Casa Bella Restaurant — Restaurant in Ontario

My husband and I went there last night. A first time for us. I'm not sure if we will go back yet, so here is a rundown of how our evening went. We finally found the restaurant, it's not near anything in particular, just off on its own. We park we walk around to the front entrance and walked in. We expected someone to be there to greet us or a sign telling us to please wait, please walk straight ahead, anything at all but there was nothing. Just an empty entrance way. We waited for a few minutes before my husband decided to walk a little more into the building in hopes of finding a staff member so that we could get a table. We did not make reservations. My husband turns around and just as he is almost with me again a female server pops her head out from a private dining room "do you have reservations" is what she asked, (looking us both up and down, guessing she was admiring out outfits or perhaps the tattoos). My husband told her we did not and she said "okay just go through there". I'm thinking to myself, through where lady, I have never been here before and etiquette would say that we should be walked into the room ... Anyways.... We were met by another server who asked us again if we had a reservation, out answer was still no, so she looked around the main dinning room to try and decide where to put us, and at this point there were 2 other tables in the dinning room and 2 occupied tables on the terrace. She seated us inside without asking if we preferred inside or out, (which was a little bit of a shame as I was looking forward to eating outside and that is the main reason my husband chose this restaurant last night.) The waitress name was Anna (I think, at least that's what it says on the receipt I just looked at, she never introduced herself) and she was rather nice and recited the specials that the chef had in for the evening. My husband ordered the Mussles Marinere and they were delicious along with the fresh warmed bread which was perfect for the mussels or on its own. The waitress came back and we ordered out meals. My husband ordered the NYstrip med-rare with the house salad and raspberry vinaigrette. I ordered the beef medllion Neptune(which was one of the specials) and the same salad. In the meantime, not 15 minutes after arriving at the restaurant and being partially greeted by that waitress sticking her head out of a private dining room she appeared at our table asking us if we would like tea or coffee or just the bill... My husband and I just looked at each other and then my husband told her that we have not even eaten yet. She looked so confused, left our table and we never heard from her again. So strange. Our food came and my husband's steak was cooked perfectly. Both of our meals had the same vegetable sides consisting of roasted new potatoes, carrots, green beans(I think the Asian variety) and grilled red peppers. The sides were nicely cooked and the portion size was very healthy. My meal however was not what I expected beef medallions to be at all, it looked more like prime rib and when I asked the waitress about it she really had no idea. Anyways. I ate it and it was tasty, the amount of seafood that was on the dish was a pleasant surprise and it too was cooked perfectly. We did not have dessert as we r had no room, however I would likely have had creme brulle if that was offered on the menu. If I had to say anything about the decor, I mean it was clean but seemed to be dated. And the servers wearing golf shirts, track pants and running shoes I thought lacked suffistication. Oh yes and it wasn't until we got our bill that we found out how much my meal was as it was not mentioned to us and we both assumed it would be about the same as most of the menu items. My meal was $52, not sure it was worth that... $42 maybe. I am sure we will venture back again at some point, but am sure that there are also many other wonderful spaces to get a bite to eat that we will also like to try. I did take a couple pictures for...

Disappointed. At first glance, "Casa Bella" may present itself as an Italian restaurant, what with the name, the menu featuring many Italian options, and the sign featuring a gondola out in front. Don't be fooled. While they possess the name, the signage and menu, it lacks the character and authenticity one might expect at first glance.

Pro: The food was good. They had a high chair for my 3 year old. The view of the river was pleasant.

Con: Laminated menus needed to be wiped down. No music. Took quite a long time to get our food. We were a party of 7, including 4 adults, two kids(10 and 13) and a toddler. The people seated beside us arrived and ordered after we did, but got their food at least 10 mins before us - they seemed to know one of the waitresses well. Not sure if this is why our food was delayed? The two blonde waitresses who were working when we visited weren't very attentive or pleasant. Obviously didn't help with lack of Italian atmosphere, pronouncing it "pAsta" (with a hard 'a'). No kids menu, however when I asked they verbally advised me that "what they usually do" is offer some chicken fingers or pasta with butter or whatever sauce. If this is "what you usually do" why not just whip up a kids menu and put it in writing so we don't my feel like we're being accommodated? You had the high chair available? Do you accommodate families, or no? Also, what Italian restaurant doesn't have a regular "pasta and meatballs" dish on the menu?? Thinking (based on what was presented on the outside) I was going to an Italian restaurant, my plan was to just order a couple of meatballs for my 3 year old to enjoy (and he was looking forward to it) - well, weren't we surprised to be told that they don't have ANY meatballs! They were quick to offer fresh ground pepper after serving entrees - but I had to ask for cheese. I was brought out a small plastic container of powdered parmeasean. Once again, what Italian restaurant doesn't offer fresh grated parmesan?? My mother-in-law graciously brought us to this restaurant bc she had enjoyed it on previous occasions however even she was disappointed with the service, stating that she hadn't ever encountered these two servers who were working. My generous mil also paid for our meal, and the server helping us with payment at the table clumsily read out the total cost of our meal as she typed it onto the payment machine.

This restaurant has major potential, with a bit of improvement to service and...

We had a reservation for 6:30 on the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend. We arrived five minutes early, and there were 2 people ahead of us waiting. They do not seem to have a hostess. After about 15 minutes, a server came to us, no greeting, and said "Do you have a reservation?", which we did. She said they were just setting our table. We sat beside the fireplace and because it was freezing, and I was asked by my 84 year old mom to retrieve her coat because it was freezing, we asked our server if she could turn the fireplace on. She said "no". She then said someone had complained it was too hot. Okay! We ordered a bottle of wine, which she brought but didn't pour. When I reached for the bottle she said "I'll do that. I only have two hands you know". The service basically went downhill from there. The server got my sister's order wrong, so she had to wait an additional 15 minutes to get her food, and by that point we were done our meals while she had just started hers. They took no money off our bill for their mistake, or offered my sister anything to make up for the mistake. The atmosphere was okay, but way too noisy and our server was rude. The food was good, but not good enough to make up for our server. You need a hostess to organize better, and even though we all understand jobs are busy at times, you don't need to take it out on...