Nonito C.
Yelp
This is where you should go if you are looking for authentic Italian food. Surrounded by the hip vintage stores and flea markets inside the trendy and hipster Cubao Expo, this institution has been around for quite some time. From the outside, this restaurant is very inviting, as it has colorful murals of scenes in faraway Italian coast towns. Coming into the store is also quite a treat, and you are greeted with quintessential trattoria decor elements such as frescos and bottles of wine lining on a shelf. However, the magic stops there.
I would like to think that the present Bellini's is a shadow of what it used to before. I could just imagine people going there on romantic dates because the place is pretty gorgeous, especially when they dim the lights, but the food is seriously in such a sorry state. I went there twice and vowed to never come back unless I hear stories about how they improved the menu. For the price, you cannot help but feel ripped off. The food doesn't taste remotely fresh, and everything feels as if it was made off-site and reheated in the restaurant. Everything was bland, the pasta watery, the pizza too tough and the wine too flat and aired out. Too bad the place has a great reputation, but somehow, quality is just not up to standard.
The only thing interesting about this place these days is that it still has the table where John Lloyd, Bea and friends ate in the movie, One More Chance. You could sit on the long table and see the names in the back of the chairs where the actors and actresses in the cast sat down during one of the pivotal scenes in the mo