La Bella Tavola — Restaurant in Cuero

La Bella is within a beautifully restored building with contemporary flare. The parking is limted and one way and you have to enter from Esplanade. Otherwise you'll have to find street parking nearby. Outdoor seating is available as well as two dining rooms.

The restaurant was fairly spacious for its size with high ceilings in the main dining area and it was impeccably clean.

The menu is small, and that is a good thing. It's better to have a small menu that you can high quality food than to have a large menu that everything falls short of expectation.

The salads were fresh and the bread was pretty good. I ordered the chicken parmigiana and it was really large, taking up 3/4's of the plate. Crispy and golden brown serve with spaghetti and sauce as well. I could that because the chicken had been pounded so thin that it was a little tough after being cooked, but not so much as to ruin the meal. The sauce was good, not too bold or too spicey or sweet like a Sicilian style sauce, somewhere in the middle.

The service was great and always prompt and courteous. Definitely worth...

We tried this place tonight as a break from the usual Mexican food you get everywhere in South Texas and we were not disappointed!

The service was great. Our waitress was very attentive and friendly.

It is BYOB which we wish we would have known but that's okay! We started with the focaccia bread as an appetizer (I would call it more of a cheesy garlic bread, not a traditional foccacia) it was delicous. My husband had the chicken parmesan and the portion was huge and he said it was awesome. I had the baked tortellini which was good but very heavy on the sauce and cheese. It tasted great but I thought it could have used some fresh basil or something to brighten it up but for $10.99 I can't really complain. I tried the tomato basil vinaigrette on my salad and it was very different but very good. My daughter had the spaghetti and I'll let the photos speak for themselves haha

Overall, we were very pleased and would go again! I would recommend giving it a try. Family friendly atmosphere and beautiful outdoor...

I really wanted to love this place. This is an old gas station that was converted. Not sure if they were the first restaurant, but the exterior remodel is amazing. It really exudes quality and a hint of sophistication. Walking inside though is another story. It's pretty basic cafe style. They spent all of their money on the exterior. Ok, it happens. I was also hoping the food lived up to the reviews, but unfortunately it was a disappointment. My chicken picata was bland and the sauce was very watery. On top of that the pasta was way overdone. Any Italian chef worth his salt will tell you al dente is best for several reasons. The pizza was ok but not great. The garlic bread was good but hardly had any garlic flavor. For bread it rates a 5, but for garlic bread barely a 2. To be honest, you can get better tasting food at Olive Garden... and I hate Olive Garden. On the plus side, service was very good. But the lady at the front door was kinda snooty. I may give them another try. Maybe it was...