Bella Trattoria — Restaurant in East Vincent Township

I usually only give stars but felt this was worth sharing.

I ordered their caprese sandwich. A caprese sandwich is made with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, tomato, and sometimes arugula. Their menu even lists it this way. When it arrived, it tasted strange, earthy and grass-like. The flavor completely overpowered the mozzarella and the tomato. No basil. I completely pulled it apart to see what was going on and noticed there was no arugula or basil at all. Instead, the sandwich was filled heavily with some other type of greens I could not identify. I took a picture and asked ChatGPT. They put pea shoots and microgreens on it instead. This completely changed the flavor of the sandwich, and it did not taste like a caprese sandwich at all. I waved the waitress over to let her know. She told me she thinks they had run out of arugula, so they substituted it. She said, "sorry.' That was it. Then I waved the manager (or owner, not sure) and when I told her, she confirmed that the chef had replaced the arugula with pea shoots. She said sorry we ran out of arugula. Like it was no big deal! Anyone with any cooking or food experience knows that this is going to alter the taste of a caprese sandwich completely. Pea shoots and microgreens taste nothing like arugula. In fact they have a very distinct, strong earthy flavor. When a customer orders something from the menu, they expect to receive the ingredients listed. If you are going to make a substitution, you should ask the customer first, no? At the very least, I should have been given the option (before preparing the sandwich) to choose whether I still wanted the sandwich or to order something else. When I told the manager there was no arugula on the sandwich she said, (like it was no big deal), "We ran out of arugula so the chef used pea shoots and mixed micro greens." My whole sandwich was sitting on the plate completely taken apart. Tbe pea shoots flavored everything so strongly that I could not even enjoy anything else inside the sandwich. The mozzarella and tomato smelled and tasted just like it. You could see that the entire sandwich was on my plate even though it was deconstructed. I left the restaurant really hungry and so bummed. The manager/owner did not apologize or offer to replace the sandwich. Her response was dismissive, as if she was saying, "oh well, sorry, deal with it." And after reading some of her responses to people's reviews, my suspicions are spot on.

My husband's pasta gorgonzola pasta was awful. We were starving so, he ate the pasta anyway just to eat something. I noticed the manager/owner responds that the customer "ate all the food' even though they said it didn't taste good. Well, that's because people are hungry and some people are able to endure a bad meal simply because they are hungry. Also, some people don't like to say anything in person to avoid any conflict. Or fear the owner will be confrontational. This owner would soone argue with you about your personal taste, vs just diffusing the issue and happily making it right.

A small gesture like offering me something different, would have encouraged me to try the place again, but the way this was handled made me never want to go back. This is why successful restaurants and companies go above and beyond, because taking a small loss on something like a sandwich pays off in the long run. Needless to say, this experience was disappointing and we will not be returning.

They also really need sound panels, because it is so loud in there you can hardly hear the person across from you talking.

I noticed that the owner does not handle criticism well. Angry, petty and snarky responses further confirm my decision to never go back.

Reviews can tremendously help any restaurant see where improvements or adjustments can be made. But she has a sarcastic "you can't please everyone," attitude and tpo big an ego. I have decades of experience successfully transforming and improving small businesses (think bar rescue). With a defensive demeanor and big ego, a business...

We've been to this restaurant twice now. The first time, my mother got scallops with risotto and asparagus. I got a pulled pork pasta. The second and most recent visit my mother got their black pepper cavatelli and I got their Sakura pork tomahawk. The scallops were some of the best scallops we've ever had, prior to going to Bella Tratorria, I was convinced that I just didn't like scallops. But really, no place has made them as good as they make them here. They were seared to perfection, lots of flavor, and not rubbery at all. The pulled pork pasta was also very flavorful and rich. I haven't had anything quite like it. The pork tomahawk was amazing. Nice and tender pork, and juicy as well. Usually pork can be tough and dry, they must use a better quality meat here. The quinoa, squash puree and wine sauce complimented the pork really well. I can tell a lot of time went into making the dish. The cavatelli was not my dish but I did get to try a little bit of it. It was very flavorful and creamy, the pasta choice was also appropriate. We also did get two desserts - the salted caramel creme brulee and the Nutella and marshmallow pizza. The creme brulee was very light and not a super heavy flavor. Had some sweetness but wasn't overbearing. Very delicious if a light dessert is what you want. The Nutella pizza is the opposite, it's very heavy and rich. Both my mother and I LOVED this dessert! The space is very nice and cozy. I believe it was an old house that was renovated into a restaurant, it has a small town homey feel to it. The wait staff has always been pleasant to us, friendly and helpful with any questions we had. I also like that they change up their menu with the seasons. I may even decide to get my valentine's dinner from them as I saw other things I wanted to try on the menu 😋 tl;dr this restaurant has amazing food and is definitely worth the visit, a small town like Pottstown is very lucky to have them. Edit 5/27/25 - their pizzas are not good, don't get their pizzas. Everything...

On Friday evening, June 9th my wife and I and two other friends made our first visit to Bella Trattoria. After the reading the reviews and the menu were expecting a memorable dining experience. While, the dishes are prepared to order, and served fresh from the kitchen, piping hot and visibly appealing that is where the experience ended.

Unfortunately, several items our party ordered were under seasoned and not true to the menu description. The pesce del giorno was a pan seared pompano, the pompano itself was extremely thin, with little fish to the skin ratio, and lacked seasoning, salt, pepper, something. My wife and I ordered the grilled octopus to share as a starter, although good, the portion consisted of one small to medium sized tentacle (arm), certainly not worth the $17. I ordered the gundi and expected that if a menu called out “gundi,” I would be enjoying the fluffy ricotta and spinach pillows just like my grandmother would make. Instead, I was served Gnocchi, and not even ricotta. Sorry Chef, you cannot fool a little Italian boy nor an Italian girl, as my wife also ordered a half order of the black pepper tagliatelle, disappointingly the tagliatelle resembled ramen, and not the traditional wider tagliatelle. This dish was also under seasoned and flavorless.

Our friends were not overly impressed with their meals however, their comments targeted the price vs. portion, such as, three scallops for $34 and the $15 on average cocktails.

I wish this establishment continued success, although my wife and I, and our friends, will not be...