Ciao Bella Pizza

I wish more than anything Ciao Bella Pizza was in Houston! I miss this delicious Italian place. After living in Niceville for about 5 years, I can confidently say this is the best locally owned Italian restaurant in the area! The pizza is so delicious with a crispy, flakey crust. They also have the best fries and chicken tenders in the entire planet. I’ve yet to try anything that compares! I have the most fond memories of me and my family spending summer nights on the porch of Ciao Bella. Great business and friendly staff. Definitely check them out if you have the chance!

I have lived in Bluewater for a couple years and finally decided to try Ciao Bella. I was skeptical given the reviews and I was right. We ordered the chicken marsala and the chicken picatta and both were extremely bland. We stopped eating about a third of the way through and took the leftover dishes home to use our own sauces. On top of that, they never provided bread even though we ordered dinner portions. These weren’t worth $ 10, much less $ 30.

We have been here a couple of times now and disappointed each time. For the meal prices I expect better quality food and better service. When you come in on a Thursday night and they point you haphazardly to find your own seat and then feel like you are inconveniencing everyone by being there it makes for an unpleasant experience. The pizza was ok but nothing great and the pasta was under cooked and bland. Not a place we will likely visit again.

Let me tell you what. Food is great, owner is nice but… BUT there is a guy bartender and his sister who work at the Bela Blue bar that are the absolute worse. Let me set the scene. We show up at 12 pm and I order 2 beers and a margerita. The bartender is so drunk he can’t remember what type of beer I ordered and has to ask me multiple times. He acts like Tom Cruise while making the worst margerita in the history of margeritas. The bartender then sees an acquaintance and tries to hand shack/​awkward high five him and proceeds to hit my full beer and spill it all over me. Never says sorry. Ends up giving me bill shortly after which includes said spilt beer on it. He charges me for the beer he spilt on me. As a joke, I give a -$ 10.00 tip which he takes as a major insult and threatens to fight and call the cops on me. I explain to the owner what happened and he profusely apologizes which I appreciate. Then a waitress starts walking around our table handing out checks telling us to. get out (with owner sitting next to me telling me to stay)…I’m still soaked in beer btw. We refuse to leave as drunk bartender tries to fight me and my party and the waitress who turns out to be his sister is calling my party names (loves the c word and yells it across bar multiple times). Anyway we left and do not plan on ever going back unless that brother and sister combo are fired. Shoutout to the owner for being nice though he should have been more managerial and taken control. Catlin and Kenny were great and kept things from getting worse. They are lucky to have them. Anyway, go to bar at your own risk.

Meh, was very disappointed in a pizza I got from there. I got the Deep Pan alla Sicilaina (for a whopping $ 20.95 (14″)). Here are the toppings for said pizza: black olives, green olives, fresh basil, artichokes, spinach, prosciutto, gorgonzola cheese, red peppers, shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce. The olives and artichokes were canned and were thus overly salty and not very flavorful — which is fine but for the price I was expecting/​hoping for something a little fancier. Calling what came on the pizza «prosciutto» is an affront to Italians everywhere… a more apt term would have been «chunks of ham» or perhaps «rectangles of Canadian bacon». The red bell peppers and spinach were actually fresh… which was nice. Didn’t see or taste any «fresh basil» but maybe it was on there. The dough/​crust wasn’t too bad actually… probably the best part. I won’t be going back though…$ 21 is a rip-​off.

No booths, just tables, kinda dirty — food under our table. Tables sticky. No tablecloths. The atmosphere is non exist with Mexican music playing in this Italian restaurant. Service quite good but the food is just so so.

We ordered a couple pizzas for a nice slow Sunday evening. There are only limited choices for pizza in the Niceville area, but thought this place looked good. We had one medium cheese pizza and a large Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom for takeout. The pickup went fine and I got out of there with a bill for $ 30.42. Once I got home I rounded up the family and opened the boxes to find two very unimpressive, undercooked-​looking pizzas (check out the photo). Maybe the taste will be better than the appearance? Nope. I’m not sure how these circular objects pass for pizza in this area, but it was borderline offensive. When a frozen DiGiorno tastes infinitely better than what I was just served, there is a problem. Even a frozen Tombstone pizza has these guys licked. If I wasn’t so tired I’d go back and ask for my money back, but the young kids behind the register probably wouldn’t know what to do. Maybe their other non-​pizza dishes are better, but I’ll never know.

Pizza was mediocre at best. Our supreme pizza was horribly salty and for the quality of the food, it’s way overpriced. We have given this place several tries, but it has consistently fallen short with the quality of its food.

Absolutely horrible pizza. I ordered the deep pan alla sicilaina and was left extremely disappointed. The food is overpriced too. I haven’t tried anything other than their pizzas but won’t bother since their pizza left a rather displeasing aftertaste in my mouth.

Never disappointed whenever we eat here. I like the pizza, calzone and ravioli dishes. The service has always been friendly and efficient. The price is worth it since the food is flavorful. It is a small place but have never had to wait for a table, i think they do a lot of take-​out too. I would eat here more if it wouldn’t fatten me up! The only knock is the pizza crust isn’t exactly how I like it but it is good.

Listen if you’re in the Niceville area, Ciao Bella is a fantastic little hole in the wall you’ll find in this area, I went out last night on a date with my husband and we sat out on the patio, the weather was absolutely fantastic, the music was great and while we were sitting there my husband noticed a sign on the window, ‘gluten-​free pizza’.
My options in the Niceville area are extremely limited!
Normally, I order their Greek salad because it is fantastic every time, it’s a safe food for me to eat, having food allergies.
So I ordered their gluten-​free pizza and I got the toppings I wanted, the waitress was extremely nice and I can tell you honestly, it was the best gluten-​free pizza I have had since I was diagnosed 4 years ago.
If you haven’t been to Ciao Bellas yet, it’s a great place to go to in this area!

Best Gluten Free Pizza ever. Finding Gluten Free food out that is safe has proven to be challenging but Ciao Bella delivered. The Pizza crust was chewy and crispy on the outside… far and away the best pizza crust I have eaten out to date. The topping choices were amazing… I did have the grilled eggplant on mine… it was sooo yummy… the servers and staff were helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. I will be back… excellent resturant. I truly highly recommend it for anyone needing to be Gluten Free.

Ive been going here for years… the food is consistently good, the servers are on it and the atomosphere is pleasing. Overall this is a good pick either for eat in or take away. Personal fav for me is the tortellini with chicken and gorgonzola. Bread and dipping oil is good. Other half loves the eggplant parm.

Decent food and portions. Although the extra costs for salads and seasoned oil for dripping your bread seems a bit much. It’s convenient for where I live but there are better in town.

We eat here regularly. They have good food and friendly, attentive service. you can’t really go wrong with any dish but the pizza is fabulous!

Underwhelming with funny rules.
Come on. You get a sales pitch straight away outlining the dollar fifty upgrade for garlic dipping oil with your free bread and the extra cost of a side salad that’s normally free with any entrée Any Italian Restaurant USA.
I say, everyone was very nice but just as soon as other customers came in our service dropped and we were soon forgotten. Except for the check, of course. No refills were offered.
Prices on the high side, quality on the low side.

Was very skeptical to eat here because I saw how steeply the ratings for this place fell in the last couple years. I came with a large group and I was probably the only one who left satisfied. The best thing I heard uttered during the meal was «this chicken would be good… if it were cooked.»
The first batch of bread came out incredibly stale. I like to think I have strong teeth but I’ll probably need to get them realigned after this bread. The second batch was much better (I’m guessing the first was just the bottom of the barrel), probably the best bread I’ve had in the Niceville area, so I’ll give them that.
For my main, I ordered the 14″ Calzone. Huge and extremely fresh for the price ~$ 14.
This place is a real hit or miss. The people are genuinely pleasant, the bread is amazing if you can get it fresh and the food is good for the price as long as it’s made in oven.

This pizza was not good. I was convinced by previous reviews to go and was quite displeased. Our table got the meat lovers pizza and supreme and both were bad. We also ordered the grilled calamari and I was considering sending it back because it smelled so fishy like it was old and was over cooked and extra chewy.
The service was fine.

Years ago this place was fantastic! Not so much anymore… I stopped coming here after I noticed a decline in the quality of food and service. Tonight I decided to give it another try. Let’s face it, there are few choices in Niceville.
Wish I could report something good however this place needs a facelift. The service wasn’t poor but not good either, our server was wearing flip flops… really?
The food was mediocre at best. My Fettucine Alfredo was spaghetti noodles and the alfredo was bland. Bread is a complimentary starter yet if you want oil with garlic to dip it in you will pay another $ 1.50-what? It does come with butter but it is so cold it doesn’t melt.
All in all it seems as though the owners have become complacent. If they would fall in love with the business again maybe they could thrive in a town that will support them.

Only had the Calzone here, but it was incredible! Really delicious sauce, and the crust was perfect. Nice cozy place with good service, and reasonable prices.