Bellino Ristorante Italiano e Bottega — Restaurant in Corpus Christi

What a wonderful surprise!! I was impressed with the food, the service, and the overall ambiance of Bellino's . Walking up to the restaurant , located in a shopping center, and seeing the location set my expectations low. I could not have been more incorrect. Once we opened the door we saw the charm and friendly greeting and atmosphere inside Bellino. My linguini pescatore was perfect with the linguine al dente! I got to taste our guest 's bolognese and it was wonderful. My wife asked for and the chef prepared a pasta dish with garlic and capers that was perfect. For dessert the tiramisu was my favorite with just the right amount and balance of cream and alcohol flavoring. Nikki, our waitress , was pleasant, knowledgable, engaging but not an over talker, and humorous! She truly made our evening a delight and unforgettable. An example was with 4 of us at the table, when she severed the dessert expresso martini, and I saw it decorated with 3 coffee beans, I jokingly said we needed 4 beans for our table. She laughed and went on to serve another table. A short time later she returned to our table and with a big smile on her facing and in her hand a small container with a dozen or so of coffee beans, saying to me in a fun way " these are special for you" ! Nikki I wish you the best in your career and can see you as a future successful restaurateur! See you again on our next trip to Corpus.

UPDATE July 2,2025Always a wonderful time and our "go to" restaurant in Corpus!! Over our 3 years of visiting we remain impressed with the food, the service, ambiance, and the overall consistent excellence of Bellino's . Nikki with her warm and engaging personality combined with her knowledge of Italian foods and wines , in my opinion makes her a leader in this service industry. . Tonight was the special "Farm to Table" menu serving. What a treat!! To start The Blackberry Basil Smash cocktail could become addicting!! Add to this our opportunity to meet Kaitlyn, the "master" was a special treat tonight. As a scientist, I particularly enjoyed and appreciated her approach to how she creates new cocktails. Then for her to share the recipe for and bring us a tasting of her secret ingredients, i.e, a blackberry and a strawberry "shrub" was over the top. Being from Seattle ( and being "fish and seafood snobs") and seeing Halibut as the Farm to Table special was special. Trusting the kitchen to do the fish right was absolutely correct. Wonderfully fresh fish and great simple preparation preserving the texture and flavors of halibut. Loving Bellino's homemade pasta, I stuck with a regular; My linguini pescatore was perfect with the linguine al dente! For dessert the special fig in puff pastry was delicate and a great way to end the meal with Nikki's specially prepared with bourbon expresso martini, topped with a "Z" special for me! Thanks again and see you on our next...

This was a new dining experience that was at first a nice one, but that bubble was popped quickly. The atmosphere was giving New York cramped, yelling across tables, not enough space to breathe (trust me, I know). Because there was a lot of people, they were not paying attention to the temperature inside either so it was super stuffy with barely any AC blowing. The bathrooms are mixed amongst the chaos in the back, and you need to be careful with the staff running back and forth from the back to the front. There is a bar off to the left of the restaurant. The service was one of the worst so far. Our waitress was more interested in her big table tips than handling her smaller tables, either that, or she was new and had absolutely no idea what she was doing. For such a small place, and the amount of workers that they have, you wouldn't think it would be such a task. We were not offered anything not even basic water when our drinks came out, and then we kept being told that our food was coming out soon over and over, so by the time that it did come you could tell the top layer had already gotten cold. We were not offered any cheese that you typically get here at Italian restaurants, and then we didn't get a water bottle until midway while other tables that came after us got the next ones. The ignorance was blasting. So if you come here wanting a small personal dinner with only one other person, good luck, they only care about their bigger parties. By the end of it, we just wanted our ticket to leave, and finally my partner had enough and we had to ask another waitress for assistance to help the girl. Seems like there needs to be a better system for the service workers to keep track of the tables. The food. We tried 3 different alcoholic beverages, and to say that they were bitter was an understatement but it was okay. The appetizer we started with, the Polpettine di Caprino was amazing. I do wish the bread for this dish would have been toasted a little more because that would have been perfect, but it was still delicious nonetheless. My partner had the Salmone Croccante, and they said it was definitely underwhelming on the salmon part, there was nothing amazing about it, the potatoes and spinach were the spotlight of the dish. I had the Fusilli alla Trapanese, and it was really a mouthful of flavor. It did not have the balance that it needed, but it was delicious if eaten with bread, which by the way they do not give complimentary that is extra and only if you ask for it. Overall, it was a very underwhelming experience, and doesn't seem like anything really extraordinary, more that people go to say that they went to that restaurant in the first place. Will not return back there to spend more money than what its worth, which it can get pricy quick! There are plenty of other places that excel in creating the atmosphere and provide the customer service that...

Not a pleasant experience at all... Due to the high reviews, I was expecting a better outcome. The menu is in Italian which makes it very difficult to understand. I understand the restaurant is striving to be as authentic as possible, but the menu was just too strenuous to follow. I asked the server what some of the dishes were and she didn’t know either. She had to ask another server. The food was not extraordinary either. It was bland and without much flavor. Considering the high prices, the portions should be bigger and with better taste. All of this could have been forgiven if it weren’t for the pretentious attitude of the middle-aged woman who was in charge. She comes across as arrogant and even objected to me paying in the register mentioning that “it must be your first time here, we usually take the bill to your table.” I understand what the usual process is. Nothing wrong with me wanting to pay in the register. I will not eat at this restaurant again.

Edit: (In response to owner’s reply) Do not mischaracterize what we went through. Clearly the owner was not on the premise so its view is not accurate. The menu is in Italian, but you are NOT in Italy. There is nothing wrong with being authentic, but acknowledge that some customers may find the menu difficult to understand. Instead of pushing back, you should be finding ways to improve. The server did her best and my review never called her out. Like I said, everything could have been forgiven except for the attitude of the captain server. Do not try to bring up the pandemic issue up. Again, you were not there. We all kept our distance and I was wearing a mask. On the other hand, the captain server was NOT! Had this truly been about the pandemic she would have said something even remotely close about social distancing, she did not. She may be sweet to the owner, but to this customer, she was anything but. The owner’s reply reinforces the arrogant and bad attitude of this establishment. They don’t take ownership of their personnel and instead of listening to suggestions by customers, they try to mischaracterize the experiences. No wonder the establishment was completely empty...