Ciao Bella Ristorante — Restaurant in Modesto

TLDR: This place is terrible. Frozen and bland food, no fresh pasta, inattentive waitstaff. Pleasent hostess - the only positive and only reason it's not one star.

Our night started with a lengthy wait, however the hostess was very pleasant and seated as soon as possible.

That's when it all went down hill. Our waitress didn't not bring us flatware and we waited about 10 minutes to have our drink order taken which was brought wrong. We realized it after she left and she didn't come back for another 15 minutes. I had to flag down another person on the waitstaff to have it fixed.

One of reasons we decided to try this restaurant was due to their online menu. We were disappointed to find that their current menu and the online menu were very different.

The bread they brought out was very odd. It was baked and sliced, but all the sides were tosted again, which lead to a really hard crust...and yet the bread was also cold.

The calamari we ordered was awful. The breading was sliding off the calamari and was not crisp at all. There was little to no seasoning either and I'm quite sure it was frozen at some point. The red sauce they brought out was also cold and watery and I would swear was jarred Bertoli sauce. It was very bland.

Our waitress continue to pay little attention to us for drink refills...but my date and I could hear her gossiping with the other staff about people at other tables.

Our main course arrived and somehow things got worse. I ordered the Beef Stroganoff with no onions as I have an allergy. It came with onions. They claimed to have cooked me a new one in under 10 minutes. The meat was AWFUL and clearly frozen. It was gritty and had no seasoning. The mushrooms were also rubbery and gross. The noodles were pretty meh. I asked the waitress and she said they DO NOT make their own pasta. The white sauce was also bland and again tasted like Bertoli. I had to ask for parmesan and salt and pepper to make it taste even half edible. And then I bit into a small chunk of bone and it just ruined my meal. When I tried to tell the waitress she just shrugged it off and walked away before I finished speaking.

My dates cheese ravioli were ok...but it was like a meal I cook for my kids with Costco pasta and sauce. Certainly not worth 25 dollars.

Overall, I will never return to this place and I won't recommend it to anyone. Plenty of other great Italian restaurants in Modesto with better ingredients and...

I want to start by saying the food is Excellent, thank you Chef. It’s a cute place and the girl at the front desk was sweet. We did not have a reservation but there was room on the seating chart. We were appreciative. The young lady got us water and menus. We sat for 25 min while other people were attended to. We watched bread and drinks come and go while we waited, plenty of staff moving and grooving. Eventually the same girl came back and told us our server, a young gentleman, would attend to us soon. 5 min later he came, he took our drink order and food order and left. 15 min later the same young girl asked if we had gotten bread, we said no and she went and got us some, it was delicious... 10 min later our drinks came. Mine was not what I ordered. I tried to flag someone down to let them know..the bartender was away from the bar, so I just started to drink it..but it was bad. The food eventually came out and was worth the wait, fresh, well plated and tasty. Good food takes time. We go out to eat quite a bit, and we have been dying to try this place and the food did not disappoint. I am sure we won’t be back, BUT, if you read this, get a reservation, dress up a bit, and speak up for your service and definitely...

First, let me say the waitress was friendly. We were seated within 10 mins but it was a Tuesday night so not busy.

We had a small child in a carrier however, yhey do not have high chairs to set it in. It took several minutes after being seated before being asked what we would like to drink, then several mins to get our drinks. The waitress said she would be right back with bread. 10 mins later, she brought four very small, thin, round pieces of bread for four adults. One piece was the end piece of a loaf about the size of a quarter. Then we didn't see the waitress for another 10 mins. She never asked to refill our water. The section we were in was half empty, only four tables occupied in our area and the occupants all had been served so she wasn't busy!

Finally, she took our order and 30 minutes later we got our food. We were all disappointed. My halibut was mushy not flaky. The pork "special" was dry and not special at all.

Four dinners no dessert, no coffee, no wine or liquor the bill was close to $200. I don't mind paying that for four dinners if the food and service is good and didn't take 2 1/2 hours.

The only reason I am giving a one star is because if I don't, my comments would...