Pizza Bella — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Overall great little pizza shop! We love trying new pizza places and sought one out as we were in the area on another mission around dinnertime on a Monday. There were like five different pizza places near where we were but decided on this one as the name sounded tasty & homemade.

Food: we tried a 14” meat lovers with added mushrooms (our teens request), a 10” Hawaiian, our youngest had a plate of spaghetti sans meatballs, and an order of garlic knots. Everything was delicious! Our picky 9 year old loved the spaghetti. The pizzas were a little greasy for my own tastes but still good flavors, and I like more garlicky flavor to my knots but these were clearly fresh and made up the difference. Drinks-wise, they only offer canned/bottled drinks (2-liters as well if you’re maybe in the mood for your to-go order). This is nice in that you just pick your own drink out of the cooler (Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, Powerade, water, Minute Maid juice boxes) but it does also mean no refills on drinks.

Service: friendly staff! They gave us a heads up that we’d probably want to push some tables together as the tables are small.

Atmosphere: it is a small pizza shop with a handful of small square tables inside. It is seat yourself and order at the counter (I think). The tables again, are small like the shop so if you’re ordering more than a single pizza you may need another table. But if it’s busy, you may not have that option.

Looks to be a great little neighborhood pizza shop! Would certainly make a great to-go/pickup spot, but maybe not so great for dine-in if busy though. Worth the stop :) We spent right around $60 I think for the two pizzas, spaghetti, knots, and...

Amazing Find – Totally Worth the Drive! Shortly after 11 a.m., my friend and I stumbled upon this hidden gem of a pizza joint. The moment we walked in, the smell of freshly baked pizza hit us — in the best way. Darrel was running the whole place by himself and still managed to be super welcoming.

He had just put out a fresh cheese pizza, and the special of the day was 2 slices of cheese and a drink for $9.99 — you really can’t beat that. I added mushrooms to mine, and my friend went with pepperoni. Darrel had our slices out quick, and they were perfect. The crust had the ideal crunch — not too thin, not too thick — and you could really taste how fresh the in-house dough is. The sauce-to-cheese ratio was spot on, and the toppings were fresh and flavorful.

The garlic knots took a few extra minutes since they were made to order, but they were absolutely worth the wait. Crispy on the outside, soft and doughy inside, and smothered in a rich garlic butter — honestly, some of the best I’ve ever had.

I’ll be traveling over 30 minutes just to come back here, and I already know I’ll be doing it often. Pizza Bella, you just gained two...

Haven't had Pizza Bella in years and only then had ever had their pizza. Tonight the family wanted pizza and I really dread the chain pizza places.

I placed an order for 12 wings (extra well done) a large pepperoni pie (well done), a small cheese pie, a chicken parmesan entree, and a side of meatballs. It cost around $90 after all said and done.

The good:

Portion sizes seem decent.

The pizzas are good but nothing special. The kids enjoyed them.

The Bad:

The wings are inedible. They are undercooked, gelatinous, and honestly pretty gross. I even wrote pretty please on the extra well done on the special requests, and these are the exact opposite. They hit the trash.

The chicken parmesan is so chewy. It's very thick, not pounded out and a thin cutlet like you expect from an Italian restaurant.

The meatballs are very bland, loose, and almost seemed steamed or water logged.

Now we know at least. I can't say I'll be ordering again. Hopefully it was just a really off night for those...