AMO La Bella New York

From the outside Amo La Bella looks like it is no longer in business. It’s located in an alley and the sign is beyond faded. But, if you step inside you’ll find one of downtown Albany’s treasures.
The décor is dated and gives off a 1980s vibe. There is a big wrap around bar and on the back wall there is a huge heart shaped mirror that looks like it lights up. All of this comes together in a way that is really charming.
I ordered a red sauce based pasta dish, a side salad with house balsalmic dressing and meatballs.
The salad and dressing was good, but nothing unique.
The meatballs were flavorful and about the size of a racquetball ball. You get two with a side order.
The pasta was cooked perfectly and the red sauce while not outstanding is better than what you’d buy in the grocery store.
This was our first time here, but a lot of the people coming in were regulars whom the waiters/​waitresses and chef knew by name. That’s a rare experience to see these days, so I took that as a good sign for the quality of the items I didn’t get to try and the consistency of the service.
Overall, Amo La Bella delivers solid Italian Food in an above average atmosphere.

My husband and I tried Amo La Bella about two weeks ago and we were not impressed at all. We ordered over the phone and planned to pick up the food. To my surprise, the person who answered the phone had no idea what was on the menu– in fact she couldn’t pronounce anything that was on it and asked me to describe in English what the explanation of the dish was… We picked up our food and it was just sub par. The pasta was overcooked. The sauce just tasted like tomatoes that were crushed. The chicken and overall dish had zero flavor. In fact we ended up eating a few bites because we were starving and then tossing the rest. It was about 40 bucks for two dishes which honestly was a huge waste of money. We will never try to eat here again.

I hadn’t been here in years since I don’t work downtown any longer. I always ordered the shrimp fra diavlo for lunch. I went here recently and of course ordered it. It was soooo damn good. Just as I remembered. I had it with angel hair pasta. It’s just the right spicy and the portions are a nice lunch size. Side of warm fresh Italian bread, yum. This place has the best food. My friend ordered the chicken parm. Out of this world! I have to go back real soon! Years away is just too long!

Long wait but worth it. For lunch we had to wait 40 minutes and then was satisfied with the results. We work near by and go there once every couple of months or so. Not sure if they had a new chef or if maybe they gave us more food then normal because of the wait but it was good. I ordered the eggplant parm and the portions was bigger than I use to normally get. My friends both had veal parm and that was also larger than normal and they were happy with it. The waitress was sorry for the wait and very quick serving and getting the food to us.

Found this when we parked in town early for a Siena game and we will definitely be back! We were a little unsure based on the appearance of the place but knew we found something good as soon as we entered and the place was packed.
We had veal parmigiana, chicken parmigiana, and lasagna. They were all delicious. The sauce was very flavorful a small meaty. The lasagna was super cheesy, which I love!

Food is fresh, authentic italian. Delicious and I definitely recommend going here for lunch. I would recommend calling ahead your order as they are very busy during lunch.

Amazing evertime. I always order the chicken Sorento. They egg batter the eggplant instead of breading. It makes it a lot less greasy. The owner Sal always comes out and greets the tables. A real class act old school italian.

I came up to Albany just for a night (see my other two reviews), and ended up coming here for lunch.
The food was decent. I think they’re best at making good, basic pasta dishes. I ordered the eggplant parmesan, which was probably a mistake. The eggplant was clearly re-​heated, grey, floppy, and just kind of not appealing. I left probably ¾ of it on the plate. But the sauce and the pasta were super yummy. I would suggest not going for the foods that are easy to reheat, but sticking to what they can/​are willing to do well in their kitchen, which seems to be their pastas and some of the simpler but good dishes. Service was fine.

Great, if uninspired service, good solid Italian food. Plentiful portions with fair prices. My chicken Marsala was not very tasty, but is was fresh and plentiful. Jayne got the caccitore which I am guessing was about the same. The place filled up really fast on a recent Friday night and we were lucky to get our order in on time. I must say, the food came out quick and hot. They happily accepted my entertainment coupon even know there was some sort of basketball event at the Times Union center. The owner (or chef) is a cool, friendly guy and he once moved his car so I could fit my motorcycle in the small parking lot.

We were in Albany looking for a good Italian restaurant. After much searching we landed at AMO and are we glad we did. It’s worth the difficulty finding it. Fabulous lasagna and manicotti. Only the overly breaded eggplant parm was disappointing. (And of course the salad, though at least it was romaine and not ice berg lettuce). Great waitress, both personable and efficient. All in all a restaurant worthy of a visit.

I have yet to try this place yet but i will soon! I’ve seen it a few times and like Michelle B. mentioned it always seemed closed or even shut down. I ran a cross a blog the mentioned it historic in Albany lore. Anywho… I called to be sure of the hours… Monday to Friday they close at 2PM, Sat and Sun open 5PM close 9PM. I hope that helps. Hope i dont need to change the rating.

Definitely one of my favorite places to go for Italian food in the Albany area. Big portions and reasonably priced (they do accept the Entertainment card for BOGO as well). Definitely best to go on evenings when nothing is happening at the Times Union Center so you can have the full menu offering and better service.

The service was great and the food came our very quickly. A group of us stopped for dinner before a Siena basketball game. With an «event» the menu was limited. I ordered the veal parm. It was ok but lots of breading. The cheese was fresh but overall the meal was forgettable. It was convenient being so close to the arena but I would not go out of my way to visit.

Amo La Bella is well worth a visit… You’ll just have to excuse the restaurant’s location, a few blocks off the beaten path of South Pearl St. and positioned on a moderately desolate street (except for when there’s an event at the TU Center), situated amongst boarded-​up buildings. Not to mention the restaurant’s outdated décor.
Amo La Bella is a popular stop for business lunch and dinner, and for patrons of the aforementioned TU shows. It offers a rather extensive menu, including many tasty traditional Italian dishes, a clean interior, friendly staff, fast service, decent portions and very reasonable prices. The hours seem odd (I work nearby and pass it often), as I’ve noticed they aren’t always open at dinnertime, so you may want to call first.
If they hired a decorator and /​or transported it to a happier place, I’d probably pump it up one star. Try it!

I have only been here for lunch, so I can’t comment on their dinner service, but the food was great. It was reasonably priced for a sit down lunch in downtown albany (~50 for 4 people)
I really like the sauce they use, and their service is great. I can get there, order food, eat and get out in about a ½ hour (sometimes a bit longer)
Not much to look at from the outside, and even the inside has older ‘grandma’ type feel to it, but the best places to eat are often misleading.

Good authentic Italian food at a great price. Romano’s In Clifton Park used to be that place. Sadly that place is no more. Amo La Bella is located right next to the Knickerbocker Arena, Key Arena, Pepsi Arena, Times Union Center, Tampax Dome, whatever its called now. It’s one of those places that you would never know existed unless someone took you there, which is exactly what my friend did. Inside you can tell the décor has not been updated since the early 80s, but hey I came for the Ono Kine Grindz brah. It could probably fit around 30 people at most. We came for lunch and there was 2 people in the whole place. The lunch menu was so cheap. 7 – 9 bucks for most entrees. Cute waitress asked for our orders and I got the veal sorrento with cavatelli. 10 minutes later I was in heaven. Luciano Pavarotti started singing in my head. Great gravy and the veal/​eggplant combination was mesmerizing. I was full but kept eating till there wasn’t a bite left. By the time we had finished our meal, there wasn’t a seat left in the place. Truly a great find.