Raquel B.
Yelp
I don't usually write reviews and I especially don't write bad reviews, but given that I just paid $90.00 for a meal I did not really enjoy I feel a review is necessary.
I was in the mood for a nice meal at a restaurant. My partner was in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs. We had been to Bella Pasta several years ago but had no recollection of the experience so we thought to give it another try since they had spaghetti and meatballs and have generally good reviews.
We ordered. Bread was brought over with olive oil and balsamic. Bread was good. Soft and warm. I joked that it was fancy "crazy bread," but I did enjoy it .
We both got side house salads. Small plate, one slice of tomato, and spring greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. Dressing was a bit too salty for my taste but was tolerable.
Then the pasta dishes came. Good food should involve all of the senses. Smell was fine, but presentation was terrible. Both pastas looked over cooked and like a heaping mess--and not in a good way. (To give you an idea: but for the fact that mine had plenty of fish, it kind of looked like someone had taken their leftovers and replated them.)
My partner ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. It came with a pink sauce, which was unexpected but fine. The sauce itself was good, pretty rich, and pasta was fine, though slightly overcooked. The meatballs however were awful. They tasted and had the texture of Tyson frozen meatballs (think McRib artificial smoked flavor). I don't know if this was the result of cutting corners or if this was actually the intended taste, but if it's the latter they should at least warn of this flavor in the description of the entree, along with a more accurate description of the meat sauce.
I ordered the SandDabs. The fish was good and properly cooked. Zucchini and yellow squash steamed it seemed--which is fine. The pasta however was way overcooked, so much in fact that it had fallen apart when they mixed it with the sauce (a caper sauce akin to lemon picatta), so instead of angel hair, it was more like a cut fideo. As I said, it kind of looked like replated leftovers, especially because the ratio of portions was off: lots of fish (not complaining about that) little pasta and lots of capers in the sauce. The fact that the pasta was overcooked made the sauce taste overly starchy. It was also a bit on the salty side, though this could he have been because it had so many capers--which I usually would not complain about. Now, capellini is easy to overcook. I overcooked some at home not so long ago when I made some shrimp and zucchini scampi. Still, that meal was superior. Maybe it's because I expect a certain quality when I go to a restaurant, and especially when I pay close to $100 for two entrees.
I will add that my dad is a sous chef at a high end restaurant in Los Angeles, so I can have high expectations, but that is not the reason this meal was so disappointing. It just seems like whoever is in charge of the kitchen just doesn't care about what they are serving. The waiter came by and asked if everything was tasting good, and we said yes because it's not the waiter's fault and because I didn't think sending the food back was going to result in anything better.
I am giving it three stars because service was adequate, and food was still edible, though hardly enjoyable, but also because I hope that the restaurant gets its act together and lives up to its previous reputation.
No pictures because I had not intended on writing a review.
