Bellissimo Restaurant

Another restaurant week choice. I went with a buddy. It was amazing we found a place to park. The restaurant is small. A great place for a family get together of date with a lady. We went in and there was a wedding rehearsal dinner going on so we sat at the table near the window. No big deal..lots of happy people having a good time. The waiter comes over and gives us the menus plus glasses of water. I decide on the lobster bisque for appetizer, spicy shrimp pasta for the main course and tiramisu for dessert. After a few the bisque shows up. It's full of lobster in a tasty cream sauce. Very good. The main course shortly follows. Definitely a unique dish. Spicy sauce, fresh pasta and shrimp. The sauce is very good and shrimp compliment the pasta very well. It's on the spicy side if you order it. The pasta I didn't have room for was wrapped up and I was on to the tiramisu. It had to be home made, just sweet enough to satisfy. The waiter was very attentive, food was excellent and the location is very unique for downtown Fairfax. I recommend if you need a different type of Italian restaurant . Definitely will return with family or friends. Also a location to have a rehearsal dinner if you're getting married.

The review below is in no way a reflection on our server, Mario. He was efficient and well mannered, and did his best in a bad restaurant situation. It was 545pm. We had reservation and were seated immediately. There were 3-4 other occupied tables in the entire restaurant. We got waters right away, but had to ask for the menus after about 10 minutes. First red flag. But our wine came quickly...A lady with a heavy accent who could be a manager or owner brought out the wrong food. After we told her so, she rudely continued to slam the food in front of us and walked away. At this point, we're like: WTF! By 7pm, the restaurant was packed. With 2 servers and one young lady who was the runner, they were obviously overwhelmed. While ambiance gives off the feel of an elegant romantic restaurant, the food wasn't at all spectacular to bypass the awful experience.

OK so the service is impeccable. The food was even better, OMG. We started with Prosecco and I had an Old Fashion. .lip smacking. The appetizer was caprese and my goodness it was good, combo'd with the fresh bread. OMG.My wife had the Gamberi Al Modo Mio and I had the linguini Bellissimo. My wife loved hers and the dish had 8 very large and tastey shrimp, the mushrooms were to die for..."amazing dish" in her words. My dish was even better, it was perfect! Perfectly seasoned and the mushrooms and shrimp were amazeballs! We wanted to try desert, but had no room. Next time! Thank You for the amazing service!

This place is small. The food is nothing but amazing. It is pack with flavor. The staff are extremely friendly. This place a hidden gem in downtown Fai

I ordered takeout during the Fairfax City Restaurant Week (March 6th-12th, 2023). Bellissimo actually extended the restaurant week menu to March 13th-19th, 2023 and it is the only menu items available during this promotional period where lunch is $25 and dinner is $40.I ordered the following from the dinner menu: First Course - Italian Sausage Con Fagioli, Second Course - Braised Lamb Shank, & Third Course - Dark Chocolate Mousse. Everything was well packaged for takeout and I had no fears of anything making a mess. The Italian Sausage Con Fagioli's container was serranwrapped and bagged with the container of Braised Lamb Shank before being placed a in paper bag. The Dark Chocolate Mousse was bagged separately with sliced bread before being placed a in paper bag.Everything tasted great and was cooked well. The Italian Sausage Con Fagioli didn't look as visually appealing as the rest of the courses to me since the colors of the beans and sausage seemed to blend together. I do wish the Dark Chocolate Mousse came with more slices of strawberry to balance out the richness of the mousse. Good thing I had some on my fridge! Overall, I would say the highlight for me was the Braised Lamb Shank. The lamb was tender and didn't taste to "gamey."Parking can be a challenge. Bellissimo is located in Old Town Fairfax. There is a small, nearby parking lot across the street where you can park for free. However, it is generally packed and the space is tight in terms of parking and maneuverability. If you want to park here, get ready for potential 4 to 6 point turns! Try and scope out open spots before entering the lot since turning around at the end of the row requires backing out....or a many point turn! There is also a variety of parking further away, but still walkable.

The place has an authentic feel, it's a bit small. The food is decent, the people are nice.

Excellent food, the attention was perfect! The best cannoli ever, the crab ravioli was exquisite . The tiramisu taste perfect

Went their for a special Christmas dinner with the family and was incredibly disappointed. For the holidays, they serve a three course meal, we were told we needed to order every course at the beginning, which is understandable. I gave them one star because the carrot and ginger soup was very good. The main dish (ravioli) however, was so salty, it was inedible. Yet no mention when they came to pick up the main course and they had barely been touched. Then we were told the dessert we ordered were no longer available (why did we order them at the beginning of the meal then?). And the selection was so limited that ice cream was the most tempting offer...but we passed. When I noted that they of a three course meal, one was not available and would there be any nominal discount to acknowledge the fact that one of the courses was not available. We were told that is not possible. Any way this is a cramped restaurant with spotty food and hospitality. There are lot a lot of better options in the Fairfax area.

This restaurant was very cute and I decided to try it for restaurant week. I had the crab ravioli, ceasar salad, and a canoli, all of the food was wonderful. The restaurant was very nice and it is most definitely a great place to take someone on an intimate date. The staff were very attentive and were always helpful. I do recommend this place, you'll love it. I went when it first opened on a Sunday evening.

The food is good. But not at a great price. The restaurant hasn't been updated since the 80s. I feel like walls and tables and chairs are all dinged up. They desperately need a new bathroom door because the one they have has a massive hole in the bottom. The carpet is dingy. The decoration is so sad and tacky and there's so many tables just squeezed in together that there is no privacy whatsoever. Overall, this place just has zero ambience. I wouldn't take a date here.Also, as a sidenote, one of the waiters had his receipt book tucked in the back of his pants. That's nasty man.