La Nonna Bella — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Nona Bella

Old school charm in Garden City. Summary: food good, but not traditional? Decor romantically dim but watch for over aggressive AC vents. Service slow but we weren't in too much of a rush (once we finally started eating).

So we went there this weekend for couples night out with two other pairs of couples. As most restaurants along Franklin in Garden City, plenty of parking. As you enter, you see that it was dark and relatively tightly packed. It was early on a Saturday so it's good to see solid patronage. Once we arrived we were swept upstairs to a seating area that overlooks the whole place. But we were against the wall so not so much of a view. Caution, there are some vents that send an occasional arctic blast of you're seated in a strategic spot. Drink orders were taken, specials were relayed and bread was served. After a few long minutes just as we were about to turn into a ravenous horde of undead walkers, the waiter reappeared and took our order. Thankfully we didn't have to wait as long on the other side as the food started appearing relatively quickly. I had the mussels with pesto sauce. My wife had the grilled octopus. Both were very good. The mussels came in a decently sized portion and they weren't shriveled up ones. Octopus was tender and had a nice little acidic bite to it. I had the chicken scar (mostly because it was boneless and that it had sausage in it also helped). My wife had the branzino special. I didn't try the fish but her roasted potato side dish was excellent. The chicken scar was not exactly as expected. I knew it would be boneless but it didn't really have vegetables like peppers or potatoes. If anything it was more like chicken fingers in marsala sauce. Don't get me wrong. It was very tasty and I ate the whole thing, but I don't think it was chicken scar. Lastly for dessert we decided to all just share 2. First the 3 donuts with different creme stuffings which were good (although I didn't move fast enough to try the hazelnut one). Then the flourless chocolate cake which very chocolatey and dense and wonderful. It was not a cheap date place. For the six of us, it came out to just under $80pp not including tip (everyone got an app and main - the boys each had 2 beers and the ladies shared 2 pinots). But I think that's pretty standard for the area. Terrific place. Would...

Made a reservation for dinner here for a moderate-to-large party to celebrate a milestone birthday for my Dad 2 weeks before the date. I made sure to tell the hostess it was a special occasion. A few hours before the hostess calls me to confirm our reservation and leaves me a voicemail telling me we would only be allowed 2 hours to dine. I called back to confirm our reservation and was once again pressed that we would have to leave after 2 hours.

When I arrived I spoke to the owner Erica and told her I was disappointed because this was a celebratory dinner, I made the reservation ahead of time and most importantly this was NOT communicated to me when I made the reservation or I would have absolutely never made the reservation in the first place.

Instead of having a normal response, perhaps apologizing that this policy wasn’t communicated ahead of time, Erica was incredibly nasty. She said “I stand next to the hostess during every single phone call they make and it was communicated to you - maybe you missed it” she also stated that ALL restaurants have a 2 hour policy…. (I’ve personally never been told about a time limit when eating in a mostly empty restaurant). She was incredibly rude and patronizing. It was clear her staff was embarrassed by how she was speaking to me. Ironically the phone rang several times during dinner and I made sure to note that Erica was no where to be found - so I’m not sure how she is possibly there to monitor every phone call…

Absolutely disgusted by the customer service I received from Erica. The restaurant had very few patrons for a Saturday night, so I’m sure this isn’t the first time Erica has treated customers like this. We have been here several times and will not be returning. We recently moved back to the area and will be sure to pass along our experience to our neighbors and friends.

The food was average and has declined in quality since our last visit. The pasta was stuck together and I’m guessing cooked too early. The desserts were delicious.

The best part of the meal was our waiter and servers who were absolutely fantastic. If they are looking for a job with a less tyrannical boss, I am happy to recommend them to other businesses in the area that...

It’s very unfortunate that I’m writing this review as we have come to this restaurant often. We just ate Mother’s Day dinner and the way that we were treated by the general manager was completely uncalled for.

We understood that it was Mother’s Day as the restaurant was packed with patrons but sitting at the upstairs room with only one waiter to handle it was the start of the issue. Our waiter was lovely and doing his best to make sure we had everything we needed however we had to wait 30 minutes for drinks another 30 minutes to order and almost an hr for our food.

The food itself was average. Not bad and not great however the issue was one, our food came out staggered and we all ate at different times and two the caccio de Pepe was terrible. It was forgotten and it tasted like it.

More than ANYTHING and the only reason we will never return to the restaurant will be due to the blonde manager. I’ve never in my life been spoken to, treated or disrespected by someone especially a manager like her. I understand the stress of the holiday but after speaking to her about how unhappy I was about my meal she lashed out and stated that everyone had been yelling at her all night, that I just wanted my meal for free and that’s why I came to speak to her, that she had no control over the kitchen, that it’s Mother’s Day and I had to understand. I told her that I didn’t appreciate her behavior and tone and she became more deregulated and nastier with explaining that she gave me my meal for free and she didn’t need to speak to me anymore. I could not get one word in and quite frankly I felt as if I broke her last straw. If you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t be the manager of a restaurant. Very...