Bella Vita Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Lady Lake

I seldom write reviews, but both my fiance and I agree that the food served was the worst Italian food we ever had! We would give it less than one star if we could! It was my birthday, and he wanted to take me to someplace nice, and the restaurant is fairly new and has the appearance of being upscale... So I was excited! My fiance ordered shrimp marsala, and I ordered another shrimp entree with artichokes asparagus and angel hair pasta... They were both served in deep "almost soup bowls"and they were soupy! My first bite was completely "tasteless"... literally no flavor at all! Asparagus was tough and hard to chew. His Marsala had little to no flavor as well... Waitress was nice and did the best she could, but I asked her to bring some cheese, hoping that maybe that could help. She grated the cheese over my bowl, and over his, and nothing helped! We hadn't eaten and we were both hungry, but the food was so awful, that we were ready to just pay the check and leave... As the evening was such a disappointment! Surprisingly the manager showed up even though we had not asked for him, and I told him that the food had no flavor at all... it was completely tasteless, just a watery soup of boiled angel hair and steamed shrimp. He proceeded to tell us that the chef did his job and it's just made that way...simple olive oil and garlic. He offered to make something else and I said no that's not necessary, and he insisted, and I said well I do like piccata... So in a few minutes a piccata bowl of pasta came out, and unfortunately it was almost tasteless as well! At that point we gave up and paid the check, but I guarantee we will never be back!

I'm writing this in hopes that we can save other people from making the mistake of going to this restaurant until they fix what's wrong...

We are well traveled and have eaten all over the world, so we are hopeful that they get a chef who actually "tastes the food before he sends it out" to the public... By doing that, he would know what I and so many other of the reviewers have said about some of the dishes... Tasteless, flavorless food, and not inexpensive... There's simply no excuse for that! It was supposed to be a beautiful evening, and instead It was such a disappointment!

By the way the place can be quite noisy, So I would not suggest it for ambience either!

Beware before...

We were a party of six. We had a reservation for dinner at 6pm on a Tuesday. When we arrived a bit early, they were able to seat us immediately as the restaurant was almost empty. Things went downhill from there.

Our server arrived after 5-10 minutes and took our drink order. He seemed to be in a hurry and rather disinterested in answering questions about menu items. We were going to order calamari as an app, but were informed they were out.

Drinks and alternative appetizers came after a wait that seemed long considering the restaurant was only starting to fill up. We put in our entree orders and waited again.

After at least 20 minutes our server abruptly came to our table and plunked menus in front of two members of our party and informed them that the entree they’d ordered was not available. He seemed to be in a hurry to get an alternative order, and left the table with an apology that seemed like an afterthought at best.

When our food finally arrived, it was underwhelming. The pork chop was dry, and the lasagna was about as good as something frozen from the grocery store.

The bright spot was our dessert. The limoncello cheesecake was very good. They did comp the desserts for the two members of our group who didn’t get the entree they had originally ordered.

It was a nice gesture, but the damage had already been done. Between the slow, inattentive, and borderline rude server and the underwhelming apps and entrees, there are better places to...

Great Atmosphere!!! Great Staff welcome !!!! Great and Awesome Bartenders Gary & Toni but , but yes 2 buts. The food is horrible. It was microwaved . The inner chicken was cold and got very cold very fast . Yes I ate it because I was very hungry . Didn’t eat anything all day otherwise I would have send it back . It didn’t even looked appetizing. I was given flat pre cooked chicken with white floury clear sauce on top with 3 capers . Yuk . I know I know I did eat it . The plate presentation was pathetic . My wife is Sicilian, she says “there is nothing Italian about this place” food wise . Except for the piano man playing Italian style music. The only meal I ever liked in this place was Linguine and clams sauce and it’s probably the one of best dishes in Spanish Springs . But that was when they just opened . The first one is Gyro Salad from Amerikanos . I guess this is what happens when no one complains about their food. I noticed since working around TV that the mature group does not like to complain about anything . I’m very disappointed because we love the atmosphere and staff . Being gourmet chef for 30 years serving & creating Italian and Portuguese cuisine I could say I’m embarrassed for the establishment and always demand the big 3 Hail Marry’s - Atmosphere service and...