“Make pizza not war,” is written in glowing yellow neon lettering on the interior of Ciao Bella Italian restaurant. But this writer is all out of pizza.
My first declaration of war is on its website, especially its confusing opening hours. On the home page, it lists its hours of operations for each day of the week. It opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. on Friday through Sunday. However, the visit page lists all days operating from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
But even the prelisted times seem wrong. When I arrived around 4:45 p.m. on a Sunday, well into its hours of operation, the restaurant was closed, and Google Maps said it wouldn’t open until the following day. Already disappointed, I arrived Monday right at the opening time of 4 p.m. and had to wait about 12 minutes for the doors to open.
If you’re going to have a schedule on your website, I would make it consistent and accurate to your actual hours.
The interior of the restaurant is quite lovely. It has cute wooden tables, bright green seats, fake ivy and plants growing out of the walls and even fun spoofs of famous paintings like the subjects of “American Gothic” eating pizza. It gives the restaurant a hip, but still upscale, quality that I think is hard to nail.
I had already looked at the menu on its website, so I knew what I wanted: the penne alla vodka with pancetta, root beer and tiramisu. Right out of the gate, the restaurant’s soda fountain was not working for the root beer, so I settled for a Pepsi. And then I ordered my pasta.
Pasta with vodka sauce is one of my favorite Italian dishes, and pancetta should add a salty umami flavor to the dish. But unfortunately, besides a nice creamy texture, this pasta didn’t deliver on any of my expectations. Despite the dish practically overflowing with crumbles of pancetta, it added no flavor to the pasta. The two leaves of basil made for a decent two bites, but I wish the basil flavor was incorporated throughout the dish instead of seemingly added as a garnish.
The portion sizes were nice, with a reasonable amount of pasta that didn’t require me to bring home a box. But I guess you need smaller portion sizes if the pasta is going to be flavorless.
Finally, I ordered the tiramisu, and was levied with the words, “we don’t always have the tiramisu.” And alas, they were out of the dessert even though I was, by my count, only the second customer of the day.
Overall, I had a disappointing experience at Ciao Bella and would not recommend you visit unless you want to see a portrait of William Shakespeare eating a neon pizza slice.
