Bella Italia — Restaurant in Modesto

Bella Italia is a love affair gone wrong - at least for me. I'm from FL, and a few years ago began a cross country relationship with my now husband. So a few times each year, I'd come to Modesto for a week or so. We now come back to Modesto 1-2x a year, as we're able, to visit family. That being said, the first time I had Bella Italia was in 2014 and I was enamored with the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli. Big round mushroom raviolis with slices of portobellos, sautéed onions, and a creamy Marsala sauce (I could drink Marsala sauce), it was amazing. But then the next time, they forgot to make my dish and it by the time it came out, everyone was done eating - only they must have cooked it in a pan used for Chicken Picatta because it tasted salty and lemony. The next time, we went to the Riverbank location and it was okay....and another time to Riverbank and the sauce wasn't even correct. Marsala is brown and a creamy Marsala should be a light brown; this was white with almost no flavor - like an alfredo like one might expect being a white sauce. There's another trip in there somewhere, and thus my family has urged me so many times to give up on these Raviolis. But I make a cross country trip and Bella Italia is always on my "to eat" list! The other night we went, and I got them. The initial bite was just a hint of the portobello and creamy Marsala flavor, but it quickly fizzled into something, a bit more tasteless, I couldn't place my finger on. Oil. It's oil. I just reheated leftovers and the ravioli was drowning in oil. I'll always pick a family Italian Restaurant over chains like Olive Garden. It's a quaint and intimate Italian restaurant atmosphere with delicious bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the table. They serve a sun dried tomato spread as well. I've never had anything other than the ravioli, so I cannot speak to the flavor of their red sauce (however, this is a true defining mark of an Italian restaurant). My husband generally gets salmon yet the mashed potatoes were ice cold when he got them. Their inconsistency with their ability to create a dish that's been on their menu for years now....well, now they're off "my Modesto...

Usually one of my favorite places to enjoy dinner. Tonight made it so I will never go back. We were there for an 90 min but I did not get to eat my dinner. Appetizers were good. My daughter's salad had over cooked shrimp on it. My chicken paramasan was cold and my veggies too. So gross to take a fork full of. So they remake it but my daughter had already finishes eating what she wanted to from her salad so I took it to go as my baby was waking up. He was good and never cried in the restaurant. We got there at 7 and left at 8:30 most of that time waiting for dinner to arrive. We got there before the dinner rush and many of the people that came after us were served before us. The waiter said sorry but it kept getting worse. Even after all the mistakes and us being polite for the errors of of the staff and cook they did not even offer us a discount, to take the meal off our bill, a percentage off our bill or for that matter a dessert. Yes the bill was not out of line for Italian but for a $50 dollar meal you would like you would like to see that they would try to keep us a paying customer. If you ask me it was Poor customer service. The absolute worst part is my daughter then got an upset stomach and became violently ill about 30 min after she ate there. We shall never go back and is am telling everyone I know who goes there to...

I hesitate to be too critical with this review because it was Christmas Eve and the place was super busy, but I must admit the dining experience was not that good. That said, we've dined here before and had pleasant experiences and good food. This night, the restaurant was understaffed and service was pretty bad. The water showed up quickly but our drinks and food didn't. Our menus never got picked up until halfway through the meal when we called another waitress over to get them. The dessert was the most awful salty tasting creme brulee. For dinner, I had a pan fried prime rib special. It was a fresh sheet special but it was gamey and way overcooked. My wife had Chicken Breast Saltimbocca and it was 90% pasta, and the pasta wasn't sauced, it was drenched in olive oil. As I mentioned we have been there before and been satisfied but not on this night. The restaurant is very open and loud. If you get a window seat, the ambiance is better, but on this night there was a large group seated in most of these prime spots. It will be a while before we go back, but it's usually a nice place so we...