Bella Cucina

I associate food with the individuals who make it. And I have to say that my experience with the owner Alisa Barry was less than pleasant. She should really focus on social skills instead of trying to bore us with another pesto variation. The food cannot be served if people do not buy it. People will not buy it if the owner is anything like this entrepeneur. Message to the owner: Please close down your business so another person with decent character can open their business.

I have gotten food poisoning here twice! The first time I got ill I didn’t want to blame this place. Then it happened again when I went with a friend and they also got sick, although not as ill. I will never step foot in this place again :(I like small business (especially when they support the gay community), but I just can’t do it here again.

In need of a creative date? A hands-​on mother-​daughter bonding experience? An excuse to catch up with the girlfriends? For all of those purposes (and more), I highly recommend a hands-​on class at Bella Cucina.
While I’m not likely to have a need for a $ 42 bowl made out of driftwood anytime soon, the herb pot I made, the heavy antipasti I enjoyed, and the new recipes I learned tonight for just $ 30 seemed like quite a bargain. When you take a class, you also get 20% off everything in the store that night, so if your budget does contain room for a driftwood bowl or beautifully packaged preserved lemon curd or handmade pasta, you’ll get a pretty good deal.
It was a pain in the butt to sign up for the class (phone line was down, online link not working), but the staff was responsive via email and facebook in helping me get registered. On the day of your visit, if you park on Los Angeles, you won’t have to feed a meter.
The food they served was really quite delicious, and featured items from the store (two different hot dips, a hummus, shortbread cups stuffed with tomatoes and blue cheese, a crostini topped with lemon rind, a mascarpone tort, and punch). This would be a great spot to stop to pick up a hostess gift or a unique wedding or housewarming gift. While I probably could have assembled my terracotta herb pot myself, I learned a lot about how to properly harvest herbs, so that hopefully, this pot will last longer than a month.

This place has fancy culinary gifts for fancy prices. My favorite? Bacon jam. Yes, bacon jam. You can put that shizz on everything.
They serve up little sandwiches, too, and my personal fave is the pimento cheese bacon jam panini. Mouth watering just thinking of it now…

This place is soo wonderful. Completely up my alley! I want all of the salts. Maybe next time. I snagged a sweet pumpkin pesto (LOVE everything pumpkin), Meyer Lemon sauce for desserts, and the good chamomile from Italy. I will definitely be back! Perfect for the foodie or host gift! They also have food, little yummy sandwiches and frittas. Mmm mmm amazing.

: In Which Your Panini Comes With A Free Side Of Thriving Pathogenic Bacteria, If, You Know, You Want It :
I’ve walked by this place dozens and dozens of times, but never had occasion to stop in. It’s always seemed just a little too la-​di-​da for my tastes and budget.
Recently, I was overcome with such violent hunger while shopping at the paperie next door, I contemplated eating the artichoke gift wrap I was purchasing.
Instead, I decided to finally try Bella Cucina. It was 1:30 in the afternoon and the store was empty. I perused the menu and asked the gentleman what lunch item he recommended. They were completely out of his first recommendation but in its absence, he highly suggested the roasted chicken with Meyer lemon relish panini. Perfect.
Just as I assured my vociferous innards that I was going to throw something into the empty pit to silence them, the clerk informs me he has just one roasted chicken with Meyer lemon relish sandwich left: the one on display. That’s been out since 7 am [his words]. That he could easily warm up for a second. You know, if I wanted it.
I am very appreciative of the 6 hour disco nap the chicken sandwich took on the shelf being disclosed but I was appalled that offering it to me was even a possibility. I hate to make their willingness to feed a starving a customer a grave concern, but in this instance, it is.
Bougie, organic diarrhea is the worst.

Neat place — I tried their mini pizza the other day and it was delicious and well priced. The coffee is also excellent. There is a ton of great products and hardware to purchase here as well, but mostly, I’m interested in it being a place where I can grab a quick bite and a cup of coffee. Here is where the criticism begins: I have been by there a few times as late at 10:30am and it’s not open. On a Saturday morning, it would be nice to pop in for an excellent cup of coffee and a pastry. Maybe that isn’t what they are trying to be, so I can’t fault them for it.
Their website shows they don’t open until 11am, so they are keeping their word. I will continue to explore their offerings during working hours.

I love shopping in a small business and running into the actual store owners. It really shows how much they care about the investment they’ve made, and it allows me to put a face and a personality with the place I’m patronizing. I came here to get something to bring to J’s parents – I was meeting them for the first time, and you can’t just show up empty-​handed. I knew right away I wanted the chocolate-​whatever-​whatever-​really extra chocolatey cookies, but I browsed around anyway, partially because it smelled so good in there, and also because I love cooking and I wanted to see what they had.
I heard from other reviewers the sales pressure here was heavy, but I didn’t get that sense at all. It’s possible they have changed since they first opened. There was a great selection of sauces and vinegars and honeys and pestos and salads and sandwiches, and it all looked wonderful! Plus, I love a place that has samples of whatever’s new or good, and they have everything just out for you to taste. It’s great.
The cookies were great and impressed his mom and dad. I’ll be back to see if the rest of the merchandise impresses me.

My wife loves this place and I now agree. Everything here is like a symphony for your taste buds.
We’ve been going here for years at this point. The lemon pesto with parm baked in is the app my wife and I have paired with a nice vino at home for years. You must scoop the pesto with their Pane Rustico, which is crispy thin bread baked for 5 minutes after a light coat of olive oil and salt. Very easy to prepare.
Everything here is great. We’ve purchased several gifts for family and friends which always go over well. Some have requested the same gift the following year.
Oh and they always have free samples in the store. Can’t go wrong at Bella Cucina.

Love this place. Whenever I visit the Highlands I stop in. They’ve always got delicious samples of their best foods to try. This is one of the only shops I can get my husband to willingly visit… because he gets to sample all the amazing pestos, dips, cheeses and cookies.
The foods are expensive, but they provide a great chance to serve delicious, extravagant Italian snacks at home. As gifts or as treats served for my guests, Bella Cucina always gets rave reviews.
The Lemon Artichoke pesto is amazing! (Tip: I get it cheaper at Crate and Barrel, though.)

I have never eaten such greasy food in my life. I decided to try the new place out and thought I would get a selection of items, after trying two of them (meatloaf sandwich and something that supposed to be a torte) I gave up eating any more, the grease was awful and disgusting and the food bland. I spent most of the afternoon on the toilet wishing I had not tried their food. Whether or not the food had been out too long or was completely messed up I will never know but what I do know is that I will never try their prepared foods again.
I was also dressed rather casually and was watched the whole time I was in the store, the staff were clearly snotty bitches who think their store is the bomb, I have news for you, you may be in Virginia highlands but even your staff need to learn how to treat people. They clearly want a certain type of clientele and if you don’t fit in with their idea of a patron they watch you like a hawk.
Very disappointed with this place in general and would discourage anyone from purchasing their food unless you have a day to spend on the toilet.

I think this store is overpriced and that the staff is snooty. The selection is limited although some of the items are good. But, it is pricey and a bit pretentious considering that you can get as good or better products for a lower price at many other more authentic gourmet stores or even at grocery stores. And, other stores have much more variety and more interesting products. The products here with the Bella Cucina label are, of course, not Italian — they just have an Italian name (unlike many products at other stores which actually are Italian).
The numerous free samples that are offered are fun but I think they stretch the limits of what can actually be called pesto. Not that they aren’t nice products but it’s a little bit of a pesto overload. They wrap your purchases up very nicely for you but I don’t think it’s really worth the money unless you are trying to impress someone with how nicely it’s wrapped. I bought a few things just to try them and they were good but nothing that special.
I was excited to find some (Italian) Caffarel hazelnut chocolates (little blocks) but I was very disappointed to find that they did not have Caffarel gianduia chocolates (if you are going to offer Caffarel, you really need to have gianduia).
When I went to check out and buy my pesto and Caffarel non-​gianduia chocolates, I stood in front of the counter where I had set my products for about five minutes before either of the associates behind the counter (about 3 feet away with no other customers) even acknowledged me. And, then they were not very friendly; it seemed like I was bothering them with my small purchase.
Since they have overpriced, not exciting products, and the service was not that great, I don’t think I will shop here again.

Since moving from a less-​savory place on Peachtree Street some time ago, Bella Cucina has thrived in its new Va-​Hi digs.
My previous job sold Bella Cucina in their stores, and one day they had a private tour of this cozy little store for us. We got to meet the owner, hear about her inspiration and business, then she gave us each a cookbook and signed it for us. But while she was talking with us, customers kept coming in. But she graciously excused herself from us and spoke with them, not making them feel unwelcome when they pretty much just walked in on our private event.
But I think that says a lot about someone– she takes the time to care for her customers when she isn’t somewhere promoting her line or inventing a new pesto.
But they sell a vast array of Italian– inspired foods like jarred pestos, preserved fruits, oils, crackers, pasta sauces and much more.
So instead of sticking with boring old Ragu, go to Bella Cucina and pick up some red pepper pesto and make dinner interesting tonight.

How many kinds of pesto can one store stock? More importantly, how many of them can I sample without being asked to leave?
Bella Cucina sells specialty, high end Italian sauces, pestos, coffee, and kitchen ware. The store doesn’t actually have a lot of items for sale, they’ve just managed to artfully spread the same items around in different displays and make it look like they have more on the shelves. It’s all very pretty and gourmet, but the selection is lacking. They have samples of everything available to try, but the prices are a bit steep to walk out of there with anything.