Bella Verona — Restaurant in Salem

NOT family friendly...and not friendly. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

I came here recently with my family to celebrate my wife's birthday with my two daughters, 8 & 11 y.o. We started off by ordering a $10 bottle of San Pellegrino...pricey, but not unusual. My wife and I each ordered a $25 entree and told the waitress (who was very nice, by the way) that we were going to split our entrees with our children. All we wanted was an extra two plates...we would do the portioning. Anyway, the waitress told us that there was an $8 charge for each plate if we were going to split entrees, but we could avoid the charge if we ordered salads for $2 each. I didn't really want a salad and didn't like the idea of being forced to spend more money for splitting a plate when there was no option for kids' portions. I suddenly felt uncomfortable at this money-grubbing policy, so I told the waitress that we'd leave and I'd like to pay for the sparkling water that we ordered. After the waitress left, my wife said, "Since we're already here, let's just get the salads. It's too much of a hassle to find another place." I agreed with her and decided to stay. In that moment, the owner came to our table and huffily asked what was going on. I told him that it was o.k. and we decided to stay and order the salads as the waitress had suggested. He didn't seem to understand and I asked him to get the waitress to explain. He didn't do that, so I walked him through our entire conversation to which he replied, "No, you can't order the salad and not pay the $8 charges". Then he said as he was collecting our menus, "Maybe you should find another place to eat if you don't like the prices." He was saying all of this while wearing his face mask under his chin, which was increasing my anger as well. He left, then the waitress came over. I explained to the waitress what had happened. She apologized, said it was "very embarrassing" and that he could be "grumpy". To be clear, it wasn't the pricing that I had an issue with, it was the $8 upcharge ($16 total) for my two daughters to eat and the horrible attitude of the owner.

We left and found a much better place...Turner's Seafood on Church Street. The pricing was about the same, but when I told the waiter it was my wife's birthday, he gave us free desserts ($26 worth of chocolate torte!). We had some friends join us and we all had incredible food (I recommend the stuffed shrimp...delicious!) and ran up a $350 bill.

Advice to management: you are in a hospitality industry. Act like it. You're not so good that you can afford to be rude. And wear a...

Me and my girlfriend went here for a date night a couple weeks ago, we haven't found a lot of great restaurants in Salem, but this is definitely one we'll be back to. As your seated to a dimly lit table (ambiance) you're greeted with a basket of bread with this anchovy and olive oil dipping sauce. I'm not an anchovies guy but I enjoyed it, the saltiness was a nice way to awaken the taste buds. We started the meal with the Carciofini In Carrozza and it was a nice light antipasti, the flavor was very well-balanced with the creaminess from the cheese, the saltiness from the meat and the texture and sweetness of the marinated artichoke hearts. Then for the meal we had the Scaloppine Di Maiale Al Pepe over the house made pappardelle and the Tagliatelle Alla Puttanesca with chicken. The scaloppine do maiale al pepe was very nice the pepper was just enough to cut through the cream sauce and give a nice delicate kick to the meal, the noodles were a perfect al dente, and the pork was nice and tender, though I felt as though it could have been cooked differently, it may have been overcooked because it could have been juicier, maybe grilling it like they do the chicken would have brought more life to the dish. My recommendation goes to the putanesca, the chicken was grilled perfectly, there was plenty of it, it was complimented so well by the saltiness of the olives, anchovies and capers, and the delicate sweetness of the sauce, the onions and anchovies were present but not over powering, and the tagliatelle was toothsome and an excellent vehicle for the contents of the putanesca, flavor was trapped in every bite. We capped off the meal with the tiramisu, absolutely tremendous. I couldn't stop myself from eating it. It was so creamy and the texture was so relaxed, and the coffee got us pretty wired for the ride home, there was a second of silence. The recommendation of the tiramisu was from our server who I must mention was so helpful throughout the whole experience, our water glasses never went empty, she helped us navigate the menu and told us what combinations were possible, great guidance for our first experience. Also the atmosphere of the place is exactly what you look for in an Italian restaurant, they had the old school Italian themed pictures, the checkerboard tablecloth, the decor you would expect, it really added to the experience. We spent about 120 with the tip for the meal, and if we didn't do so much customization it would have been cheaper, but for the whole experience I would say it was well worth it. We can't wait to revisit our favorite...

There was no hostess to greet people coming in, I was instead knocked into by a waiter who said he, "didnt have time to help me right now". I sat down ordered my food and waited quite sometime before it came. Once it had come the pasta was undercooked and the shrimp still had the tails on them. For $32 I did not expect to pick the tails off the shrimp myself, its just laziness. After waiting so long and it being so late I did try to finish my plate but after tasting a shrimp that was questionable if it was cooked fully, I had just had enough. I mentioned this to the waiter who had never checked on me after my meal being served and she continued to debate with me about the amount of food that was consumed even though 3/4 of the meal was still on the plate. She then said if I had told her sooner she could have done something about it, well I would have if I were checked on. Her and I were able to agree to me paying half of the meal.Then the owner comes out asking what the problem was so I explained to him the pasta was undercooked he responded with, "I have never got a complaint about his pasta in 25 years". He then said he could offer me something else such as a drink but still handed me a bill with the full price. I then had to argue with the owner about the cost of the bill until he asked the waitor if she did say she was going to discount the meal. Overall the experience was horrible, terrible service from the waiters and the owner was completely unprofessional, this is just not the place to...