Bella Ria’s

I drive past here on a daily basis and finally made a decision to stop in for dinner. I always heard it is a favorite spot of the local residents and knew at some point I had to try it for myself. Coincidently, as we were being seated, I saw we were next to a signed picture of Kevin Glavin, a well known opera singer. Apparently, he is a regular customer when he is in the area and the inscription on his picture read” One of Pittsburgh’s Best Kept Secrets”.
Bella Ria’s had plenty of dinner specials to choose from and the regular menu looked pretty decent as well. It was almost impossible to make a decision!
I chose the sirloin and crab cake and my friend decided on the red snapper special. Both were served with a fresh tasting salad, steamed vegetables and a mashed red potato. I like that the word homemade is used frequently. Which includes their dressings, soups and best of all… homemade desserts!
The dining room is simple yet comfortable. Our server was very attentive and she was able to keep up with her other tables without skipping a beat.
We were very pleased with our dining experience and look forward to trying the beef brisket that is made in house. In fact, it certainly wasn’t hard to figure out from the thick aroma that a batch was cooking tonight and will be tomorrows feature.
Note: Bella Ria’s does not serve alcohol.

Was recommended to come here. Very disappointed the place had an odd smell. While waiting to get a menu overheard the worker talk to a customer on the phone who was complaining. The menus were dirty. The pop tasted funny. And one of our drinks had a lemon seed in the bottom (which we did not have any drinks that had lemon). Watched stink bugs crawl up the windows which the ledges were dirty. The thing that made us get our food Togo was a worker came out into the dinning room and placed a cutting board up against the wall on a booth. That is not sanitary whether or it was going to be used or it was dirty and needed to be clean. I will not be returning to there.

I met up with a couple friends for dinner while visiting Pittsburgh and we chose this place because of the great reviews. The place is not quite what you expect as it looks more like a diner, but the food is delicious and the service is with a smile.
I was seated immediately after walking in and the place was almost full of people enjoying their meals. They have a variety of items to choose from, not just pastas, all reasonably priced. I ended up selecting one of their specials — house made baby back ribs with seasonal veggies and red skin mash potatoes — how could I say no to that?! It also came with a side salad with a housemade balsamic, and all for $ 16.50. The ribs were meaty and fall off the bone with an excellent rub.
I didn’t get a chance to try some of their desserts because I was stuffed so will have to stop by again.

I really enjoyed Bella Ria! I was skeptical at first based on the building. However, our server was attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and specials. I ordered spaghetti with meatballs and also had a salad. The salad was standard, but the spaghetti and meatballs were delicious. I really enjoyed our experience. As others said a really well done traditional Italian restaurant!

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for a little under two years and finally enjoyed food from Bella Ria’s. Located just north of Observatory Hill on Perrysville Avenue, Bella Ria’s is a family owned business serving some really great Italian eats. My boyfriend and I were in the mood for a pizza, so I placed a to-​go order by phone. I was told the wait would be approximately 30 minutes. I arrived a little earlier to find the pizza already finished and waiting for me to pick up. The interior and exterior of Bella Ria’s isn’t exactly welcoming, so if you’re looking for a fresh looking space, this isn’t it. However, they make up for their lack of décor in the food. We both really, really enjoyed the pizza. All of the ingredients, including the crust were cooked to perfection.
We’ll definitely order again from Bella Ria’s in the future and (perhaps) dine at the restaurants instead of taking out.

Love this place! Food is amazing. Very family friendly. The catering is the best around. I have used on many occasions. The chicken Marsala can not be beat!

Extraordinary friendly service from cute waitress. Food was very good. Homemade desserts. In addition to traditional Italian entrees they also had burgers, crab cakes and opened at 7 am for breakfast. Hidden gem, up until now I had been unimpressed with restaurants in the north hills.

+ corned beef hash: ⁹⁄₁₀
+ pretty good variety of toasts and cheeses
+ coffee: ⁸⁄₁₀ (possibly lavazza)
+ service: on point ¹⁰⁄₁₀
bonus: no lines! and they have a vaporwave bev fridge.

Nice local north hills eatery. Decent Food, Decent Prices, BYOB, Service is great.

Service can be a little iffy but completely understandable considering the breakfast crowd and only 2 to 3 wait staff, but so far this place has got to have one of the best breakfasts around. Get there early to get a seat

Nice Traditional Italian flavor. Loved our meal.

It’s delicious!!! This place looks like it might be a dive joint, but it’s clean with nice friendly staff, ample seating and delicious food. Now we only ate sandwiches, but my reuben sandwich was just SO good and HUGE, way too much food for one sitting. I read fellow Unilocalper reviews and thank you Unilocal,for recommending this place. I thought I should too!
Stop in Pittsburgh, DELICIOUS!!!

This place is fantastic. A true hole in the wall that serves really excellent food. I never would have guessed.
I had the eggplant: it was excellent. The desserts, the bread, etc. I’ll be coming back again without doubt.

I stopped by here last night with my fiancé for dinner. I have been by this place many times before as it sits right near the entrance to my old high school stadium where I still run quite a bit and somehow I have never though to go here. That’s probably because it really isn’t much to look at from the outside and it shares the building with a beer distributor on the other side. Anyways, I was looking at Unilocal the other day and saw someone post some good things about it and decided, man, I should probably head there. So my fiancé and I decided to walk in not really knowing what to expect. The inside is a decent looking space with 8 tables (I counted because there was one waitress) and then a counter. Its only problem being that it looks very dated, like it was probably put in about 30 years ago dated. That’s not to say it was too bad since it still looked and felt clean. Above the counter there is also a TV which had both the Pirates game and then preseason Steelers game on it while we there.
For dinner I decided to go with one of there specials for the evening and ordered the bourbon bbq bacon pork chop which came with potato pancakes and a salad. Whenever I asked if they had a vinaigrette, the server actually gave me a choice of three from which I chose the balsamic. Before our salads came to the table our waitress brought us some bread which looked to be covered in some sort of oil and covered in cheese. It was excellent as the oil had some garlic in it and the bread was a little crispy. We ended up eating it all up before our salads came and our waitress asked if we wanted some more with our dinner which we readily agreed to. Our salads weren’t bad as they had some darker looking lettuce and none of the iceberg that you normally find. They also were topped with onions, tomato and olives. The overall taste of them wasn’t too bad although I thought that my vinaigrette was a bit sweet. After we finished our salads our meals were brought out. My pork chop was thick but not very large, wrapped in bacon and had the BBQ sauce on top as promised. The potato pancakes were also on the plate as well as some carrots and broccoli which was a surprise to me since they weren’t mentioned. I will admit that I don’t like cooked carrots much so I won’t really comment on them but the broccoli was decent and tasted a little of butter. My potato pancakes were surprisingly good as they had some spices in them that made them interesting and actually made me regret getting some sour cream with them since it covered up the flavor a bit. Finally my pork chop was also pretty good. I could really taste the sweetness of the bourbon in the BBQ sauce and it went great with the saltiness of the bacon. My pork chop was also cooked pretty well although some of it was a bit dry. Overall though it was a successful meal. I have to admit that I was also very impressed with the waitress as she was waiting on seven tables at a time and never really seemed to be in the weeds. Granted everyone straggled in at different times but I still found it to be impressive.
The bottom line for me is that I would head back here again in the future. My only real complaint with Bella Ria’s is that I think we paid a little much for what we ended up getting ($ 17 for the special I think). Even so, I did enjoy my meal and know that my fiancé did as well.

The meal was good. just what we need for a Friday night. It was a little off putting when the waitress made a face when my girlfriend ordered a shirly temple. The food was good. Later our waitress started paying all her attention to a party of eight and no more for us. We had to get another server to help us end our time there. Trust me they were not very busy at the time. With so many other options in the area we don’t think we will be back.

Not much to look at but they have excellent food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Try their dinner specials. Have some of the best steaks in Pittsburgh. BYOB so bring a bottle. Everything home made, even their desserts which are very good. Very good service, good bread, large portions. They know how to cook!

So great! Must try their wings and the daily specials

Average diner food in an bland decorated building connected to a beer distributor.

This place is pretty darn good. I dont think I have ever had a bad meal there, and their desserts are fabulous! Their hours are a little wonky, and even though they say they open at 7am often they are just walking in the door to open at 7am.

I’ve had just about everything on the menu. Standouts: their breakfast sandwiches are fantastic, the soup is usually good, and the bruschetta salad is amazing. Burgers are really good too. Their dinner daily specials are almost always solid though pricey (around $ 16). The place is small, and is generally packed at dinner time.