Bella's Italian Neighborhood Restaurant — Restaurant in Banner Elk

I saved this place for our last meal in town because the menu looked amazing. The atmosphere was typical of casual dining in the mountains. I joticed some staff had on regular clothing so we were confused who to ask for help when our server disappeared for the remainder of time after appetizers and one refill. App dishes were never cleared until we asked, even though we had them stacked in the center when entrees were delivered. Server never cleared any plates during service which was cluttered messy and annoyed my party.

We ordered soft drinks, tea and water (only refilled once for one person). Drinks, garlic bread and appetizers came very quickly. We were concerned we may not finish in time for the entrees. Once entrees were delivered, our server never returned to the table. My brother (who eats and cooks nearly every seafood available and eats everything without complaint) shared his salmon was off. A few of us tasted that it was off and seemed a bit gummy for salmon. He never got to order something else because the server never stopped by to see how dinner was. We finally asked a coworker at another table to have her come out. While she was sweet and kind in every interaction, more attention could have reduced our displeasure and ensured my brother got an actual meal.

I've worked restaurants 15+ years and it was clear they were understaffed in many areas. It is a vacation week and the highland games were in town which nearly tripled the customers after we were initially served. There seemed to be no proper rotation or areas which created little flow for the servers who each had tables on our side, the other side of the restaurant and outside.

Good: The food (except the salmon) was delicious. Veggies were fresh and colorful. All crispy dishes had crisp and all sauces were flavorful. My husband had the sirloin which was perfectly prepared and seasoned. (share with each of us who agreed).

Overall: Our server Brianna was super sweet and polite (when present) though too busy for attentive service halfway into our dining. We usually tip over gratuity but couldn't with rhe slow service and lack of offer/effort to correct my brother's meal. It wouldn't have been nice not to have something that tasted off on our table the whole meal. We also aren't sure protocol but no management stopped by besides possibly during dropping off entrees. Not sure because, uniforms weren't uniform. We'll definitely be back when we visit, but probably earlier for lunch instead of...

6/10. Somewhat torn on this one. Some of the dishes were above average, some were below. Service was solid but nothing special. More details on dishes below, but first some general comments.

The overall feel of the place hurt it as much as anything. The near overflowing cigarette pots at the entrance and the pretty aggressive, hand written sign on the hostess station "NO WAITING INSIDE FOR A TABLE OR ORDER" (or similar) didn't make a great first impression. Also, the women's restroom could have been cleaner.

One of the male servers seemed to be overly concerned with looking hip and being too cool for his customers. Had we gotten him, I doubt we would have made it past the appetizers.

The pass through to the kitchen was a pretty major distraction. The cooks were talking a lot and hollering back and forth at each other. Given the option, would definitely sit away from that next time. They were just having fun and they weren't vulgar or anything - but it's such a small dining room that it was vety apparent.

Our server was very nice and fairly attentive. There were a few times she left the table before we could finish our requests.

The food.

The bread was amazing - most perfectly prepared thing we had.

Mussels (white sauce, but think white wine sauce - not cream) were good. Broth was great.

Calamari was above average. Cooked to perfection and tender.

Tomato bisque seemed to come from a can. Bean and ham soup was good.

Clams with angel hair in white sauce were good.

Carbonara was solid. Added chicken to one (seemed to be previously frozen) and shrimp to another (he said it was good).

Salmon with risotto was good.

Lasagna with meat sauce wasn't a hit. Seemed to be a small bit of lasagna (noodles and ricotta only) buried under a ton of meat sauce poured over the top. Flavor wasn't bad, just barely passed for lasagna.

Lava cake was small for 8$, taramisu was very good.

Overall, place needs to be polished (including some of the servers).

I sort of left there feeling like "if you can't clean out the ashtrays by your front door and your bathroom - can I trust you to clean...

We were pleasantly surprised with this place. Boone doesn't have many good restaurants, but we will be coming back here. Below is my honest and detailed review of Bella's:

We were seated promptly, and a waitress was over promptly as well. They did seat us in a tiny corner, I think they have one too many tables jammed into the corner, so it was a little hard for us to situate ourselves. We ordered drinks, and they arrived quickly as well. I did notice a couple (2) of flies, but this is likely due to waitstaff traffic in and out of the building and not a result of a dirty kitchen.

We ordered the hot wingers, they were indeed hot (spicy and temperature-wise). I liked them that way but my wife asked that we order mild next time. The bread that came with the meal was very good, although a little bit too chewy. We ordered the stromboli, which took about 25 minutes to come out but it was well worth the wait, and the menu said to be prepared for a 25 minute wait on that item, which I thought was very considerate and a reasonable wait time. While waiting for my food to come, I went to the restroom, it was very clean. I did notice on my way there that they have a curtain for the backside door to the kitchen. The curtain looked a little trash, but it did allow me to actually see the kitchen, which was quite clean.

When we got our food, it was very good and was a very large portion, well worth the price. The stromboli was big enough for my wife and I to share after an appetizer, Our waitress Dani (who was very good) brought our ticket over quickly and we were out the door. I think our total bill for two drinks, appetizer and entree was 27$ plus tip, very reasonable for an Italian restaurant. My ONLY complaint was that on the way out the door some little guy running food nearly knocked us over flying through the door, that guy needs to learn that you hold the door for customers rather than dashing in front of them. All in all an excellent experience, we really enjoyed it and will be...