La Bella Pinseria Romana — Restaurant in Glendale

We had gone here for my birthday and the experience was great. The owner was super friendly and chatted with my mom. I made a reservation for Mothers Day and it was honestly a mistake. I know it was Mother’s Day so I understand why service might be slow. But we arrived at 2:30 for a 3:00 reservation and left at 5:30. Items arrived in really random order. Appetizers came then pizza, then a salad, then the rest of the dishes a half hour later followed by fries.

The food itself was okay, but I rate low for the calamari and truffle fries being clearly forgotten about on the counter and therefore were cold. But what was really upsetting for me was the uncooked piece of chicken in my Alfredo 😵‍💫. Food was taking a while but they couldn’t take the time to fully cook the chicken? I’ve worked in a chicken place so I know if it’s a bit dark red (especially with chicken legs) it’s okay. But this was like rubbery raw… I still ate it all despite the inedible part. I chewed in it and tried to down it to give them the benefit of the doubt. There’s a picture so other people reading this can decide for themselves if it’s cooked or not.

Service was slow which I understand, but they had set out extra tables and chairs probably expecting a lot of people but it’s clear they should’ve not bothered trying to take on too many customers. They had two servers but that wasn’t even the issue… food was barely coming out of the kitchen despite at least 4 people working it. Some other people complained behind us and it got the attention of the owner. She was super friendly last time to my mother but this time because it was busy and we weren’t throwing a fit she didn’t really pay any attention to us. So we just paid and left.

Anyways I’m sure you’ll have a good experience if you go on non-peak times. Just don’t go during a holiday for certain. Doubt my family...

I am writing this review to express my disappointment with how the restaurant handled an overbooking situation.

I made a reservation through OpenTable for November 22 at 7:00 PM. I received both a confirmation email when I booked and multiple reminders leading up to the date, including a text, email, and app notification asking me to confirm the reservation. Everything seemed in order.

However, on the day of the reservation, at 6:11 PM while I was on my way to the restaurant, I received a call from a representative (whose name I unfortunately don’t recall). She asked if I planned to keep my reservation. When I confirmed, she explained that a large party was taking up the restaurant and there was no seating available for the evening. I was surprised and asked if no one had known about this situation earlier. She replied that both she and the wait staff were aware but she had just started her shift and was now tasked with calling guests to inform them.

Her tone was apologetic but also flustered, and she struggled to get to the point. I eventually asked if she was suggesting I cancel my reservation, to which she said yes. While she did apologize, it felt half-hearted—perhaps because she wasn’t personally at fault but was dealing with the fallout of poor planning.

This situation could have been handled much more professionally. Informing guests of an overbooking issue earlier in the day (or even prior) would have been far more considerate. Calling guests an hour before their reservation is unacceptable, especially when the issue was already known by the staff.

While I understand that mistakes and unexpected situations happen, communication and professionalism go a long way in mitigating disappointment. Unfortunately, this experience left me feeling...

Second trip there. If your server is Maya, just get up and leave. She either thinks other people in the restaurant don't speak any languages except English, or she has no decorum.

It's a shame because the pinsa is unique and incredibly well done. The place itself looks very nice and clean.

Our server walked up as we sat down roughly 40 minutes before close, and at first all she said was suggest she take our order quickly because the kitchen closed in 10 minutes. That was fine. We understood.

While I try not to make a habit of rolling up on places before they close, it has happened to me - usually the staff is very kind. It will be something to the effect of: "We close soon, let's get your order in and then you can stay as long as you like". I've never overstayed my welcome and always try to be courteous- I leave at close as that is the polite thing to do.

If Maya could have lifted me and physically booted me out, it would have been nicer than how we were treated.

She mishandled our drink order, never once checked with us except to bring the check and remind us we closed at 10. No offer for refills - I killed my tea in the first 5 minutes there because I was thirsty.

She complained about us to the staff, yelled at the staff in Spanish, and instead of calmly walking over to us at 10 to say they were closed, she just flickered the lights on/off (we had already gathered our things and paid the check) to give us the hint.

No worries, Maya. We left. Might not come...