Bella Cucina

Walked by today and «Closed» signs in windows. After all these years, did my one bad review sink them? Now I’m feeling guilt.

NOT for WOMEN
Girls are treated as second class patrons
I live in the neighborhood and eat there for convenience. After an evening class at the 92^nd Street Y, me and two girlfriends dropped in for dinner at 8:20 pm. We’ve been doing this since January on Wednesday nights.
It was a little chilly and we asked to be seated at the round table in front. The maitre’d declined stating that the table was saved for parties of at least 5 or more. No problem, we were seated at one of the numerous empty tables of 4.
When our drinks arrived, 3 men were seated at that table. Since I eat there often enough, I asked the maitre’d if one of the men, was the owner or an investor? He said, ‘NO. I asked him, why they got the table, and we didn’t?.. He said, «They are MEN, maybe their wives will join them.» DUH
He insulted me and my friends twice. After our mediocre fare was served, and desserts were finished, and their wives didn’t show up (what a shocker!) We asked the maitre’d if he recognized us? We, 3 middle aged women were Wed evening regulars, and he said Yes.
I was past annoyed, as I said, «I guess you don’t want our business.»
He said nothing… Asked if we wanted our leftovers? We said there is a reason we didn’t eat the food leftover.
We left, never to return.

Large menu of fresh fish, mine was expertly prepared. An older crowd and very quiet. Food was relatively quick.
Some entrées come with a Caprese salad which is one slice on Moz., one slice of tomato — little gimmicky for my taste. Garlic bread was really good. The menu is a lot larger than you would expect, Portions are a perfectly sized.
Dessert tray is to absolutely amazing.

I stopped by Bella Cucina yesterday for a business lunch, and of course, ended up sprinting to the door 15 minutes late, because Bella Cucina is located at 87^th and Lex, on the East side… only about 30 blocks from work, no problem.
Slightly sweaty and grimy, I plunged into my seat with a dazzling smile ear to ear. Apologizing profusely, I ordered off of the «tramezzini», menu, which basically means sandwich. The eggplant parmigiana sounded good, but more importantly, quick! It turned out to be very good — nice and crispy and breaded… and I do love eggplant.
My date ordered the linguini carbonara, which would have been a disaster for me, of course, because pasta knocks me out cold, especially in the middle of the day. This appeared to be lighter than I expected, however.
The service was fine, and the day was nice, so no complaints.

Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, but this food was not good. I had the penne all vodka with chicken. The chicken was dry and the vodka sauce did not taste like vodka sauce — really sweet and tasted a little funky. Also tried the linguini with calamari. The red sauce tasted like it came from a jar and the calamari did not taste fresh. Worst Italian food I’ve had in a long time. The portions are large, but that doesn’t make up for the taste. On the other hand, the caesar salad was pretty delicious with really fresh, homemade dressing. It’s a cute place and nice atmosphere for a date, but they need to step up their sauces, meats and seafood. I’d come back for the salad and bread, but that’s about it.

What the heck? How could this place not get four stars or higher, especially compared to all the other b.s. in the surrounding area? I’d give this place 4.5 stars if I could, and the only reason it’s not a 5 is because the food didn’t blow my mind or anything, but it was just damn good.
Admittedly I passed this place by at least a hundred times before because it looked like another Bistro for plain pasta dishes at $ 22.95. But desperation (I repeat, this is the Upper East Side) led me to the window and a humbly presented menu of lunch specials that actually seemed incredible. I was torn between the $ 8.95 fresh fried fish filet sandwich with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and fries and the $ 9.95 burger, or even the $ 12.95 pasta plates.
A smiling hostess greeted me, then a quiet server with extremely kind eyes led me into a sunny glassed in area that I shared only with a pair of grandparents and their lucky grandson. Here, I ordered the fish sandwich and enjoyed an ice water and a bottomless cup of $ 2.00 coffee with huge helpings of sugar and cream (I was in a weird mood) while people watching with impunity.
The nostalgic Italianesque piano music made everything and everyone outside seem like a part of a romantic montage of New York as it exists some people’s imaginations. A tripped out bum weaving through the crowds, a trust fund baby with greasy hair but an Ibanez guitar on her back, 19 year olds dressed like hookers with large Urban Outfitters bags, yuppies taking up the whole sidewalk with themselves and their child in a stroller, mismatched couples… it all looked mellow from the bright white linen covered table where I was sitting.
The sandwich came out on a soft bun doublesided with American cheese, which was the perfect companion to the hot, crisp fish. There was so much of the meat that I peeled off one half and ate it separately. The fries were irregularly shaped and sized and still had their flavorful skins on. I heard the grandmother in front of me saying, «These are the BEST FRIES that I have had in my life!» They left while I was still making out with my sandwich, and we all smiled at each other.
The coffee refiller came by and replenished my coffee until I clutched my heart and told him I was all set. My server returned right when I was ready for the check. I guess the prices had included tax in them, and my total tab was $ 10.95. This, paired with the voice of a child from the seating area inside asking his dad «what are tomatoes made of?» made me so inexplicably happy that I slapped down $ 15 and walked out whistling. And this was on a morning that was kind of shitty because of something horrendous I’d found out the day before.
Not only will I probably become a regular at this place, I almost wish I could have children just to bring them here and give them special memories about how New York City isn’t, but ought to be.

I’ve been to Bella Cucina about 5 times since I moved to the neighborhood, and it is generally decent Italian food. A bit expensive for the quality, but the pasta dishes are at least very large, plenty for two meals. You also always get garlic bread with plenty of butter and lots of fresh garlic.
My favorite pasta dish is the capellini primavera. It’s a great vegetarian option with lots of fresh veggies. I also like the penne alla vodka (which I got with chicken) and the penne al forno. I did not like the penne bolognese at all. The meat just seemed dry and the sauce was not very flavorful.
Overall a good option if you’re in the neighborhood, but don’t go out of your way to come here.

Dropped by for a quick lunch, and I must say this place isn’t as bad as our fellow Unilocalers make it out to be. Once you first enter, you might feel that it’s a little too dark and dreary for a restaurant, however, they have their own little sun-​room extension, which definitely adds a little cheeriness to the ambiance.
The aforementioned quick lunch entailed an order of fish and chips and a Greek salad. Okay. Fine. Maybe fish and chips wasn’t the best thing to order from an Italian restaurant, but honestly it wasn’t bad. The fish was just crispy enough and the fries were golden and not too greasy. On top of that, it came with a side of tasty buttered garlic bread. As for the salad, a mix of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese makes for a very lively salad, especially with a faint splash of vinaigrette.
Looking to dine in a place with a bit of class? Next time you’re in the area, you should check Bella Cucina out.

This place is so boring I almost fell asleep. Everything is drab; the food, the décor, the service, the patrons. I had some lobster fettucine; it wasn’t terrible but it didn’t really taste like lobster. The garden salad is evocative of the salad bar at Pizza Hut. The food took it’s time to come out. I wouldn’t say it was a notably bad experience but with the massive amount of dining options available I see no reason whatsoever to come to Bella Cucina.

I’m with Allison G.: I don’t understand why people bash this place… although I’m sad to say that my last visit brought me to an understanding of why people have commented on decline of quality.
I’ve been to Bella Cucina many times over the past year. I’ve loved it each time! I was skeptical at first due to the «neighborhood reviewers». But I took a chance and am SO glad that I did!
My first experience at BC was a Sunday lunch with a friend. I almost ordered an appetizer because of other reviewers saying the portions have become too small. I’m so glad I didn’t! I ordered a small lentil soup (very good… heavy on the onions) and Rotini with ground beef & a tomato cream sauce (both from the daily specials list). I received perfection! The sauce had JUST enough cream to coat the pasta & flavor the dish yet not be cloying. Every fork-​full had ground beef and chunks of tomatoes on it. My dining companion had their Lasagna, which was equally amazing (and the same dish she orders every time we dine here — she doesn’t even look at the menu any more! :-).
For dessert I had a decadent dish with a cheesecake base surrounded in milk chocolate and accentuated with dark chocolate mousse (pictured in the photo section). It was exquisite AND well-​plated! My dining companion had the traditional cheesecake, which was rich and smooth yet (again) not cloying. We tried their vanilla bean ice cream, which was of a very high-​quality.
I was starved and ate my entire meal (which I regretted later because I was beyond stuffed!). My dining companion took half of each course home. Our bill was under $ 50 on the UES for the equivalent of two meals for each of us!
I was so pleased I took two business associates back the next day for dinner. We shared two bottles of Pinot Grigio, one associate had the Salmon Puttanesca special (with Marinara Risotto), the other had the Eggplant Parmesan, and I had the Cappellini alla Pesce (which was so good that I now walk in and check the special list just to be sure… but always order this same dish!).
We were all beyond pleased with our dining experience and all (except eggplant) had leftovers. And I must add that I’ve rarely had such a GENEROUS amount and variation of seafood in any seafood pasta dish I’ve ordered… and I’ve spent years traveling internationally on business. All this for a mere $ 114 on the UES WITH leftovers!
Our servers on both ocassions were magnificent! I give special kudos to our Monday evening server, seeing as we arrived shortly before closing yet were given every bit of the professional service you’d expect for a Saturday evening outing. My ONLY nit-​picky observation was that the bus servers became like circling vultures when we were reaching the end of both meals. But, to their credit, this never came across as them trying to rush our meal; they just seemed very dedicated to keeping our table clear and presentable… and there were no other customers to attend.
In regards to service going downhill, I can’t imagine! I’ve always been given impeccable service. The only thing I’ve ever been unhappy about was a $ 3 charge on my bill during my last visit, which I’d never been charged before.
As I mentioned, I always order the cappellini alla pesce and ask for a touch of cream to be added to the sauce. They always do this for me without charge. Now there was an exorbitant charge (one expects a $ 3 charge to add meat or even vegetable to a dish; not for dairy!).
Since my dining companion and I were in a rush to make a movie… and because she was treating me to the movie… and because we were given my favorite server, I didn’t make a point of this charge. Next time, I will. I can buy a pint of heavy cream for less than $ 3. I refuse to pay that much for a splash.
My dining companion also complained that the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream wasn’t as good as the first time she had it at BC. She said it had that «back of the freezer» taste ice cream gets when it has sat in the freezer past its prime. But still it wasn’t enough to keep her from claiming BC as «our place» and making plans for our next visit :-)
So maybe the long term BC vets have seen more of this kind of thing and are continually disappointed. But I haven’t seen enough to stop giving them business or to have my overall experience diminished. So this new regular still recommends BC for an all around memorable and affordable UES experience!

The food was really good and the service was pretty good. The table me and my girlfriend .sat at was exceptionally small. I would eat here again

My wife and I dined here last night, arriving at 6pm. We were immediately seated in the atrium area, which was a nice, air conditioned respite from the humidity which still allowed us to people watch while we ate.
I chose my meal off of the early bird menu (which ends at 6:30pm). For $ 16.95, I had a beverage, ceasar salad, and lasagna. My wife had the penne bolognese.
The food tasted good, and came with garlic bread. The service was fine. Our bill came to $ 44 before tip.
Is this the best eatery in the city? No. Worst? No. But it was adequate and I would return here again.

I’m sort of surprised to read some of the lackluster reviews of this place. My husband and I had a nice dinner there. I had the lobster ravioli which was really wonderful. The ravioli had as much meat as if I would have ordered a whole lobster on it’s own. The sauce was delicious and it was overall very satisfying. The price for that dish was about $ 22, which is okay by me, but some might find it a bit high.
My husband had a small pizza which was very big and quite tasty. I think it was around $ 13 – 15. It was large enough that he had to take some home with him to finish.
The service was decent but nothing to write home about. Overall, I would recommend the place and I would eat there again if I were in the neighborhood.

I went here for lunch with my mom and thought it was pretty decent. We both both a lunch special, which included a drink and a salad. I got the penne pesto and thought it was a decent portion. It also wasn’t creamy, which I personally appreciated. My mom got the capellini with tomato sauce. She didn’t like it, but honestly it wasn’t her fault. They said tomato sauce but it was a primavera. The dish was probably 50 percent vegetables, and she has a strong dislike for bell peppers, and those seemed to dominate the dish. So don’t order the tomato sauce unless you want a big heaping portion of mushrooms, bell peppers, and peas.
They also gave us garlic bread as part of the meal, and that was really good! Overall we were able to get out of there for not a lot of money and had enough leftover to feed us for dinner. So it was a good deal.

Had lunch here this weekend. We just needed a quick bite … quick it was not. Service was very slow and we had a different server for every part of our meal. Service was uninterested and extremely slow. The menu was somewhat costly — $ 18 for lunch serving of pasta. Food was decent though and portions were big. I would stop in if I needed an afternoon bite and I was directly in front of the restaurant. Otherwise, there’s other options…

On a bitterly cold evening, looking for a place to duck out of the cold. Bella Cucina happened to be the closest place. Not bad, not great, but a warm dining room to get out of the cold. Had a bowl of soup, split pea, quite good, especially on a cold evening. The bread was awful, perhaps from the good people at Wonder. I had garlic chicken; it was okay but nothing out of the ordinary.
Bella Cucina accomplished what is was intended to do over our visit… warm us up before heading back out into the wind blown night. Won’t search it out when I am in the ‘hood

Good lunch special.
$ 12.50 for tea, coffee, or soda /​soup or salad /​couple different pastas
I had a nice balsamic chopped salad and pasta arrabiata (lots of garlic, the way I like it). My friend and I also split some garlic bread.
For lunch I ate well.

Dirty kitchen, rude servers, and bad food are some accurate descriptions of this place. My friend and I were walking back in the freezing cold from the Guggenheim, when we passed by this place and decided to have dinner. Bad idea.
We ordered pizza which was tasteless and bland, and calamari which was mediocre and greasy. How can an Italian place not make calamari properly? However, the meal continued to get worse. After eating a few pieces, I see a long, black curly hair entwined in the breading of the calamari! Then we look carefully and find a second hair in another piece!
We tell our server who responds, «that is really unusual» and leaves. When we ask him again, he says, «that is not possible for hair to be in the food because it would have been fried off.»
At this point I don’t know if I was more amazed at the rudeness of the server, or that a place was so dirty they managed to get two pieces of hair in the same dish.
So the moral of the story is… check reviews before you eat at new places! (We checked after our horrible dining disaster and saw that this place had only 2 stars.)

Standard fare and traditional Italian food; a lady friend and I wandered over here after the lovely museum mile walk. We were seated in a cool area with lots of windows, so it was like dining outside yet not. This place didn’t wow me — it was quick and just nice. After walking around looking for somewhere to eat on the fly, I came here.
The food is average and what I expected — nothing amazing or out of the ordinary. In essence, not bad, but don’t expect your taste buds to melt with enthusiasm. (I had lasagna, which was good, but nothing earth shattering).
Some negatives:
— Wine is by the bottle only. Okay.
— Gratuities cannot be left on a credit card. Um.
— Small menu/​not many options.
— Teeny tiny bathrooms (hello converted closet).

The only good thing about this place was a glass of tasty Montepulciano for only $ 5. Service was mediocre, as was the food. Plus a soda will cost you $ 2.50 and they don’t do re-​fills. The food prices were reasonable. until you tasted the food.
A friend and I split the Penne Al Forno and the Chicken Parm. The chicken parm was all right … very standard. Just a breaded chicken breast, not tenderized, nothing special about the breading. The pasta was all right, the sauce was un-​inspired. The fried mozzarella appetizer was tasty, but my house salad was disgustingly flooded with dressing.
Also – they won’t take gratuities on credit cards.
I would not go back, not worth it.