Bella Milano Springfield — Restaurant in Springfield

i was extremely disappointed in my experience here. when we got in and got seated we were in the main dining area and almost every table was covered in dirty dishes. we sat for over 10 minutes before our server came over and even asked our drink order. if it were actually busy i wouldn’t even have minded, but there was literally 3 other tables there besides us. our server was very nice, but it was clear that they were completely understaffed. they had no busser working to clear tables off. they also had no bartender so my server had to make my drink (it took over 25 minutes to get my one single drink) and it was not great. we didn’t even get our one appetizer for over a half hour from when we ordered it. then our pizzas finally came out. when i tell you this is the worst looking pizza i have ever paid this much money for i am not kidding. it came out looking like a jacks pizza dipped in olive oil. like for real look how much oil is on the dinner plate they served my pizza on. so overall the drink wasn’t great, the food wasn’t great, and the kitchen aspect of the food service was awful. we sat in this restaurant for 2 hours just waiting for our order to come. honestly i’m not upset with the employees though, because this restaurant cheaped out and doesn’t want to pay for a full staff to be there but they do wanna charge very high prices. if they want to charge prices like that then they need to pay a full staff to be there instead of trying to have my server being a server, bartender, and busser. it’s ridiculous. then to top it all off they had not one, but two managers sitting in chairs doing absolutely nothing. as a restaurant manager how on earth are you gonna be sitting down doing nothing when all the tables are covered in dirty dishes, drink tickets are stacking up behind the bar, and the kitchen is clearly running behind?? whoever runs the restaurant would be smarter to get rid of the managers and pay some actual hard working employees to get things done instead. absolutely pathetic. i paid over $75 dollars for 2 people to eat here and we got 1 drink, 1 appetizer, and 2 small pizzas (literally like...

7/25/2025: We had a difficult day and decided a nice dinner would help. We snagged a 7:30pm reservation and drove to Bella Milano. My wife ordered the cheese tortellini with the spicy sauce on the side which she really enjoyed and then had a cannolini for dessert -- rich and sweet. I ordered one of my two favorite dishes -- the honey-citrus glazed salmon (my other favorite is the boursin filet with a potato cake); the salmon is just luscious and perfectly grilled with a slight crust to the edges. It came with a snall Milano salad and a baked potato. There was also a basket of bread with olive oil and cheese for dipping. I dipped it in the honey-citrus glaze. Brian, our server, was first rate. The room was a bit noisy when we arrived but quieted down, though the birthday party at the next table was loud. We felt much better by the time we left about 90 minutes later.

We've dined at Bella Milano many times, so when it came to holding our annual 114th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry banquet, we decided to try Bella Milano. We've now held it there two years running and we hope to return next year. The Tuscan Room is a pleasant setting that fills all our needs. The food choices are uniformly delicious, most especially the honey-citrus glazed salmon with fresh vegetables, and the service is superb and accommodating. The entire event is easy to set up and comes off without a hitch. Well done!

7/18/2024: Went to dinner. My wife had the small Milano salad and a small pizza. I had the small Milano salad and the Citrus Honey Glazed salmon on a bed of spinach with broccoli on the side. I think this is the best dish on their menu. Everything was delicious and we had a pleasant,...

My roommate and I were passing through Springfield on our way to a concert in Peoria and we decided to stop to buy a few things we needed. While we were there, the lady who checked us out at Sephora recommended a few restaurants — one of those restaurants was Bella Milano.

She wasn't wrong, the food was AMAZING. The service was great, our waitress was Meredith and she knew the menu like it was the back of her hand. The real star of the meal came for dessert when she told us that they would brûlée the cheesecake if we asked. Naturally, we asked, and it was DIVINE. The cheesecake was already delicious but the extra step of melting sugar on top took it to the next level. One of the managers, Alexis, came by to talk to us and she gave us cards with coupons for our next visit– a free pasta dish for each of us, no expiration so we could use them whenever we happened to come through Springfield again.

Well, we came through the next day on our way back home and redeemed them because we had to have the cheesecake again. Alexis served us this time and gave us another coupon to redeem for free appetizers on our next visit.

I'd also like to note that I personally enjoyed Meredith's humor; if you like puns and dad jokes, make sure to ask her for one.

Thanks for the wonderful experience! If you see a lot of out of town customers from Columbia, MO... it's probably...