Cafe Stella Modern Italian Cuisine & Bar — Restaurant in Flagstaff

Stella's, so promising but so disappointing. We went in the Summer and had the lemon ricotta pasta. Looked nothing like the pic, but as much as I love those ingredients - it was very bland. Had to use salt n pepper, still not very tasty.

Wife had Calabrian chile and burrata pasta; again operative word: bland. With garlic, honey and lemon as well as Chiles n burrata, one would expect a very tasty, complex dish. But, unfortunately no....

We also had the bruschetta app, it was toasted bread with a salsa like dish on the side. Not how you make or present bruschetta. Flavors ok but not memorable.

The cannolis were good, nice filling in a commercial shell.

We really want Stella's to succeed, we always support local restaurants. They were only open about 6 weeks, so we decided to give them a 2nd chance but wait a while, perhaps improve/refine their dishes. We've both been in the food biz over 30 years, so know something about ingredients, presentation, flavor profiles, etc...

So our return trip was early December 2023. I had the chicken Alfredo. Better flavored than the lemon ricotta pasta several months ago, but pretty bland, thin almost watery Alfredo sauce, not rich at all like many ive enjoyed elsewhere and pretty pedestrian. Chicken was seasoned well, but was cut into small cubes - reminded me of cafeteria presentation. 😑

Wife had creamy tuscan salmon pasta. Advertised with spinach, artichokes, capers and balsamic vinegar sounded tasty but again, pretty bland. Definitely not creamy and far from satisfying. Hate to say it but Olive Garden has some better flavored sauces - and not a big fan of them or chains...

Their homemade pasta which we normally love, was good but not great. And over cooked in our opinion... Atria has a simple pasta option of cacio e pepe, a simple pasta dish but way tastier and only a few dollars more than most of Stella's pasta dishes. Teatro has a gorgonzola gnocchi that is complex and delicious, pricier than Stella's but so satisfying and delicious.

Those restaurants are a special occasion place due to their pricing, maybe a once or twice a year treat. We were hoping Stella's would be a once a month regular place for us - but I believe we won't be returning...

Brunch was a massive bummer. I paid $17 before tax and tip for a tiny portion. I got the eggs bacon and French toast combo but what I actually got was two sad pieces of bacon, two bland eggs and two pieces of French toast that was actually just one piece cut in half. It was a long wait for no reward, expensive and not worth my time. I want to come back and try the house made pasta but it’s probably going to be a bit before I even consider it.

Update: House made pasta was bad as well. Went back to give the dinner and a try and was just as disappointed as I was with the “brunch.” Service was exceptionally bad and my pasta was soooooo dry! I need a full cup just to get through a few bites. I might suggest using more sauce. Once again, way to much money for what you get. Server did that thing where he didn’t write down our order and was weirdly casual with us as strangers. He was also just some guy wearing shorts and a ball cap. I honestly thought it was just some random guy approaching our table at first. Still not convinced it wasn’t just some dude who wondered in and just started taking peoples orders and the actual staff were just to confused to say anything about it and just let it happen. This place has earned a solid 1 star review!

Response to owners response: I understand that opening a business can be tough at first but you would think you would at least have some of those kinks worked out before opening? Bad service and atmosphere can be dismissed but the food was genuinely bad. Especially for the ridiculous prices you are charging for it. You would think you would at least sample the menu items and vet them before opening. I might be willing to give it a try again but I’m not in it for the free meal. I’ll pay just as any other customer does but I appreciate the offer. I’ll check it out again in a few months and see if you have really worked...

We were visiting Flagstaff for my brother in laws birthday. We had never been to this restaurant. He wanted chicken Alfredo so we found this place. Hostess was nice and pleasant. The server was NOT personable. No nice greeting. No welcome in. My bro in law asked for a drink on the menu and server just gave a flat “we don’t have that” then he asked for a drink he saw in the cooler on the way in. Server said ya we don’t have that either. He went to look after we stated we saw it on the way in. He came back with 2 different cans of Long Drink. Then we ordered all of our food. Caprice salad included bruschetta in the description but it was mixed in to the tomato topping. When we asked he just said no, no bruschetta and argued that it was a salad. I get it.. but explanation of the ingredients, had he actually known, would have gone a long way. Ordered 2 bottles of wine dropped to the table after we asked for it and after our salads. I can go on and on but even night manager seemed to not care… we paid with 2 cards to split and only one was charged and one card was not returned. We had to argue that there were 2 cards but he finally went back to check. Then he came back with the second card. He Asked to refund but we just zelled each other. It was just the lack of Customer service and hospitality. The food was okay but the service overall is why we will NEVER go back or recommend the place. When we left the night manager even decided to give my bro in law a smug look. Very...