Bellagamba's Fine Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Had dinner here with my husband last night based off recommendations from friends, restaurant was beautiful and atmosphere nice, however first hostess said she couldn’t find our reservation had to show her my phone then what I believe to be the manager or owner stepped in and said it’s two just seat them, I asked the waiter could they please not use peanut oil for the rice balls and chicken parm(what we went there for) he said let me ask the kitchen he came back and said no order a salad or something else. I kindly asked there is no other oil they can use to accommodate he said no. I then proceeded to order a lychee martini and asked for extra lychees he said there will be a charge I said ok no problem, it came no extra lychees, he really wasn’t listening to us. Food came and I ordered the clams and pasta, my clams were not cleaned, the presentation of the food was beautiful but there was salt and sand in the pan I didn’t eat it, the waiter never came back to ask how our meal was he sent the bus boy and he asked if I wanted it wrapped I said no I didn’t eat it and he took it and wrapped my husbands food, the waiter came with the check didn’t ask if we wanted dessert. For almost $200 I would not return or recommend.

*Update to my review (3/24/25)

To respond to the restaurant who is trying to dismiss my claims,

Firstly I don’t show up to reservations late we were early so I don’t know what you’re talking about but nobody was late, if the gentleman had not been standing there even after I showed my phone and reservation I know we would not have gotten a table.

Secondly, replacing oil is not a daunting task but if you say it is to do in the middle of service then fine.

The clams, so you’re saying I’m a liar okay I am from New York and have had many clam dishes and yours was subpar salty and sandy to say the least but you can dismiss my opinion if that’s how you want to operate your establishment.

Finally if you had read my review which you obviously did not or did not understand it, you’re doing exactly what the server did to us LOL. I said he said there would be an up charge and then never brought the lychees I HAD TO ASK FOR THEM and he never mentioned what vodka you used or asked or what I preferred I didn’t say you charged me what I said is that he said there would be an extra cost and never brought them and thank you for telling me you up charged me for the drink! I also never said your food was not fair market price I said for what we paid I expected better food and better service.

What makes a good business is the establishment listening and being attentive to their customers not throw back in their face that “it’s our most popular dish” every other customer says this..

It’s obvious in your aggression in your response to my review that you do not take how customers feel into consideration and just refute what they say or twist their words around. I am a professional money isn’t the issue here it’s the quality of what I was served and your service and I was factual in my review but do not worry I will never return there since this is how you respond, nor will I ever recommend this establish to any of my colleagues in Fort Lauderdale. Good luck to you.

3/25/25 As the pictures show below we walked in at 615 and the reservation was for 645. But I’m the liar. The waiter who never came back to get my plate told you I ate all the clams but never saw the plate? And the bus boy wanted to wrap a plate that was empty? You’re not defending your restaurant, I read the bar reviews on here and you went after a customer for writing in yelp the same bad review, isn’t that the right of the consumer to have an opinion. I’m not wasting my time going back and forth I’m not a liar and I stated facts you can continue to try to discredit me but I have receipts and photos to stand behind everything I said, as I...

I'm updating this review to reflect ongoing frustration with the restaurant’s handling of our experience and the inaccurate response it provided here. I’ve also reduced the rating by one additional star due to the continued lack of accountability and poor customer service.

Date of Visit – We did not dine with you on New Year’s Eve, as your response claims. Our reservation was for the day before, during which the restaurant was largely empty. Misstating this undermines the credibility of your response and does nothing to address the actual service issues we encountered.

Reservation Details – I have attached a screenshot showing the exact date and time of our reservation. It clearly does not indicate whether the table was inside or outside. For comparison, I’ve also included examples of confirmation emails from other restaurants that explicitly confirm seating preferences — something your system does not appear to support. This was a point of confusion that could have easily been avoided with clearer communication.

Change in Party Size – We did call the restaurant on the day of the reservation to update the seating from 4 to 5 guests. While the call was made from a different number (ending in 0414) than the one listed on the reservation, it was still placed in good faith and in advance. Whoever received the call either did not document it properly or failed to communicate it internally. Regardless, we did our part — and it’s disappointing to see that you're again attempting to shift responsibility back to the customer.

I would encourage the management team to take a more constructive and accurate approach to guest feedback in the future. A little accountability goes a long way in building trust and loyalty.

ORIGINAL POST

The evening didn't start well, and it didn't get better. Having made reservations in advance, we were seated outside on the "elevated sidewalk" in the farthest corner of the place. This was NOT indicated on the reservation despite what your system says. The fact that you had two other tables available and still sat us outside is inexcusable after we shared our concerns about it. The other reservations that had not yet arrived could have just as easily been seated on the terrace because I can assure you that their reservation also did not state "Inside Table". Your system also did NOT show that we increased our party size by one person, confirmed by one of your staff members earlier that day. You'll need to sort your reservation issues.

Despite this, we hoped that the experience would improve, but it did not. The service was terrible. We were forgotten as a table several times and when we were remembered, the wait staff forgot what we requested. 2 or 3 requests for the same item. Bread, water, etc. Meals were not served at the same time, leaving those politely waiting with cold food while the other plates arrived.

The food was generally a 4/5, but the bread basket (soggy) and meatballs (dry) were underwhelming. The octopus was tender, but not crisped properly on the exterior. The stinco di maiale was deliciously tender and the pear ravioli excellent; the highlights of...

I went to this restaurant on Valentine’s Day. I was excited to try a new restaurant on Las Olas and made a reservation, which required a $50 deposit.

When we arrived, the restaurant was about 2/3 full. A rude blonde hostess took us to our table, where we waited for 10+ min before a woman greeted us and brought water over. We asked if we could order drinks and an appetizer through her since we hadn’t seen our server; for my espresso martini, she asked if Tito’s was ok, & I replied yes. While waiting for the drinks to arrive, a young man came over to advise us that he was our server, apologized for the wait, and said that he would be working on the drink/appetizer order that his colleague took. He asked if we were ready to order entrees, but we said that we weren’t yet. We didn’t see our server again after that, but we weren’t in a rush and figured he would eventually make his way back to our table.

After our appetizer plates were cleared (which took a while), the manager came over and said “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve been here for over an hour.” He told us reservations are for 90 minutes and that he needed the table in 20 minutes. We were totally caught off guard and found it quite rude how he abruptly came up to us like that and made it seem like we did something wrong, when we had been patiently sitting there waiting on the slow service. He wanted to move us to an outside table or the bar, but I told him I wasn’t interested in sitting there, that nobody had told us at the time of making the reservation or at any point during the evening that there was a time restriction, and that we had been ready to order for a while but hadn’t seen our server in a long time. Had it not been a night when every other restaurant downtown was booked solid, we would’ve left then and there, but we ordered the gnocchi pesto ($24) and lamb ravioli ($29). Although the portions were small, the food itself was ok. The young server came by and apologized again for the earlier delays when he brought the bill. We noticed there was an upcharge for Tito’s on the espresso martini, which we thought was inappropriate since we were not informed that there would be one for the vodka that the lady offered (the martini was already $18 before the upcharge & Tito’s isn’t a high end vodka), but we just paid and left.

The next day I had to return to the restaurant, because I noticed I did not receive the $50 deposit back. It was the same rude manager that approached us the evening before that handled refunding my deposit, and he didn’t even offer a simple “sorry” for the inconvenience of having to come back for this; rather, he was just arrogant again. Had our dinner experience simply been an evening with slow service, I wouldn’t have even bothered taking the time to write a review, but I found the way the manager approached us and talked to us the night before offensive and a poor display of...