Bella Italia Bistro — Restaurant in Northlake

We were hoping to find a place we could go to find great Italian food locally, and this place is rated 4.7, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately…. This isn’t the place for us. I rate it 2.5 stars… It got a 3 star because I can’t do 2.5 and because the service was (eventually) good.

First the good… It’s a newer restaurant, so it’s clean, nicely decorated, with a bar area, and some outdoor seating. We had a glass each of the house Merlot and house Chardonnay, both surprisingly good.

We sat inside, and eventually, after waiting 15 minutes, we flagged someone down and asked who was our waiter, and could they please send them our way. The waiter that attended us was excellent. He was courteous, professional, honest, and had good suggestions. Our salads arrived, we had both ordered Italian dressing on the side. One came with it on the salad. And the dressing was their own House Italian, not the traditional dressing we had expected… and it was awful! A cross between ketchup and Marinara, with some additional vinegar. Avoid this like the plague. The salad dressing was replaced by Cesar’s dressing, which while purchased was at least edible.

Then came the stuffed mushroom starter. The mushrooms were tiny! So there wasn’t much to stuff. They were basically button mushrooms, with a breadcrumb filling, sitting in a LAKE of white garlic sauce, on a big plate, and so looked even smaller and sad. Every stuffed mushroom I’ve ever had was at least four times the lixe of these little things. We would have preferred two large stuffed mushrooms rather than five tiny ones. And they were bland. My wife had a cup of the Minestrone soup, which was “passable” if a bit watery and lacking body.

Main courses were next, I had the Lobster ravioli, my wife had the Frutti de Mare. Again with the LAKE of sauce drowning the ravioli… And honestly I couldn’t taste the lobster. The ravioli had a store bought blandness, certainly not fresh made, with a thin layer of purée lobster (I think), and were flat. The seafood was good with a generous amount of shrimp, mussels, clams, and a little scallop. The sauce is supposed to be spicy, it wasn’t, but it wasn’t bad. We finished with tiramisu, which while store bought was good.

You know, when we go out, we expect that the professionals in the kitchen would far exceed what we could do at home, this wasn’t the case here. We could buy better products (notice I didn’t say ingredients), cook and present them better ourselves; so why go there?

For people that don’t really know how good Italian food is supposed to be, I guess it would be okay. But if you love real Italian food, fresh, made in house, with subtle flavors, not drowning in sauce from a big plastic container, then this isn’t the place for you… Or us. To me, this is a middling restaurant with nothing to recommend it, or make it outstanding. So we are still in search of a great little local Italian restaurant. Do you know if one?...

This was my second visit to the restaurant and will be my last. Tonight upon entry I was seated at a table next to the door and asked to be seated at a different table.There was another table open, cleaned, and appropriately sized for my family. I asked if we could have that table so that we weren't by the door but I was told by the "Host" that it was reserved. Not a great start, but at least I got a table... Next we wait, and wait, watch others come in, get seated, place drink and food orders. So now after 10 minutes we finally get a server. We place our drink/food orders. Normally I would have gotten a beer or wine, but sitting at a table freezing with the door opening/closing for 10 minutes doesn't make me want to stay and enjoy myself. So with our order in, we get bread (not bad) and I get my side salad. I was disappointed with the salad as it was only lettuce, no tomatoes or anything, just greens and hard bread chunks. After 40 minutes from the time our order was placed we get our food. Cheese pizza was good, Baked ravioli seemed like a frozen reheat, sausage calzone tasted a little off, and my chicken parmesan had a tiny portion of pasta with 2 pieces of chicken that tasted like chicken fingers. They use the same marinara sauce for EVERYTHING. We got the check and the waitress asked how everything was. We explained the wait and our frustration watching other tables who arrived after us get their food and leave before us. She apologized and explained short staffing in the kitchen and that she would talk to the manager to see if he could discount our meal. When she came back with the check she apologized again and handed us the same check. No discount, no manager coming to the table to talk. Just a giant F U. A smart business move would be to say here's $5 off an appetizer for your next visit. Anything to try and get a customer back to your restaurant for a chance at a better experience. Extremely disappointed overall and not a chance this veteran would...

Bella Italia has grown on me in the times we have gone. At first we went because it was the closest nice restaurant to our house. Now, we actually select it as a “comfort food” location when we need a good meal at a reasonable price. This is not a fancy Italian place by any means. It is a good neighborhood establishment. Service is always decent, but not outstanding. Wine list is okay at best. But food is always consistent for us. My latest favorite dish is the Chicken Murphy, a unique dish of chicken and pasta with a sauce of garlic, mushrooms, onions and jalapenos in a pink sauce. This is a really unique flavor combination that has a little heat but nothing that overpowers the chicken or the rest of the sauce. It comes with a small side or Caesar salad. My wife alternates between the Manicotti and the Cannelloni, each of which she says hold their own with most restaurants, but nothing unusual or outstanding – like I said, comfort food. I also had the Minestrone last visit for the first time and it was quite flavorful, although a bit salty. We have ordered pizza to go here multiple times and it is good. So, nice neighborhood restaurant, but not worth a special trip from very far if there are also Italian restaurants in your area. Check out the great sine bottle cork sculpture of Italy in the back near...