Bella Luna

Quality food and elegance in Downtown Palo Alto.

Pretty good food and nice atmosphere. The minestrone soup was great, and the spaghetti and meatballs was very good (not fabulous). The service was good and quick, but they messed up what they charged on our credit cards at the end.
Would definitely come back for some good Italian food.

Bella Luna, I’d rate you higher if you were still open and if you didn’t suddenly close on us. I miss my old friend Aziz and his generous glasses of wine. The food was comforting, and the atmosphere was charming. It use to be much better many years ago, which might be why they had a hard time keeping it filled.
It certainly wasn’t the best italian that Palo Alto has to offer by any means, but it has a familiarity that kept us coming back, here and there. Perhaps it was the nostalgia and the good company.
In any case, bon voyage Bella Luna. I hope your sail is set to Italy.

Ate here a long time ago, and their food was. OK. Nothing memorable, because I can’t even remember what I ate. I just remember that I wasn’t impressed and will probably never go back.
Too bad, because I love the name of the restaurant.

I’m a big sap, and today is no exception. My favorite Disney movie scene ever is when Lady and The Tramp share a pooch smooch while accidentally eating from opposite ends of a spaghetti noodle. Puppy Love. It gets me every time!
When you walk inside Bella Luna, you walk «outside» to an Italian inspired courtyard. For a themed dining room, it’s done very well without playing the cheese card. The blue «sky» ceiling and light from a glowing moon shaped lamp is actually quite cute. It kinda reminded me of the Venetian in Vegas. If it was dusk in a small, rustic town in Italy this would be a close rendition. Add in the sounds of a live Jazz trio to the mix, and my two favorite dogs would have happily enjoyed themselves here, seated at a private table for two. I half expected the singer to scat and be-​bop into Bella Notte.
While my family digs Jazz, not even the music could make up for the restaurant’s lack of menu planning. My parents and I sat down to an early 6pm reservation when it was still bright outside and the moonlight had just been turned on for dinner at Bella Luna. You would expect that given a holiday weekend, on Mother’s Day, and at an early dinner time, that there would be no problems ordering, right? However, on our first try, our desired entrée was already out. When my mom and I chose alternate dishes (like Mother, like Daughter – we have the same taste!) we were told that someone at the other table had just ordered the last serving available of our 2^nd choice! Very bummed out, we returned to the menu list for the third time. We wound up sharing Carpaccio, Garlic Bread, Mussels, and the Eggplant appetizer. In the end, the food was good, but not enough to make me fall in love. What counts most, though, is that my Mom enjoyed her Mother’s Day in Italy!
And so I end with a little Disney to brighten the moonlight…
Oh this is the night,
it’s a beautiful night
And we call it bella notte.
Look at the skies,
they have stars in their eyes
On this lovely bella notte.
Side by side with your loved one,
You’ll find enchantment here.
The night will weave its magic spell,
When the one you love is near!
Oh this is the night,
and the heavens are right!
On this lovely bella notte!

Coming in here, I probably walked by it a few times and missed it wondering where the hell this was. I’ve been here twice with a huge party but the setting wasn’t set up for a party our size.
I the ambiance is pretty nice and would recommend this place for a date if both of you are craving pasta. However (maybe b/​c I was in a large group) my pasta wasn’t al dente and bit soggy. I do love the sauce that came with it so I was able to wolf down the food w/​ease.
If I’m in the Palo Alto area walking around and was hungry, I’d eat here again but I wouldn’t drive from my house to satisfy my craving for Italian food

The food was an average 3 stars but the service was 5! So I averaged it to 4 stars.
My girlfriends and I went looking for another Italian resturant but got lost and stumbled upon this place instead. We greatly enjoyed the garlic and hreb olive oil with warm bread. Our entrees were good but nothing super special. I was also a little dissapointed because I wanted spagehtti and meatballs which they did not have.
The staff was great however. We were ushered in and told we were needed to «decorate the window» and placed at a table near the window. The owner stopp

Oh, Bella Luna. Your staff is pretty friendly and some of your food is ok, but I sincerely doubt I’ll be back of my own motivation. It’s not entirely your fault that I’m so damn picky about Italian restaurants.
Expensive appetizer plate was pretty bland. The calamari in the middle was actually pretty terrible… very fishy tasting, and the little rings of tubes that come from giant frozen packs like you can get at Safeway for cheap. The only thing that I really enjoyed off the appetizer plate was the prosciutto e melone.
For my main course, I ordered spinach stuffed pasta in a tomato sage sauce… so bland. It tasted fairly bizarre too, could barely taste the sage and I don’t think there was much else for seasoning in the sauce. It was mostly tomato over some fairly bland pasta. A friend’s salad looked absolutely drenched in dressing.
Boyfriend got the salmon and that was actually pretty darned good. After tasting my own plate, I was surprised. The balance of flavors in it was really nice, albeit a bit heavy on the wine. I would recommend that.
Besides the food being pretty hit or far miss for me, the main detractors were:
Décor: I did like the stained glass above the bar, but everything else seemed Disneyland like.
Service: Extremely, extremely. 30 mins for appetizer plate to come out, another 30 – 45 for main course. I think the kitchen is slow, not the servers. Only thing they didn’t seem to be too slow at was drinks, which they were pushing like mad (cocktails are made with Soju, which they billed as something along the lines of «exotic Asian liqour»…)
We got in at 8 pm and were out after 10 for only an appetizer and one course all around. We didn’t even have dessert or dawdle much after finishing our food. Missed the first showing of the movie we’d planned to see, had to see a very late one. Luckily the movie was good. Bella Luna, you really need to work on improving in this area most of all.
The salmon showed me that someone knows what they’re doing. I think this place has promise if it works to improve on the flavors of some of the dishes and quickening their service.

Love the salmon dish and the apps! I really appreciate when an owner in present and hands-​on (always a good sign). It’s modest, tranquil and the staff in friendly. Overall, 3 for 3 on the positive side!
Craving there food now just thinking about it!

Ugh AWFUL! Came here for dinner on a Saturday night. It wasn’t crowded and we were seated right away without a reservation. Now I know why…
I tried to order a drink which they make with Han, some sort of Asian vodka. They were out. Every single drink on their menu is made with Han. How can they be out?
Our waitress looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Honestly, how hard is it to just be courteous?
My pasta had that stiff just microwaved texture and some parts of my food were hot while others were just lukewarm. It was not at all impressive and my date didn’t seem overly impressed with his food either judging by the way he was picking at it. Seriously, I can’t describe it other than just gross.
40 dollars later we left hungry and very disappointed. STAY AWAY!

Bella Luna is a great spot for large parties. This place is very friendly to parties of 20+ and the food always arrives quickly.
The wait staff and restaurant manager are really accomodating and very flexible. I also love how much personality the manager has! He always makes funny little comments and is very Italian.
I came here on 3 separate occasions. Once for a 40 person + birthday party and another time for a 15+ person party. We did not have to get a fixed price menu and the staff was so patient with us.
The last time I came to Bella Luna, I was with a date. We came here after seeing how crowded Evvia was… we wanted a quiet place so we could have a decent conversation. It was on a Wednesday night so there were not very many people there. Listening to New Age music, sipping on wine, looking into my date’s eyes… it was relaxing and romantic. I think the staff at the restaurant noticed we were having a romantic moment and brought over a candle during the middle of dinner… haha…
The food at Bella Luna is not very spectacular and sometimes can be a bit salty. Overall though, a nice spot to have good conversation and wine… good for large parties.

I really should have suspected there was something wrong when they let me make a reservation for Valentine’s Day with only 24 hours notice.
As my date and I stood outside in the cold, accompanied by a throng of other couples, I think we all had similar suspicions. At one point the mood started to get ugly when a gentleman in front of me, and by «gentleman» I mean «dude with no class who likes talkin’ shit» started shoving someone who was trying to get out. He spent the next five minutes talking about how rude some people are, and how all it takes is a simple «excuse me» for him to act like a normal human being.
To put it plainly, they overbooked and were understaffed. Everyone in line said they had reservations, but the maitre’d (owner?) was not verifying.
After 35 minutes of standing in line, the maitre’d said we could sit at the bar while we waited for a table to open. He managed to seat two couples who arrived after us before us, then he tried to get us to share a table with strangers (on Valentine’s Day? Really?), but eventually seated us. Despite everything above, we were still in good spirits and were just happy to have some water. And thus began our 1 hr and 45 minute meal. You know what rhymes with meal? Ordeal.
We started by ordering the mozzarella and tomato caprese, but the portions were small the the mozzarella was uninspiring. However, it came out in just two minutes and we were delighted to have something to snack on. We also had fresh french bread with a delicious garlic olive oil dip.
The waiter was handling far too many tables and would visit us about ever 10 minutes. We ordered the chicken raviolis in cream sauce and the prime rib. The food arrived in 20 — 25 minutes, which gave us time to be entertained by the diverse clientele. There were high school students on their best behavior, Stanford students, moms, and straight up trash wearing hooker clothes and making out. It was all very entertaining, especially as the wine started to take hold. If you were one of those above mentioned parties, we were the drunk couple trying not to make eye contact as we stared at you from 10 feet away.
The food arrived and we were surprised. The prime rib was double proportions while the chicken raviolis were so few as to be an afterthought.
The prime rib was cold, and the mashed potatoes were cold and crusted. The carrots were so raw that I had trouble cutting them with a knife, and the broccoli, while not overcooked, was now cold. I tempered my disappointment with a few swallows of wine, and tried to make the best of it. As I dug further into the meal, I found heat, great texture, and flavoring to rival a french saucier. It was a masterful dish, but the under staffing had caused a delivery delay and almost ruined the entire dish.
The raviolis were warm, cooked well, lightly stuffed, and the sauce was good. Nothing to rave about, although I admit that cream sauces are not my specialty.
After the entrée we ordered the tiramisu and it was delicious. A positive ending to a mediocre meal.
Then we had to wait 30 minutes to get our check. As I was trying to do the math in my head so we could drop some cash and escape, I caught the waiter’s eye and he brought the check five minutes later.
I don’t know what it’s normally like, but I would avoid on Valentine’s Day at all costs. Although the bread and hookers were memorable.

My friends and I had dinner at Bella Luna tonight and while it isn’t the best Italian food I have ever had, it was tasty and reasonably priced. The service is good if not stellar. The atmosphere is very nice, giving the illusion of eating on a moon-​lit Italian patio.
My only real complaint is the «plastic» mozzarella cheese on the appetizer platter. The bruschetta on the other hand was delicious, as were the roasted vegetables and the prosciutto wrapped melon. Our salads were tasty and my pasta was well cooked and nicely spiced.
There are enough other restaurants in Palo Alto that are better that I’m not sure I will be heading back to Bella Luna any time in the near future. But there is nothing that would make me not want to return either.

I’ve been here twice and I always thought that the entrée sizes were kind of small for the ravioli. Most recently, I tried the risotto here (it was a special) and it was pretty good. It wasn’t mushy and each rice was separated. The broccoli heads were moist with sauce and the chicken wasn’t bad.
We had the variety antipasti — the caprese was bland b/​c it was mozarella cheese (I like stronger cheeses) and the eggplant was ok. The calamari was the naked kind, which I don’t really like. The bruschetta was excellent — the sourdough bread was soaked with the sauce and there were a lot of fresh tomatoes diced on top.
The prices aren’t bad here.

I’ve been to Bella Luna a handful of times, including Valentine’s Day when I was an itty bitty college freshman. It can be a fairly romantic place, especially when the white dude at the table next to you is trying to romance an Asian woman who clearly does not speak English, and your Asian self and the white dude you’re with are making eyes at each other that say, «Shit, do we look like that?»
I’ve tried the linguini with clams and spicy tomato sauce and the lamb with raspberry sauce and both were pretty good. I’ve actually had the linguini a couple times — the sauce is actually spicy enough for my jaded taste buds to appreciate.
The service was great and the atmosphere is more upscale than the prices would suggest. Not a bad spot for a mellow little meal.

Sub-​par is the best way to describe the food at this restaurant. Everything else is, well, eh.
The décor is chintzy enough with a wannabe Italian restaurant feel but without the style. The staff was very very nice. Sat us immediately, quickly refilled our waters and timed the appetizers to entrees perfectly. Unfortunately, ever thing well was pretty bad.
The bread is literally worse than anything I’ve ever purchased at the grocery store one day old aisle (you know when you’re in the I’m gonna save money mode). The olive oil was tasteless, which is saying a lot since there are chunks of garlic in it. I ordered the Risotto special which was also borderline tasteless. The sauce was thick and congealed quite quickly. The Parmesan they grate for you is the cheap store bought kind. It was edible, but barely. The risotto in a box at trader joe’s is way better. My friends ordered the lamb and linguine with sausage. The lamb seemed cooked well but the white rice that accompanied it was pretty bad.
While the waitstaff was very nice and attentive, the rest of the restaurant was a step above my first attempt at cooking in college. The two stars are solely for the sweet college students who waited on us. I won’t return unless forced.

I remember passing by this resto when they had the graffiti logo outside.
Never went in, but on this past wet Saturday we ventured in.
1^st thing I noticed? Smelled like old, wet towels. Ugh. I hate that.
Complimentary bread was similar to soup kitchens, olive oil needed SALT.
Caesar and endive salads were edible, NY Steak was decent, Salmon & gorgonzola ravioli-​bland. Tiramisu needed a heavy dose of RUM, but we did enjoy the Zabaglione.
Overly cozy setting: we were seated right next to the secondary hostess stand! Awkward!
Super sensitive to salt and seasonings, but I felt like I needed to break out the salt shaker!

Had gone here about six months ago and thought the food, service, and atmosphere was good. Then we decided to take some friends here on ⁹⁄₃ and all had changed. We had four different dishes (CAPPELLINI AL POMODORO E BASILICO — Barely any fresh basil and tiny bits of chopped tomatoes. PANSOTTI SPINACI E RICOTTA — They stated this was handmade pasta. It was frozen, lukewarm in the middle, and the tomato/​sage sauce was extremely bland. RAVIOLI SALMONE E ZUCCHINE — Flavorless, could not taste the salmon and the sauce was hidden under the ravioli. LINGUINE AI FRUTTI DI MARE — The shrimp were tiny and rubbery. Totally overcooked.
The couple at the table next to us also remarked on how their food was inedible. All that said we will not be returning.

When me and some friends wanted to pick a location at Palo Alto for dinner; I chose this restaurant mostly from the website pictures and the name Luna. I thought it sounded pretty.
I remembered it had a great ambiance, it’s actually very beautiful here. The food was average and we had good service; but overall we had a fun time at this location.

Came here with a friend for Palo Alto’s Dine Down Town. This place gets 4 stars mainly for its atmosphere and overall dining experience, rather than the food. The ambience, prices, and service made for a very pleasant night. With candlelight glowing, great wine suggestions, and inviting décor, Bella Luna is a great date restaurant without going too overboard. The staff was really friendly and very accommodating. When we asked for suggestions on wine, the waiter snuck us some tastings of his recommendations to help us decide.
As for the food, we had an assorted appetizer that included bruschetta, grilled squid, olives, grilled eggplant and zucchini, tomatoes, and mozzarella. The items were hit or miss — the squid and mozzarella were delicious, but the bruschetta and grilled vegetables were just okay. For main courses, we had grilled halibut and eggplant parmesan. The sauce and grilled vegetables with the halibut were delicious, but the halibut itself was a little dry. The eggplant parmesan was a little too salty, but was tasty nonetheless. For dessert, we had a choice of different gelato flavors and different syrup flavors. Tasted like Gelato Classico.
Not anything I’d really rave on and on about, but a definite place I’d suggest to take someone who is looking for a place to take a date. Casual and moderately priced enough to not creep out a first date, but fancy enough to be pleasant and enjoyable.