Bella Napoli Pizzeria — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Ate warm pizza and burnt lasagna for lunch yesterday. The Margarita pizza came out looking old and cold.You know it is cold and over done when the cheese is not white and no fresh basil on the pizza. We also ordered the so called Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. The broccoli rabe was tough and woody and the sausage was tasteless. I am telling you I could not taste any Italian seasonings in that sausage. No seasonings in any dish we ordered. The lasagna had the skim milk cheese not whole milk cheese. It was gooey and the top was almost burnt. I guess breadcrumbs on top of lasagna? I don't know, never had that before and don't want it again. No bread served with the lasagna. Yet when I was leaving I looked into the kitchen and there was about 5 loaves of bread sitting there. Maybe a slice or two with a $24.00 piece of warm lasagna? Service was ok. I guess if he had worried about my order more than stocking maybe, just maybe my food would have been hot? I mean I am guessing. I spoke with another customer on my way out. The man said he asked about mushrooms and the "chef" got nasty. The Mother at the table said exactly what I said " tasteless". They came in after us and was served there food almost the sometime as us. SO MINE WAS SITTING GETTING COLD. Do not waste your money. It is tasteless. It is a crafty illusion. The place is nice and clean. Yet the "cook" speaking Italian makes you think "oh boy we are going to get some good food". Oh I almost forgot the crust on the pizzas. The crust was almost raw on the Margarita and sausage pizza was limp. Oh wait one more thing, we ordered sweet tea. Well they do not really have sweet tea. They have unsweetened tea then they add simple syrup. I asked if he gave us unsweetened tea , he said no we use simple syrup ,do you need more? I had to add it to my tea.When we walked in I guess he is the "cook" completely ignored us while we was standing there at the hostess stand. But the kicker was he ignored us after we paid over $60.00 for "his garbage". I was wonder how these places get such great reviews and who is telling these people their food is good enough for...

Allow me to preface by saying that we lived in Napoli. For years. So we know "authentic" food when we taste it. Plus my Darling Bride was a chef... so we understand and appreciate good food. We began with Mussels Marinara, which were superb,. I opted for the Caprese Salad and was stunned to see three slices of un-ripened tomato and three slices of Mozzarella arrive, drizzled with Balsamic Vinaigrette! Folks, that is not a Caprese Salad. For the main course the Darling Bride had spaghetti with clams. I went off menu and the chef prepared Spaghetti Carbonara for me. Instead of steaming the clams in wine and lemon, they were presented in a rich, red tomato sauce that dd not look or taste like fresh tomatoes. My Carbonara was authentic enough, if not a little dry for my tastes.

For takeout we ordered a pizza, which WAS, in fact, great old world pizza. THIS is Napoli pizza, folks... except in Napoli the pizzas are not sliced. You cut the pizza as you eat it to prevent the crust from getting soggy.

The final surprise of the visit was the bill. We were in total sticker shock when, for two humble appetizers, two entrees, two beverages and a pizza to go, we were presented a bill nearing $100. I can understand that in New York, Los Angeles or maybe even Chicago... but NASHVILLE? Just know that if you're going to indulge Italian style (which means a lot of food), it's gonna cost you! Service was satisfactory, although it wasn't very busy when we were there. The server was friendly, cordial and knowledgeable about the menu. No complaints.

You really can't go wrong with authentic Neopolitan pizza, and these guys got it right. Everything else? It's a loose translation of "authentic" Napoli...

Talk about a missed opportunity! OK so you have a bevy of native born Italians in the kitchen and you would expect excellence on every level. Its not bad but its so not great, and the bar should be higher given the native pedigree here. To deconstruct the pizza, which has a terrific simple sauce and wonderful wood burning oven cooked crust, it comes down to a fatal error, the cheese. When the crust is so thin the cheese shouldn't be so thick and gloppy that when it congeals it is thicker and harder than the crust, and that happens in about 7 minutes! If they used a lower melting point cheese, the pizza would be FANTASTIC, but their cheese ruins it. The gnocchi, although not homemade was good but again the same thick tasteless mozzarella was melted all over the top until it hardened and made the rest inedible. For desert we made the mistake of trying the cannoli which instead of one thick creamy filled treat, it came as 3 tiny filled minis, and the filling was not rich and wonderful. To add insult to injury they drowned it in Hershey's syrup, which may be the biggest offense of all! That all said, our hopes of this being a traditional and somewhat classic Italian restaurant versus a pizza joint in an alley were dashed. And the search...