Bella Luna Wood-Fired Pizza — Restaurant in Harrisonburg

Visited 6/22/2021: This is some of the best pizza my husband and I have ever had [rivalling some he had in Italy]! I ordered the sausage pizza and my husband ordered the special for the night, a four-cheese pizza. Mine was great, the sausage was nicely broken up into little chunks so it was easy to eat without being overwhelmed by too much meat at once, and the sauce on the pie was not too sweet. Just right. And the crust, WOW. Like their name indicates, they use a large wood fired oven to cook the pizzas and it makes the crust perfectly crisp and tender. My husband was blown away by how good his four-cheese pizza is. He even said "provolone on a pizza is a revelation," and said we need to try it out at home. So, I say that's a huge compliment!

We each got a Caesar salad to start and we should have just shared one because they were huge. That wasn't really a problem though because the dressing was fantastic, probably some of the best Caesar-style dressing. Super mustard-forward, you could even see mustard seeds coating the lettuce leaves, and just the right balance of everything else. Delicious.

Our cocktails were also fantastic. I ordered the blood orange paloma and my husband ordered the basil expatriate. Both were perfectly balanced, not too sweet, not too much alcohol, just great drinks all around. We ordered a bottle of Annalisa Pinot Grigio with our dinner and it was good. Not the best Pinot Grigio I've ever had, but at $18 a bottle, it was perfect to share with our meal.

Our waitress was so incredibly friendly, helpful, and efficient; just a great server all around. I wish I could remember her name so I could give her a proper shout-out.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we visited again on 6/24/2021 and sat in the bar area. The bartender was our server this time and he was just as friendly, helpful, and efficient as our previous waitress. I ordered the pork tagliatelle which was wonderful, and my husband ordered the Sopressata [salami] pizza. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely the second time we visited, just as much as the first time.

I can't wait to visit Bella Luna again the next time we're in...

I’m only leaving this review in hopes that it gets to management as a suggestion. We did have a horrible takeout experience, and I work in the restaurant industry and know how hard it is to worry about carry out on top of everything else. We ordered 2 pizzas and some pasta. They asked for my husband’s name on the phone but not his number- so when we arrived to pick up the pizza- we paid 38 dollars for 2 pizzas and a pasta but only one pizza and the pasta was presented. We were super confused and the bartender didn’t seem to know that a pizza was missing which I TOTALLY get because she was busy. Soon after, a host came over and asked us if we were the people who ordered “whatever pizza was missing” and then said that she forgot they were out of it and asked if we wanted another one made? I mean... we paid for another one and drove from Cincinnati and went hiking yesterday so we were trying to smash some food. She said it would only take a few min... fine... I get it. 20 min later still no food. I’d been looking around for management the whole time to suggest that the hosts ask for a phone number for pickup so that they could call and inform us if the order had changed. But I never to my knowledge saw a manager. It was around 8-830 pm. So yeah... a good 20-25 min wait on the second pizza... got to our air b&b and the pasta we ordered was ice cold... fine, I’m really not picky. And normally I like cold pizza but I got the gluten free crust so it really didn’t fair well cold and I ended up having to pick the toppings off of the last few slices because the cold rubber taste wasn’t working anymore.

Once again... I get that y’all were busy. Saturday night doing takeout is not easy. I just think it would be cool to let the customer know before they arrive that something is out of stock... my husbands pizza was amazing and hot though so I don’t doubt the establishment cranks out...

The theme here is over promise and under deliver.

Kudos to our server as he was truly delightful and the one shining spot of the evening. He was attentive and our food came in a timely manner. Everything else about the experience left much to be desired.

The hostess was rather unfriendly and the place doesn’t really have a spot for you to wait for your table to be ready.

I have heard so much about this place and was woefully disappointed. Don’t waste your time or money on an appetizer; the portions aren’t even enough to satisfy one person. The three overcooked risotto fritters weren’t worth the price and were generally unremarkable.

The pizza. Allegedly rated the best in the valley. I would say average at best. The descriptions either don’t match the ingredients, or someone really messed up our order. The sausage pizza has a “spicy marinara.” Unsure of what it is spiced with because it was a pretty run of the mill tomato sauce that tasted no different than our other pizza. I’ve never had “fennel sausage” where the fennel can’t be seen or tasted. Very bland. The pizza was also a bit blonde; it was thus chewy and lacked that signature wood fired taste that it should have. The speciality pizza was a pesto-fontina-pepperoni. In comparison, there was some flavor here. The pepperoni had decent flavor and the pesto was a good consistency; not too oily. The pizza crust, despite being a bit underdone, had good flavor.

To add insult to injury, when we asked for a container to take our leftovers home, we were presented with a folded piece of foil. Other guests had actual containers; guess we weren’t special enough. Needless to say, this place isn’t worth the hype. I won’t be rushing back here next time...