Cucina Florabella — Restaurant in Missoula

Had dinner at 5:30 on Friday night w my husband. Walked in, we were warmly greeted by two lovely women at the hostess stand. One escorted us to our table. And for me being who I am, the evening ended right there. We were seated for our meal at what was essentially the middle seat of an airplane. The two 2 tops on either side of our table visibly grimaced as we scootched by them and sat down at our table, and invaded their space. I was not insulted- I'm sure my face showed the same disappointment. We said hello to both those parties of two- it would have felt rude to not greet them- we were seated so close. And as we selected our food, one of those parties chimed right in with a suggestion of one item they did not recommend. Again, felt normal...it felt like we were all at the same table. We were excited to try the pate, but it was already sold out at 5:30! We had the langoustine pasta, another cheese pasta, and the spot prawns. All were delicious and unique. Very enjoyable. The cheese pasta was probably one of their more basic items, and it was a hit for my palette that night. My wine was fabulous. The service was impeccable- every person we interacted with was wonderful. When I was returning from the restroom, there were two women walking in front of me. They were having a wonderful time. One turned to her friend and said "I feel like I'm in heaven. This feels just like New York City when we were in our 20s." And I realized she hit it on the head. If you're looking for an evening of feeling fancy, seeing and being seen, and sophisticated and unique food, I think you will have a great night at Florabella. If you've had a long week at work, and your eyes are so tired that you're wearing your glasses instead of your contacts, and you're looking to discuss more personal topics with the person who is most dear to you and not have those topics necessarily overheard, Florabella may not be the place for you that night. We are looking forward to trying the Cafe, and we'll be back for outside seating when it warms. Thank you for a tasty meal from people who are clearly working very hard. May not be the vibe for me, but everyone else was really loving the scene. I'd give 3 stars from me, but 5 stars from how everybody else in there seemed to feel, so...

Having dined here several times in the past year with decent service and cuisine, we were sadly disappointed with both following our dinner visit 9.25.24. First, while the dining room is always loud, last night we also endured an inside temperature that was over air-conditioned as well. While we were delivered water directly upon our seating, it was over 5 minutes before we were visited again by our server. We ordered drinks and 2 starters, and it was 8-10 minutes -no exaggeration- before 2 glasses of wine were provided(!) The dining room was half full, and the fantastic delay was never apologized for or mentioned. After another indeterminate wait for our starters, the olive and bread plate were delivered and fine. Only 2-3 minutes later, our entrees were delivered. While the rigatoni was well overcooked, it was only outshone by the fantastically bland bolognese sauce; the combination served to reclaim vivid memories of my childhood summer-camp fireside Chef-Boyardee. I was unable to finish this plate and took it home with sincere hope that my dogs will not hold any grudges for mixing it with their next meal. My wife, a vegan, queried our server as to whether the kitchen staff were capable and willing to prepare something vegan for her. A pizza, we were told, with veggies, would be available, yes. Sadly again, the culinary acumen of the kitchen failed, as she was served an overly crisp sheet of pizza dough, drenched in olive oil, with a fist of raw garlic (not roasted as one might imagine), and perhaps 10 slices of mushrooms - that was it - Bon Appetite! Now, perusing the menu, myriad vegetables were readily available and in our estimation, clearly capable of inclusion on this pizza, but apparently this would take too many steps and were out of reach for our pizza chef to grasp. Several minutes passed when our server returned, inquiring as to our satisfaction. The wife asked if there were other veggies available that she might herself add to the olive oil, raw garlic, and mushroom crisp before her. The server returned with a 2" high plate of arugula. Why greens sufficient to over-winter a small herd of sheep was provided left us curiously surprised and disappointed; yet it provided a consistent theme of how underwhelming a dinner...

It was our first time at FloraBella. Our daughter had gone there last year a few times and really enjoyed it when they first opened.

Our daughter had just gotten back from a year abroad and was so excited to take us here!

It Was Saturday night with a 7 o’clock reservation. They only had seven tables. We were seated behind the hostesses desk and the telephone. The waitress didn’t demonstrate any concern for getting us a beverage or welcoming us, until 15 minutes after we arrived. The menu was disappointing. We were hoping for some quality Italian Appies, no options.We ordered the eight dollar, freshly baked sourdough bread with black truffle and fresh lavender butter. We forgot to ask them which day the freshly baked bread was, but it certainly wasn’t in the last 24. It definitely should’ve been croutons for the Caesar salad. Our daughter also said the lavender butter was nothing like it was in the past.

We did have a delicious Caesar salad. The plates from the salad were left at the table until the dinner came. At which point another server asked us to move the plates so that she could put down our dinner plates. She left without collecting any of the dirty plates.

The Bucatini was good. My husband ordered a pork chop, It arrived as a Plate size, VERY deep fat fried Frisbee with fresh arugula on the top. A teaspoon size dollop of sauce was served on the side. He enjoyed the taste, but there were so little of it and the pork chop was so dried out he couldn’t chew it.

When the waitress came over to see how our dinner was, I asked her to please clean up the dishes from our salads. She looked at me with disgust, I pushed the salad dishes towards her, I assured her, it was her job to pick them up.

Another staff member came by and asked us how she could make it better for us. We were so disappointed, we were lost for words. Being dead on a Saturday night at seven, Should’ve been her first clue.

Location And ambience doesn’t mean a thing, When your staff is interested in their job and the food is not edible.

Our biggest disappointment?The day before, we bought $150 gift certificate for a friend. Totally embarrassed now that we gave him a gift to this place....