Bella Vista Ristorante — Restaurant in City of Niagara Falls

Problematic experience from start to finish. Every single thing had a problem! It's either a crew that do not know what they're doing, a management that's giving them way more to bite than they can chew, or both.

Reservation: We called to reserve a table at 7:15. They said nothing was available at that time. We changed our plans and took a table at 6:30. From the time we arrived to the time we left at 8:30, at least six tables in the patio were empty.

Ordering: After we were seated, we sat there for more than thirty minutes waiting for someone to come take our orders while waitresses were coming and going serving tables around us as if we didn't exist. I don't remember if we finally signaled to one of them or if it was she who noticed us, but she came over asking in confusion of we've been taken care of and we said no. She went for a while then came back apologizing and saying she'll be the one to take care of us. While taking our orders she showed very little flexibility in making adjustments to the items we ordered, which can be understandable and depends on the restaurant's policy of course. At least she agreed to bring my wife's topping on the side.

Food: We ordered four items and every one of them had an issue. I ordered the mediterranean octopus appetizer, which is octopus tentacles over a bed of cooked spinach and potato wedges mixed with feta cheese. The tentacles, however tasted like the chef accidentally dropped a ton of salt in the pan! No exaggeration here, I took a small bite to try it first and I was shuddering from the saltiness. So I tried the bed, and it was really well done, balanced, and hearty; but unfortunately by the end of the first bite I found a nice fishbone a little bit more than half an inch!

You know what? I'm not even gonna spend any more time on this review for a place that does not deserve it. But you, the reader, deserve to know that all our issues were very poorly and extremely slowly handled, which was really frustrating and ruined the evening for us. She did apologize in the end by taking 50% of of the pizza we ordered to go and waited for forever, and added a couple of free Oreo cake slices as...

If I could give 10 stars, I would! This place was absolutely amazing! My husband and I rarely ever get to go out to have a nice dinner together - it’s even more rare when it’s one that’s fancy and requires a nice attire than jeans and a decent top. But, tonight, we decided to treat ourselves as it is Valentine’s Day. We have never once stepped foot in this restaurant until tonight, and I’ll tell you what - we will 100% be back again!! Our waiter Anthony, was such a friendly and professional and adorable human being. So kind and had such an infectious smile and didn’t seem to mind our cringey dad jokes. He was prompt with our service and had no issues answering any of our questions.

The food.. THE FOOD!! Absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately, I’m a bit picky when it comes to food. I love my flavors and I’m very keen on things being cooked right. I’ve had quite a few bad experiences which always makes me wary of new places. However, Chef Kevin didn’t disappoint!! Everything was bursting with flavor and melting in our mouths. Not a single complaint! We had the special dinner for Valentine’s Day and we chose the coconut shrimp with mango coulis - honest to god, I could put that coulis on ANYTHING it was that good and the shrimp was perfect! I had the caprese salad and my husband had the ceasar salad, again - perfect. For our entreés, my husband had the surf and turf with purple potatoes and grilled asparagus, and I had the pan seared honey roasted duck breast and a confit leg with a cherry sauce with roasted brussel sprouts and a sweet potato stack and looooorrrddd - we almost licked those plates clean!! Everything was cooked to perfection and had the most amazing flavors. And you can’t forget dessert, The Village Bakeshop coming in with the clutch on super juicy chocolate covered strawberries, and this chocolate covered mousse with a cake-like bottom and a cherry center. Magnificent!! 1000000/10 would recommend and we will DEFINITELY be returning! They need to open up their reservations for next year so I...

1st anniversary dinner completely ruined. Restaurant was severely understaffed. Allegedly 2 cooks had to go home for family reasons. There were only 2 servers on for both patios. Greet time was 27 yes, 27 minutes before the server even acknowledged we were sitting there. Ordered drinks which were brought to the table by the manager. Server came back right after manager and took our food order. We finished our first round of drinks and then waited 10 mins for the server to resurface so we could ask for waters which took another 17 mins for her to bring. After being there for 2 hours the server offered only a free dessert or round of drinks. We demanded to see the manager and the food finally showed up in the manager's hands to be delivered for us to eat. He offered us half off and we were still displeased. He took care of the food (reminder, we were there for 2 hours at this point) and we asked for it to be boxed togo. He offered to have it delivered to the room and we thanked him. He apologized and said there was a technology error that caused the wait (translation, the server never rang in our order). My wife said "I thought it was a staffing issue" the manager backpedaling acknowledged that it was both. 10 mins later someone knocks on the door. I open it and they say "here's your pizza." I thank him but also noted that the young man delivering it had on sneakers, shorts, a sleeveless Tshirt and was holding a football helmet in his other hand. You can't make this stuff up. Thankfully we had the forethought to bring disposable silverware with us from home otherwise my wife would have been forced to eat her overcooked pasta with her bare hands. The mushroom pizza toppings were delicious although the bottom of the crust was entirely burnt and inedible. My wife had also ordered a side salad which we are still waiting for. This was the first night of our 1st anniversary vacation. We won't be wasting our time with them for the rest...