Ciao Bella Italian Grill — Restaurant in Memphis

We went here and lucked up on some good parking right up front, so when they told us about a 45 minute wait, we said "F-it, we are staying." We wound up waiting about an hour. Not a big deal, but slightly anticipated. The bread was bland. I guess maybe Italian is supposed to be, but im really big on something with more flavor, that the oil and pepper can compliment. The goat cheese dip, for lack of a new word, also bland. It was very heavy, and had poor texture. Now the star of the show, Chicken Marseille. This was actually very good, the closest I've ever found, to my favorite Macaroni Grill dish "Chicken Scallopini", minus the artichokes, mushrooms, and prosciutto. The service was very stale for a place with such a price tag. It was almost as if my ordering of a water diverted our server's attention elsewhere. I didn't order it to be cheap. I ordered it because I don't drink and drive. It may be possible that it was because me and the wife chose to split a main course. However it seemed to set precedence of the rest of our service. In fact, once we got our dishes, our server never revisited our table until our plates were empty and stacked. I never got a water refill for my meal. We will be back for that one dish. But 20% is a top tip for poor service. It's now been a couple weeks, so we decided to try it again... 30 minute wait, then got sat at a high top in the bar. Watching a number of servers pass us, some even debate in the hallway, my wife asked, "you wanna just leave?" Finally after 12 minutes a server introduced herself. She took our drink order, put some oil on the table and said she'd bring us bread. She came back with our waters, and asked about an appetizer. We declined an appetizer, as we had already selected our entire meal, with our menus folded and placed on the far corner. She said, "I'll be right back with your wine." When she returned, she took our order. She brought our salad, and as last time, she didn't return to our table until we were nearly done with our main course, brought out by someone else. She asked if we wanted dessert as she gathered our plates. I was hoping that she noticed, the oil for our bread remained untouched, because we never got bread... but at least this time I remembered to get a picture. On the drive home, my wife asked, "What is it about how we look, that we don't get the service, we watch...

Yes I own Italian Restaurants. No I am not even remotely affiliated with Ciao Bella.

I was in Memphis late Friday purchasing and removing a set of pizza ovens from their previous location near Erin Dr. The first statement I offer here is, even after closing and moving out 95% of their previous location, the entire restaurant it is perfectly clean. There are not layers upon layers of kitchen cooking history in their previous kitchen. This means they meticulously keep their kitchens clean. I was offered and accepted an old Radio Shack whole facility sound amplifier which as left on a 'home run' shelf. When I removed the amplifier there was no dust, garbage nor cobwebs behind it on the shelf. This means the staff and owners of Ciao have very keen attention to detail, which should result in your consistently having a great meal and overall experience at Ciao.

I was offered the option of a complementary meal and asked for Penne with Bolognese (meat sauce) and Meat Balls. This is what I consistently order when I order from Italian restaurants as I travel. If you cannot execute Bolognese and Meat Balls, stop pretending to be an Italian restaurant.

I could not eat the meal that Friday night as I was far too tired after a long day's drive and moving out the ovens. I put it in the refrigerator in the hotel room, back of the truck to stay cold on the drive back to South Bend, IN and in my refrigerator when I arrived home late Saturday night. So this morning Sunday, I reheated half in my microwave. I added some grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese and sat down for breakfast. It was very good.

The Penne was cooked perfectly (al dente - not over nor undercooked). The Meat Sauce offered good flavor and was not sweet nor overly 'dry-spiced', which too often is the case at so many other pretend Italian restaurants. The Meat Balls were pleasantly firm and too dry nor bready. Over all there was a pleasant warmth to the palate, not spicy but appropriate. It allowed the favors to linger, which is what one wishes for when they eat something they enjoy.

I can from my personal observations and experience strongly...

We went for an early Saturday evening dinner. It was very busy but not quite packed when we arrived, although by the time we left I would say it was packed (thus the early reservation). However, because of the layout of the restaurant and maybe especially the privacy of the booths we were seated in it didn’t feel overly loud.

Our server was friendly and professional and did an excellent job with descriptions and recommendations. Whereas usually I can quickly narrow down to 1-3 best options there were so many great sounding menu options it was hard to narrow things down here.

We ordered the caprese and (on our waitress’s recommendation) the warm goat cheese dip as appetizers. The caprese was nice and fresh with the tomato definitely having a distinct “tomatoey” flavor whereas often at other places they are relatively pale and tasteless, being little more than a delivery system. The balsamic glaze was also nice and rich. However, the star of the appetizer show was definitely the warm goat cheese dip, and you get a generous portion. It’s worth noting the table bread was also some of the best I’ve had.

For our meals we got chicken marsala, blood orange salmon, and cioppino. Everyone was pleased with their meal although the person with the salmon remarked they expected a stronger blood orange flavor. On the other hand they tried a little of the goat cheese dip with the pasta and loved it. Cioppino is my current go-to Italian dish any place that has it and this one compared favorably with others I’ve had.

We got desserts to go and these were the most lackluster aspect of the meal. The cheesecake was good but the caramel sauce seems unnecessary as it just makes it overly sweet without really adding anything. We also noticed the “whipped cream” on a couple of the desserts isn’t actually whipped cream but tastes more like Cool Whip which is disappointing.

Overall a great dining experience and we will be returning...