La Bella Cucina — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

We were looking for a local place for dinner and landed on a relatively new place named ANTHONY’S KITCHEN & COCKTAILS in Belmore. It is on the NORTHSIDE OF MERRICK RD. next to Oz General Contracting, replacing the Morpheus Greek restaurant (Figure 1). The inside is modest and still has the Greek Restaurant vibe, a fun family place (Figure 2). We opened with a round of drinks which included a fine Cosmopolitan and a Woodford Reserve™ on the rocks; both were generous pours (Figure 3). The cocktail and wine menu is a deep list of the classic drinks and a good selection of wine both by the glass and bottle. The prices were remarkably moderate. The beverage menu should be added to their website, allowing folks to map out what they will be enjoying that night. The food menu is straightforward, with a broad selection of traditional Italian favorites (Figure 4). For starters, we had the Shrimp Cocktail and Grandma’s Meatball. The Shrimp Cocktail consisted of five medium-size shrimp on a bed of mixed greens accompanied by cocktail sauce (Figure 5). Grandma’s Meatball is large enough to share, beef only, Meatball resting on a simple marinara sauce and accompanied by a generous dollop of Ricotta cheese and some shredded lettuce (Figure 6). The Meatball was tender, juicy, good flavor, and well worth revisiting. For mains, we had the Grandma’s Veal (Figure 7) and the Stuffed Veal Chop (Figure 8). Grandma’s Veal is a perfectly cooked generous portion of thin coated Veal. The accompanying sauce, wine, and lemon with butter and diced tomatoes. Plated with the Veal was sautéed spinach that complimented the Veal perfectly. The stuffed Veal was a large veal chopped pocketed and filled with Mozzarella, Prosciutto, and spinach, then finished with a light brown gravy including Mushrooms and Onions. The chop is plated with grilled asparagus and roast red potatoes. One could think of this dish as a slightly lighter take on a Veal Chop Valdostano one of my favorites but at a more modest price. The veal dish was paired with a glass of Dumini Amarone, which was a generous pour and complimented the heavy dish very well. Regrettably, we had no room for any desserts as the meal was so good and very filling, so we will need to return and explore the dessert the next time. Anthony’s was a pleasant local find and surprise. Good food, good service, good drinks, and all for a very modest price. We are looking forward to many...

Great local Italian-American restaurant with delicious and freshly prepared food favorites and genuinely friendly customer service. They have parking in the rear and there is a nearby shopping plaza with ample parking that I assume one may use- check with the restaurant upon arrival. Louis, greeted us with a big friendly smile and he immediately seated us at the table of our choice. Our host and server Dina was spectacular! She was very cheerful, obliging and happy to help and provided us with world-class service. They offer a balanced menu and everything that moves around you looks and smells so good! The restaurant is very cozy with the correct amount of lighting, music genres and volume level. The bathroom is kept clean.

For an entree, we both selected menu specials that they offered which change weekly. I had the Salmon Basilico and my wife had the Chicken Giardino. Dina immediately provided us with fresh baked bread which we coupled with Authentic Italian Olive Oil from Italy, lots of black pepper and a dash of salt to dip in. For our beverages, we had water with no ice and we each had a bottle of beer. Surprisingly, they offer no craft beer products which I am a huge fan of. However, they do offer Stella Artois and Peroni which you cannot go wrong with. I had the Stella Artois and my wife had a Peroni. Both dishes were outstanding, seasoned and cooked to perfection and the presentation was beautiful. The meat and vegetables were fresh and the sauces in both dishes were extremely tasty and not overpowering.

My wife and I were to full too eat any of their delicious sounding desert items. All of their portions were generous and the appropriate size so come hungry and definitely request Dina as your server even if you have to wait!

In closing, we always share our meals so we have two opinions about any particular dish and our empty plates essentially tell the story. Enjoy your meal and service at Anthony's Kitchen and Cocktails or order it to go! -...

My wife and I went at the urging of a friend for a date night. Hard to come by those these days. Boy, are we glad we chose to spend it at Anthony’s. The ambiance is perfect. Warm, quiet, friendly(we were there at 6:45pm last night, Friday).

We started with drinks. I got their take on an Old Fashioned that has Malbec added. It adds a tiny bit of fruit and was delicious from the first sip. My wife got the “Anthony’s Mule”. Bright, crisp, nice snap to the tongue. A perfect take on a Moscow mule.

We got the sautéed artichokes in Francaise sauce as an app. Oh my lord, they were perfect. Just the right balance of salt, lemon, and a creamy for days.

Our entrees were the veal special(can’t remember the name) and the Chicken Marena(I think that was the name. Both were on the specials menu). It’s chicken over a bed of risotto with a combination of olives, tomatoes, asparagus, and a special sauce. My description doesn’t do it justice. Moist chicken, the risotto was creamy, and the overall dish was awesome.

We didn’t know anything about the place before going, but it got busy by 7:30 or so. Obviously, we’ve been under a rock because it was hopping by the time we left so people in the area know it.

Service was great. We had Richie and a gentleman whose name I didn’t get. They checked in on us the “right” amount of times for a romantic evening. We were never left waiting to order or interrupted mid-conversation. The drinks were actually their suggestions based on the liquors we like.

I’m looking forward to getting back there as soon as we can get another date night away from the little ones. If you haven’t been, then go...