Bella Sicilia Cafe — Restaurant in Merritt Island

Bella Sicilia Café, 85 East Merritt Avenue, Merritt Island, Florida, – 5-stars

The Bella Sicilia Café is a very well-hidden gem in Merritt Island. I had to drive around the parking lot three times to find it. Thank goodness I did. This welcome newcomer to the Brevard restaurant scene is officially on the Big Boy’s Must Try List. I guess my faith in Italian food has been restored. Faced with all the faux Italian fodder in Brevard that is just an Anglicization of il mangiare, this is refreshing.

Antonella Bonventre is the owner/operator of this beautiful ristorante siciliano serving up breakfast, lunch, and dinner to hungry Space Coast denizens longing for the food that only mama used to make. Getting a meal from Bella Sicilia is to go back to a time when newly immigrated restaurant owners from the “Old Country” served up the authentic taste of Southern Italy.

Everything Bella Sicilia has to offer is lovingly made right on the premises. The menu changes every day with Antonella’s lunch specials created from scratch every morning. The day I visited, she was serving up a delicious sausage and potato entrée as well as a pasta and meatballs special. These hand-rolled diamonds were exquisite, and the accompanying penne pasta was cooked perfectly al dente.

Mmm…That’s Italian!

In the crystal-clear cases, Antonella presented a dazzling array of pies, cakes, pastries, cookies, cannoli, and napoleon. The parade of baked goods was endless, and I confess I tried every single one. Antonella can even whip up a custom creation for your event or special occasion if you call her in advance. For good measure, she also maintains a tiny grocery on the property.

The Big Boy says, “There is ZERO processed food at the Bella Sicilia Café. If there was a rating higher than 5-Stars, this place...

Somehow my card was run for 60 something dollars for a pastry and a drink. I was in a hurry and just paid without looking. I was reimbursed when I went back but it doesn't add up that this happened. The lady seemed sincere about a mistake. I just can't trust people these days. I want to give them another chance but I've been swindled a few times before and it's just hard to trust people in general.

The pastries were usually good, there were a couple times where I could tell they were from the previous day. I know that it takes a lot more work than people think to make quality food from scratch and the overhead from the building is probably expensive. However, for the high prices they should really be fresh every day. A plus is they are the only establishment in the area that carries Manhattan Special sodas.

The parking situation is horrible. Home depot uses what should be their parking to store equipment/carts. And there is always someone in the fire lane loading things from Home Depot. I haven't been in the place once where it was dead, but it was rather annoying to wait on geriatrics who take 10 minutes to decide what they want while telling their life stories. No exaggeration, every single time.

They do have a nice patio in the back which I imagine is enjoyable in the...

I was Born in the Bronx grew up in Queens and half Italian. The deli was recommended to me for the bread! This Italian deli is a small simple amateur establishment by anyone’s standards. No posted menus anywhere. You don’t know what they have hot to eat, what the sizes are or how much anything cost. It was About an hour to closing time, and there was no bread and only too hot dishes remained. It’s obvious that some of the pastries in the showcase have been there for quite a while and are not fresh. Like over 6 million Americans in the United States I have a shrimp allergy. As if it was top-secret proprietary information, they refused to admit that they probably put fish sauce in the chicken piccata! I spent nearly a week with stomach cramps, and a strawberry blistering face due to their nondisclosure and denial. 🥴 If they really wanna make a go at this, the very nice son behind the counter needs to get a degree in business management or work in a NY Italian deli for 6 months and perhaps they could create a successful...