Bellini's Ristorante & Bar — Restaurant in Hoover

From romantic anniversaries to large graduation or birthdays and even to full restaurant rentals for business ceremonies or meetings, Bellini's is the hidden gem of Birmingham, AL. Italian Steakhouse with upscale environment advertised mainly through word-of-mouth. You will not regret dining here for lunch or for dinner. Bellini's Ristorante has been a local staple since it's launch over 15 years ago with one location on Hwy 119 just off Hwy 280 in the Greystone area opposite to the Doug Baker Blvd shopping complex. When you find a parking spot, you may be deceived by the small outer appearance of Bellini's, but do not be fooled. As soon as you step foot inside, you are transported into upscale, black-linen fine dining establishment with rooms that tunnel through the building giving it more "hidden gem" feels than any other locally owned restaurant I personally have ever experienced. Speak-easy adjacent. You walk in to an elegant marbled bar and two high top tables behind the hostess stand. You can make out one side room to the right behind noise-reducing thick privacy curtains. The main dining lies behind the bar and holds several tables from smaller two-person intimate tables to larger six-person rectangular tables. Often, you will see tales pushed together with more privacy curtains able to configure different designs to make the main dining a very versatile environment often slightly different each time you visit. There is another large room in the back of the restaurant, not visible from main dining, that holds parties, meetings, and even standard four-person square dinner tables. Each of the three rooms (back room, intimate side room, and main dining) can be reserved in part or in whole for any occasion. Bellini's also has an large patio dining area with the enclosed half being more intimate and the expanded dining area being more open. Both patio sections are warmed with outdoor heaters and provided the same excellent up-scale service as the indoor seating. Bellini's serving staff is top-notch, informed and knowledgeable of wine and beer lists and pairings, featured cocktails and after-dinner specialty ports and dessert wines. Bellini's staff continues to impress time and time again. General Manager Katie Strickland and Head Chef Andrew Hatcher continually amplify Bellini's menu and feature menu items biweekly with a larger reconstruct every season. They work hard to stay up-to-date and ahead of their competitors in the industry. It is no surprise that Bellini's has maintained a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence recipient four years and counting since 2020 and been featured in numerous articles spotlighting local restaurants. Corporate restaurants do not hold a candle to the person touches and camaraderie you witness when dining with Bellini's Ristorante. Brad has been serving at Bellini's for years, so I highly recommend asking for him if you are wanting the best of the best especially when pairing courses and wine selections. He has exhibited more knowledge and expertise at Bellini's than I have experienced at chain fine dining establishments like Perry's or Ruth's Chris. The entire service staff at Bellini's wins every time in comparison, in my opinion. The one and only note I have for this small hidden gem is to continue to improve the noise-reduction enhancements. It does not bother me a bit, but I have brought some newcomers once or twice and that was the common feedback. It's beautiful, everything is delicious, but it can get a little noisy at dinner, especially if seated near the bar. For this reason, I recommend a private reservation or requesting a table in the back room for a more intimate dining experience. I would rate Bellini's a 9.95/10 based on this one and only note.

My favorites: Pastel Formaggio, Italian Salad with Homemade Dressing, Lunch Entrees-Salmon Pesto Pasta, Goat Cheese Bacon Jam Burger, Beef Tips with Brussels or Dinner Entrees-Ribeye with Veal Demi Glace, Lemon Ricotta Linguine, Seafood Risotto, Blackened Grouper Oscar, Dessert-Famous White Choc. Bread Pudding or...

Used to be one of our favorites. After tonight, we won’t be back.

We were a party of 5 with a reservation made the week prior. We were escorted to our table in the back room via the bathroom corridor. We were seated at a table for 4 under a television with a chair added to the end of the table. This large room was extremely noisy due to its acoustics, and made worse so by the table of 10 that was set up to block the Fire Exit. Not that the Fire Exit wasn’t already blocked by a sliding barn door, but just to make sure no one could get out in an emergency, they had inserted this additional obstacle to contend with. Note to owner: If you have a history of people commenting on the noise level in your restaurant, maybe put that party of 10 by themselves in one of those little alcoves with the heavy drapes instead of blocking the Fire Exit in the biggest loudest room you have, where they are yelling from one end of the table to the other, disturbing the rest of your patrons. Some sound dampening material in there would help a lot as well. Maybe a nice tapestry? Also, take the barn door down. It’s not legal as the Fire Marshal will confirm for you next week.

Friday is normally Family Pizza & Movie Night in our home, and our teenage son looks forward to it, enjoying this tradition. My parents wanted to take us out to celebrate our wedding anniversary this evening, and Grandma took care to insure her Grandson’s pizza desire could be filled by the destination chosen. Not finding pizza on the menu, he asked about it and was told by our server that it was only available at the bar, or from the children’s menu. Disappointed, but never one to make waves, he went back to reading the menu. Fortunately, Grandma pressed further when our server returned, asking if the manager might make a special exception.

We ordered appetizers. Pastel Formaggio, a cake of Boursin cheese breaded and fried, seems like a dish best served hot. Ours was not. Not only was it not hot, but it was cold. We’ve had it there before and it was good. Likewise, the Baked Oysters my mother enjoyed immensely in the past, were underwhelming.

I ordered the Filet Oscar, cooked medium, for my entree. The steak was a fine cut, but it was rare and there was no hollandaise, nor the more common béarnaise, sauce.

I didn’t hear any complaints about the entrees from the others in our party, but I didn’t hear any praise about them like I had on previous visits either. No one finished their dinner, but everyone took home what they didn’t eat. I can’t enjoy raw meat, so I took my steak home to finish cooking it myself and will make my own béarnaise to go with it.

In the end, not even the White Chocolate Bread Pudding could save...

We visited Bellinis for a friend’s birthday dinner last night as a party of 10, and unfortunately, the experience left much to be desired. The restaurant required the person making the reservation to sign a contract and put down a $750 deposit, with the stipulation that our table had to spend at least that much or risk losing the deposit. For a weeknight reservation in a nearly empty restaurant, this policy felt excessive and out of touch—especially since many higher-end restaurants in the area don’t impose such restrictions.

Despite everyone ordering appetizers, entrees, and drinks, we still didn’t meet the spending requirement. While our waiter was kind enough to let our friends purchase wine to take home to make up the difference, the entire policy is frustrating and dampened the experience. To make matters worse, the manager refused to honor what had been promised over the phone—a gift card for the remaining balance—and was unnecessarily rude about it.

Beyond the policy, the overall dining experience didn’t justify the high prices. The food was fine but not exceptional. As someone with a gluten allergy, I appreciated the option of gluten-free chicken piccata, but the pasta was just okay—I’ve had much better at other Italian restaurants. Others at the table enjoyed their meals, but no one was blown away, especially considering the cost.

Another issue was the rushed and unwelcoming atmosphere. Our reservation was for 7:30 to accommodate work schedules, but we arrived early to have drinks at the bar. Staff repeatedly tried to pressure us to sit at our table before our whole party had arrived, despite our explanation that we were still waiting. It became clear they wanted us out quickly because the restaurant closes at 9. If that was a problem, they shouldn’t have allowed us to book a 7:30 reservation.

By the time we finished, it was 9:30, and while we understand this was after closing, the restaurant’s handling of the situation left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. For example, when we decided to order another round of drinks to meet the spending requirement, the staff complained about having to reopen the bar, which felt unprofessional. On top of that, my lemon drop martini was one of the worst I’ve ever had—just vodka with a splash of citrus.

Overall, the night was underwhelming and frustrating, largely due to the restaurant’s rigid policies and unaccommodating management. While the waiter was wonderful and one of the few highlights, Bellinis needs to rethink its approach if they don’t want to alienate customers. Our group left feeling like we overpaid for an experience that wasn’t worth it, and unfortunately, no one is...