The Bella Ciao

I visited the Bella Ciao with, arguably, very particular family members who ended up loving the restaurant! Service was a bit slow but our waiter was very attentive and personable. Not the ideal place for a quick meal but lovely if you are not in a hurry and just want to enjoy your dinner/lunch. The food was very good and our waiter gave excellent recommendations. We will definitely be visiting again.

Stopped in for a bite after a long day and we shared one of the margherita pizzas. The pizza crust was thin and crispy, and the toppings came out fresh. They also gave us complementary garlic bread which is different than what I am used to, but it was still super yummy. The bread crust was crispy and well-seasoned and the inside was moist and fluffy. Service was great--fast and friendly. The interior has a large dining area with ambient lighting at night. It wasn't so busy because we went on a week night, and were able to get seated properly.

This place is not good. I got the bruschetta for appetizer. It was just some cut up tomatoes and bread in the side. It had no flavor, no basil, or no balsamic vinegar. Then I got the bolognese for my entree. It tasted like pasta with canned tomato sauce and tiny bits of meat. They claim the pasta is homemade. Nothing here is homemade. Everything is from either a can or bag.

Gave a try to this place at a lunch hour. I used to totally love the place that used to be at this spot pre-covid. While fresh pasta was good, I found wayyy tooo much pasta compared to protein quantity. My salmon was in fact quite small. Other pesto sauce itself was tasty though. Chicken on the other hand was more on chewy and salty side. It was just an average experience. Service was slow for lunch hour. And we not offered bread at all - a BIG negative.

I wish I had anything positive to say about this place but it was not good. Service was insanely slow. Not just our table but the one beside us too. We had to ask for our drinks more than once. The table beside us got tired of waiting and went and got their drinks that were waiting at the bar. We ordered soup to come out because they had no appetizers available (asked if we wanted an app and then didn't have 90% of the listed appetizers) then only brought 2/3 and we asked for the other one 6 times. And the soup came out with our food. None of which was very good. Quality wise it was edible but not something I'd get again. Just not good and nobody seemed to care service was so bad.

First time here after the previous rebranding of the past restaurant. We booked a reservation for a Friday night and was seated fairly quick. There was plenty of seating but not a huge fan of the low table that we were sat at. Our waitress was friendly and attentive. No issues there. We ordered the carbonara and Alfredo pasta. I'm big on saucy pasta so I'm happy about that. You can tell that the pasta was made fresh and al dente (it was slightly chewy). For drinks we ordered the Tiramisu martini and boy let me tell you... they were made strong. Overall I would say we had a good experience.

Management or ownership needs to address the server that I had last night after I was seated at the bar about 9:40 pm on 2/14/2025. While speaking to the host someone came to the front angrily yelling about telling patrons the closing time of the restaurant is 11:00pm even though it's 12:00am. The Caucasian male serving there acted as if we don't exist when it came to trying to order and food or drinks. Yet, boisterously interrupted my husband and I's CLOSED conversation about ordering to assure us he had no idea who he is. Even though we made no mention of who we are to anyone at all nor do we care to. Another server had to come take our order & instruct him to serve us even though we were sitting in his face and he didn't behave this way with other guest. food was good but won't patron a business that discriminates in who receives fair treatment and service from them.

When I walked the atmosphere looked so familiar. We were seated. I kept saying to the other person on the party that the place looks familiar, I know this place. And I thought wait a minute it's Vapiano. I missed this place. I was excited. My first thought was I know the food is going to good. But I wanted to confirm my intuition. We ordered drinks. And then our food. I asked our waiter did Bella Ciao used to be Vapiano. The waiter said yes. And gave me the back door story of name change and the financial issue. I told the other guest that the food is good here. They have freshly made pasta. And everything is fresh and made to order. We had the pesto fussilini and Alfredo linguine. And a side salad. We dined sufficiently, bellies were full. We didn't want to stop eating because it was sooo good. I was so excited for choosing this place, see pics of what we ordered, I am glad I know the name change.

Food was alright, same with drinks. The service was pretty great! They brought us a side of bread EACH when usually it's just one for the table, which was good since my boyfriend was so hungry he ended up eating mine too haha

We ended up here because we were hungry, and it was almost 10pm on a Sunday after seeing a show at the Belk Theater. The good: Service was friendly and pretty fast. There's a ton of indoor seating as well as some outside on the street. It's one of the only uptown dine-in options open late on a Sunday night.The blah: The food was not great, and the high prices weren't justified. The pesto chicken calzone we ordered was burnt. It came with a side of marinara, which helped get it down, but just barely. And this cost $17. The arrabiata pasta, which was described as spicy, was not very spicy at all. It was just penne & sauce, which you can make at home for a couple dollars, and here it cost $15.This place is fine if you're starving and have no other options. If you DO have options - or can wait until you get home - that's what I'd recommend.