Catering by Ciao Bella

Slow and rude service, which ruins what could be a great meal. Took my sister here and the food was cold so we sent it back and the staff acted like we were in the wrong. It’s a shame cause the first time I went the place was good.

Our family had dinner here this evening. We’ve actually eaten here in the past and thought it was worthy of another visit. As many would agree, great service can make up for mediocre food and vice versa. I’m sorry to report that our food as well as service was below par in my opinion.
Breaking down the experience further, our server was distant, all business and inter-​acted very little with our table. As for our food, there were mixed reviews. My wife loved her lemon chicken as well as her mushroom risotto. Our daughter also enjoyed her pesto linguine. Unfortunately, we all thought the arincini balls ($ 10) were a distant second to the one we had at Guiseppe’s Restaurant. Again, my dinner (Pollo alla Romana) was below average in my honest opinion. Sorry guys.
All entrees come with a side of rigatoni. Very small portion (which is fine), however, the sauce reminded all of us of Chef Boyardee. I realize that sounds horrid, but you try it and you will picture the can too.
Lastly, not their fault, the excessively loud, high-​pitched, cackling table of 10 women affected the whole dining room in a negative manner.

The ambience is nice in the restaurant– kind of «uppity» if you ask me. I went there for the first time and I was not at all impressed with the food. The bread was good, and the dessert was great, but my meal was not very good.

Very disappointed. Limited menu because of Mother’s Day. Food was cold. Sent it back and my partner finished his meal before I got mine. Kitchen person said they would send a dessert but never got it.

I never order spaghetti and meatballs out because I am spoiled by the dish I make at home. Well i take that back. Ciao Bella has the best spaghetti and meatballs. This Italian gem is the best in NW IN. I have enjoyed many of their other dishes and continue to go back any chance I get.

I have no idea why anyone would go to this place. I tried it out when they first opened and hated it. I was told that it was much better now so gave it another shot. To be very honest, I would rather have gone to Speedway and bought a bag of Doritos and a Pepsi. That would have been far more satisfying. Despite the minor irritating issue that it took 20 minutes just to get bread, the food was terrible. My wife ordered an iceberg salad which was yellow (old lettuce). My Risotto with Chicken was like eating cardboard. The waiter gave me a lame excuse and offered to heat it up. Right, like that was the problem. So now I had a hotter version of cardboard. He didn’t seem to care that I didn’t eat it. Honestly, I would have felt better if I simply took $ 50 and through it out the car window than wasting it on a crappy meal from people that could care less. I hope they go out of business soon.

1÷8÷16 Update: No call from manager Danielle… Wasn’t surprised that no restaurant management didn’t call.
I was given a strong recommendation from a close friend to try Ciao Bella for a catering order. My order was place for a 12:30 pickup, so it can be ready for a 12:45 lunch presentation. I arrived early and was greeted by 2 very nice hostesses and spoke with a very knowledgable bartender while I waited. Unfortunately, 12:30 arrived and my catering order didn’t. The catering order was brought out at 12:45, when the lunch should’ve been ready at location to be served for a 12:45 start. My lunch arrived 15 minutes late; and I looked like the bad guy for my tardiness. Unfortunately, the lateness overshadowed the meal. I expressed my displeasure with the manager Danielle, who was polite and professional, and said she will be calling me soon.

Menu looked good. Service was poor. We waited too long. We had calamari which was good and a glass of wine and my bf a beer. We had to call the waiter several times to ask for our appetizer and a drink. Disappointed.

I believe Ciao Bella has the Best Italian food in NW Indiana
They’re celebrating their 6^th anniversary in Nov 2015. We just started eating here in ¹⁰⁄₂₀₁₄ because we thought it was some sort of sandwich shop… It’s not
Fresh top quality ingredients. The best fettuccini Alfredo I’ve ever eaten. And wonderful soups, salads, pasta AND cannoli. I just have some pasta now so I always have room for cannoli
And we’ve never had heartburn after eating here… A super plus in my book

Was in town visiting from California. Was greeted by a friendly Beautiful hostess immediately.
Was impressed with the coziness of this place. My server Sylvia was the best. Very professional and kept my wine glass full. I had the Lasagna and it was most tasty served piping hot and bubbly with cheese Yum! Bread was very good and hot as well. Must try!

Some associates and I had dinner on a Monday night. The establishment is in a strip mall, we did consider going somewhere else for that fact, but after looking at the menu on Unilocal,we decided to try it out.
The waitress was somewhat awkward, and didn’t react well to humor.
The wine was good, the food was good, the service was good.
Nothing great…

Absolutely delicious! I went with my mother and the food was great! The wine was great and the service was great too! Also they had a live band playing this evening to our surprise and we love live music! They were also phenomenal! Must say I will return and highly recommend! By the way the prices were very reasonable although you will get a quality service and dining experience!

We had our wedding reception in the private room. Great food and exceptional service. Pretty easy to work with during the planning stage. Though they did forget to print menus and feed our photographer, all in all a great experience. I would recommend them if you’re looking for a private menu for a smaller size group.

I heard of this place in passing and had to tryout for myself. It was like being in an Italian restaurant in Italy although they were a little hesitant to seat me since they thought I wasn’t dining alone even though I was, so I just asked to be seated at the bar. I was brought some Italian bread and ordered my meal and my meal arrived, but was little dry and so they accommodated me with some more flavor. Everyone down to the barmaid, staff and owners made me feel welcomed by making sure I was being taking care of and I let other people that were walking in know that the food was A-​ok, but don’t take my word for it see and taste for yourself!

It always amazes me that this place is tucked away in a strip plaza, across from a Hooters. In my opinion, best dining experience is sitting at the bar. You get the best of all worlds with service, sports viewing and taking in the restaurant’s busy atmosphere perched contently upon your stool. Beer and wine selection is excellent, and the menu is flexible enough to let you eat full course Italian-​style or on the lighter side. Antipasto plate and minestrone soup are great starters, and flatbread pizzas are quite delicious.

Had a lunch here and came away indifferent.
Service was excellent until the dining room got busy; then it was a long wait for dessert and the check.
The artichoke appetizer was delicious if skimpy and overpriced. The ravioli was okay, but I don’t care for creamy tomato sauce. The bread was not completely baked and was doughy; the loaf was crushed in slicing and served in an unappetizing state.
Companion had the lunch buffet and was among several I heard complaining about the chicken dish.

I’m a big fan of Italian food – just look at the number of Italian restaurants I have reviewed and you can figure that out easily. Unfortunately, I thought the food here was bland and overpriced. In addition, the portion sizes just were not there. The risotto was almost like a rice in cream sauce with oddly textured pieces of protein mixed in. I ordered off the menu and got a carbonara… the waitress said it wouldn’t be a problem, but in retrospect, it was terrible. Hardly any sauce and no semblance of a real carbonara. The bruschetta, however, wasn’t bad and the calamari was OK. The pizza is something I would get again, but that’s about it. In addition, I hate to comment on a servers abilities, but our waitress took so darn long to do everything. I mean we were sitting in a small place with not too patrons and it still took forever to get our order. Not pleased.

The food was ok. It could been better. But we enjoyed the whole wheat linguine with shrimp.
To kick it off we shared a yummy Salmon Salad. I really enjoyed their homemade salad dressing. My wife ordered the minestrone soup. We enjoyed it very much.
Overall the food was ok. I felt like their was something missing, like an ingredient or so.
But we enjoyed the atmosphere and the service was great. Enjoy!
A really nice Italian restaurant to enjoy a night out with your significant other. Enjoy!

I am so lucky a friend invited me to dinner here the other night. I never would have found this place or bothered trying it otherwise. My GPS got a little confused, but luckily I spotted it. It’s off 41 kind of behind Red Robin.
It was PACKED! I’m not sure if this is the norm on a Wednesday night. We had reservations (630pm). I overheard walk-​ins being quoted 25 minute wait times. We were seated at 6:30 sharp.
The décor isn’t really all that special. It’s not bad for a strip mall in Indiana though. I’m not complaining. Everything seemed very clean and the bar area looked nice too.
The food was so much better than I expected! We tried a little of everything and I can’t wait to head back and try the things I didn’t have room for.
We shared the fried artichoke appetizer. This was excellent! I wouldn’t really call it fried. It seemed to be grilled artichoke hearts with some tomatoes in a creamy sauce and a touch of balsamic vinegar. It was so good! We loved the sauce so much we actually both used the bread to finish it off!
I had the rigatoni with sausage and peas in a creamy tomato sauce. It was probably the best pasta dish I have had in months! It was a little rich, but that’s probably because I haven’t eaten like that in a few weeks. I only managed to eat half and save the rest.
My friend ordered the parmesan chicken and had no complaints. We both thought it was strange that it came with rigatoni and potatoes. She ended up loving the potatoes though. I thought that dish could be improved on it’s presentation (not a deal breaker).
I insisted on dessert. I figured if I’m eating real food for the first time in 2 weeks I might as well go all out. We split the flourless chocolate cake. Thank God the gelato was excellent with it because the cake was a bit of a let down. The tiramisu and lemoncello dessert we saw at the table next to us looked to be the way to go.
Our server was friendly and efficient. The food was paced nicely and came out relatively quick given the crowd. They have a really nice wine list and excellent coffee!!!
My only complaints are that they mixed up our leftovers. I’m so happy I checked! I just had a feeling. And as much as I loved the coffee she never offered a refill.
I won’t hesitate to have dinner here again though. I’m in the area all the time for work! I need to take advantage of half price wine bottles next time.
** There really isn’t a private table in the place. It’s possible it wouldn’t normally bother me, but I was emotional filling a gf in on some things. I would NOT come here expecting any level of privacy! **

We went there for our anniversary dinner. Our waitress was polite and things were looking good. We ordered the Beef Carpaccio and it was great. For the main course I ordered the lamb medium rare and my wife ordered the filet medium rare. I was served one lamb chop closer to rare and one well done half the size of the other one. When I asked my waitress to correct the order she didn’t complain but put in a new order. The next lamb chop was completely rare. So basically I paid about $ 25 for one edible lamb chop and some sides. My wife’s order was also over cooked, barely pink in the center. Not getting the cook temps right gives me little confidence in their ability to execute the rest of the menu. Hit or miss at best.