm and not good at all. Had to choke mine down, the sodas secondhand the bread was just awful. Nice décor if you like cobwebs and spiders and broken fans. Way overpriced for what little you get. You want awesome Italian In a quaint place then I suggest Napolis or locatatelli’s. Do not waste your money especially on the ravioli. The one waiter was friendly

THIS WAS A SHOCKER!!! I experienced the WORST service ever and I did not even get a chance to order my food. My wife was notarizing our deed next door and asked if I would go and see what kind of pizza do they serve, (New York, Chicago) style. I walked in and asked the staff and they were not experienced to know the difference. I asked for the manager and he says if you are not with the INS asking me questions, I don’t have time to talk to you and went back into the kitchen. I took my wife and our friend from Hawaii in there to point out the rude service that I just received from the manager and that we will not be dining here due to their unprofessional behavior and to please keep anyone we know from coming here. It doesn’t matter how great the food is in a restaurant, I will never ever pay anyone to be rude to me. I am sorry that I have to write this post but they are worth the time of letting people know that this should not be a place to dine unless you don’t care about your service when you have to pay.

The food took forever to come out. We waited over and hour in an almost empty place. Mediocre food. The dessert was tiramisu (which took forever because they said they were making it fresh) but was still frozen and clearly bought from the store. We arrived at seven and we are just now leaving at nine. The wait staff was inattentive at best and the bathrooms were gross.

I stop in the coffee shop next to Café Bella often and always wanted to stop at this Italian café. I’m so sorry I did. It was an all night affair. We walked in, sat for 10 minutes before one of the 4 Waitresses brought us menus. Others already gave up and left. Finally they did come, we gave our order quickly. 15 minutes later she comes to us to ask how we wanted the pizza cooked. That means they didn’t even start it yet. 50 honest minutes later the food comes out. I have to say it was very good. Overpriced but good. It better be good having to wait a full hour from ordering to eating. And that was the last we heard of her. We had to walk up the counter to get our own condiments. We didn’t have them long before they came to take them back.
We were so angry at the wait time but at this point thought the food was great which smoothed things out. Until I walked up to the register to pay. Had to wait there too but someone forgot to close the door to the kitchen and I got the real treat of the night. The Waitresses were preparing the food with no sanitary gloves. Just as another reviewer below said they did. I saw it with my own eyes. They handle filthy money and are handling your food with their bare hands. What I think I saw I have trouble writing here because I can’t prove it but I think I watched them taking left overs from one plate to put on a new plate for a new customer. Suddenly the really yummy food I ate grossed me out.
But here it is 4 days later and I look at my morning bank transactions posted online. They automatically charge 15% tip weather you like it or not, or know it or not. Trick is, it’s not on your bill that you take to the register. I have a second charge for $ 5 which really burns my tail since my wife, against my wishes, left a $ 5 tip on the table. I believe they made an unauthorized bill for the tip. I wish I saved the receipt to verify that. The health Dept needs to pay a visit as well as the Dept of consumer affairs.

We tried this place based on halfway decent reviews and because it is not far from where we live… We were very disappointed. The wait staff was terrible. We went at lunch and there was almost no one working. We only saw one person. Took forever to be waited on even though we were the only customers. Then our food took forever. We had to get our own refills and the sodas were all flat. The food finally came out and we were not impressed. Tasted like frozen lasagna and reheated rolls :(I give two stars because I’ve been to worse and the place was clean. Hopefully this was just an off day.

Wait time is unbearable. They are always behind with only 1 person in the kitchen. However the food is awesome.

Split a large Greek salad and chicken and spinach pizza. Excellent food! Will definitely be back. BYOB

Stopped here for convenience with my daughter.
Ambiance is what I would expect from a corner strip center café, I wasn’t expecting much to begin with.
My daughter ordered the kids meal spaghetti. It was one of the smaller kids plates I’ve seen for $ 4.99. Took her a few bites to finish.
I had a meatball sandwich. The bread was ok, but tasted like it was all heated in a microwave. The meatballs could have come from Sam’s club. It came with chips, literally a small handful all for $ 6.99.
Drive the extra few minutes to Locatelli’s and you will be better off for a dollar more, you will have lunch the next day.

Nice place. It is slow, you have to wait sometimes awhile, but the casual atmosphere, and their food is fresh, homemade, good and inexpensive. I really liked their Eggplant Parmesan, and their pizza. It is fun that you can bring your wine, no cork fee.

Here is the black and white of it. Anyone that says the food here isn’t good is just dead wrong. The owner hand makes every order. Everything we have had is absolutely delicious. I mean it’s the, «oh, my God, this is delicious.» Ambiance, not so good but who cares? Bring your own wine and relax. We call our order in about 30 minutes before we get there. We either take it home or have them pop our wine, sit down and eat there. That way you get great food without such a long wait. Stuff we love? Greek pizza minus the sun-​dried tomatoes. Spaghetti and meatballs. Olive pasta. Pasta primavera. We just tried the hummus recently and it IS good! Take the hints and enjoy some great food. Just don’t be in a hurry.
UPDATE: I’m just updating this because the same thing I said before still applies. Great homemade food. Husband LOVES the meatballs — little smashed ovals of goodness. Call ahead. Bring your own wine. Don’t be in a hurry.

Neighborhood Italian café. Nice to have one. Food is really fresh and good for the price. Nice low key atmosphere. Bring your own wine or beer.
Of note: If anyone from your table goes to the restroom… don’t talk about them. For some reason, while in the bathroom, you can hear all the conversations from the tables. It is not like that out in the restaurant. Weird.

The food tastes like it was purchased at Sam’s club in the frozen food section. There’s no ambiance at all, no music. The calzone was bland, chicken marsala, meh, lobster ravioli, meh, slow to refill waters, and very slow to bring our food out with only 2 other tables of people there. Then they don’t bring you an itemized receipt at the end. They charged $ 3 for a salad that is 3 bites, maximum. Very mediocre and not worth the price, definitely have had better at that price!

A café indeed. There’s probably 15 tables in the restaurant, tops. It’s a cute, quaint place. And surprisingly, the food is fresh and really delicious! I had the pizza and my aunt had the shrimp alfredo pasta. Everything was so scrumptious. I think the owner prepares and cooks everything in the kitchen himself! WOW!
If you want tasty Italian without the wait or hassle of a chain restaurant, come to Café Bella! You’ll be pleasantly surprised. And don’t forget to bring your own wine!

So we ate here today because we thought it deserved a second try. The first visit was nothing great, and the second was the same. The décor is almost obnoxious, orange walls, orange lighting, with a mix of Italian and western pictures. It is a bit confusing, you think that you are walking into an Italian café, but once you walk through the doors, you wonder if you are in a barbecue joint.
On to the food, I don’t remember the exact dishes from our first visit, but we ordered the hummus and a pepperoni, onion, and garlic pizza on thin crust. Both were good, but were just that. If I am going to treat myself to pizza it should be great, and there are too many great pizza places around here to justify eating here. I really want them to succeed, but they need work.

My family went here once and we enjoyed it. It’s BYOB if you like wine or beer. The food is pretty inexpensive. My parents had sandwiches that they liked; my sister had a salad. My friend and I split a meaty pizza which we enjoyed.
But the real star of this place is the 30-​inch pizza which starts at 24.99 for a plain cheese pizza. Extra toppings are $ 3 a pop. You have to put the back seats down to get it home. In comparison to the usual chain pizza places, Café Bella is just all around better. Their sauce is nicer, the cheese is creamier and less salty, and the toppings are better. Even their pepperoni tastes better.

I have been coming to Café Bella once a week since they opened. They are so friendly. Ambiance is «cute, suburbia, Italian» Do yourself a favor get the hummus you will not regret it.
Their pizza always tastes fresh. Their Greek Salad is awesome! Soups are different everyday and I haven’t had a bad soup yet. They make this Beef Lentil soup it is kind of spicy but I like spicy.
The owner pokes his head out time to time. They are so nice to everyone that comes in. Highly recommended!