Review: Bella Luna

Not long ago, I purchased a coupon through YoDeal toward Bella Luna on Eastern Ave.  Sounds familiar since I just recently blogged about Terry's Turf Club which is right next door, but just a coincidence.  My husband and I decided to go on a random Thursday night that I didn't feel like cooking.  My husband never cooks, so it's always up to me, but this night I didn't feel like it at all.  Sooo, we decided to try Bella Luna.

We had been to Bella Luna once before, but it was about three years ago, and I didn't remember a whole lot about it.  I had heard many mixed reviews about the restaurant through friends and other reviews I've read online.  I did remember that they had won some awards at the Taste of Cincinnati this year, which after Googling it, I recalled they were The Best Damn Dish for their prime rib cannelloni and Best Seafood Entree for their Lobster Ravioli.  I remember having tried the ravioli at the Taste and thinking it was just okay...but I don't think it's fair to judge at a festival setting.  (We wanted to try the cannelloni at the Taste, but was sold out when we got there).

Well, Ross and I went in with no expectations.  We arrived around 6:00 or so.  The hostess initially asked us if we had a reservation, which we didn't, and she stated that we would either have a 30 minute wait or have to sit in the bar area.  We were a bit hesitant about sitting in the bar area and stated that we would maybe just grab a drink a wait, and then the hostess suddenly said there was a table open.  She led us into the dining room which had rows of booths along the walls with tables down the center.  I have to state that there were hardly any tables occupied.  I would have understood if maybe people had shown up throughout our dinner and taken the tables, but they didn't.  I just found it odd that the hostess would tell us there was going to be a 30 minute wait when there were PLENTY of tables open.  This is just a pet peeve of mine.

We were warmly greeted by our server who told us about the nightly specials and also informed us that bottles of wine were half off this night.  This got us excited, until I showed her my coupon and she said that we could either use the coupon OR take half off a bottle of wine.  Another pet peeve of mine.  I DID pay for the coupon, and I just feel like the restaurant should honor it as money/gift certificate.  BUT, that aside, we still ordered a bottle of wine with intentions of using our coupon ( I wasn't sure I would want to come back yet at this point).  I have to also just say, I thought the prices of wine were a bit high.  I am not a professional wine connoisseur, but I just felt like there could have been more selection in prices.  The wine we ended up getting was just okay.

We perused the menus for awhile asking the server what she suggested and giving some of her favorite items. She highly recommended the prime rib cannelloni as an appetizer, which contemplated getting for about 10 minutes, but we opted not to.  We thought we were getting plenty of food since entrees came with bread and a salad.

The entrees are served with a house salad which is a spring mix lettuce with tomatoes, mozzarella, and a house dressing.  I wasn't impressed with this salad at all.  It felt like the lettuce came from a bag without any other prep.  I recently just had a discussion with my mom about how the lettuce really makes a salad, and this just did not measure up.

The bread that was served with the meal was really good.  It was a bit different from other breads I have had before in the fact that it reminded me of cornbread on the inside with how it was a bit crumbly, and soft.  It was served with  balsamic vinegar and oil for dipping, which I liked.

It took me awhile to decide what to get (what else is new) but I finally decided to get the smoked chicken ravioli with mushrooms and a mushroom type sauce which was topped with shaved parmesan. (I'm sorry, I really don't remember everything that was in this).

I thought this was fantastic!  I really loved it.  It was unlike any other ravioli dish I had before.  The filling was warm and flavorful and I loved the sauce that came with it; it was just rich enough without being too decadent.   Ross tried mine and he also agreed that it was great.  He typically will never admit that he liked mine more than his, but this one he did.

Ross went with the baked manicotti which is stuffed with ricotta covered in marinara.  We both thought this was just okay.  It really didn't seem that special to me at all, it was something that I could have made at home--but I did think the sauce was a nice.  It was a bit sweet with small chunks of tomato and not something I could make at home :)

So my opinion of Bella Luna is pretty mixed.  I thought my dish was fantastic and I would definitely go back to order that again.  However everything else was pretty disappointing.  The salad was nothing to write home about, the bread was good but not necessarily memorable, and Ross' dish was pretty much just a standard manicotti dish.  I felt like the service was good--again nothing special.  I noticed that the owner went around to many of the tables and asked how their meals were going, which is nice.  Overall, I just felt like most of it was over-priced.  Both our dishes were around $20 and the bottle of wine was around $34.  I just feel like paying that much for Italian should really stand out.  So, will I go back?  Possibly!  But, probably not in a hurry any time soon.

~Kate

Food: 4 (mine)  2 (everything else)
Service: 3
Overall Experience: 3

Adventures at the Taste!

Kate, her husband and I decided to go to the Taste of Cincinnati last Monday for lunch. I'd been out of town all weekend, so I was excited to find time to squeeze in this annual tradition. I love going to the Taste because it's such a great and inexpensive (usually about $3-$5 per dish) opportunity to try out new restaurants as well as try new dishes from restaurants you've already had.

We went in with a few things on our "wish list" and added to it as we went along. We were all famished when we got there, so we decided to start with crab rangoons from Thai Taste, which is located in the Cheviot/Westwood area. These were okay - I mean it's hard to mess up anything fried with cream cheese in it - but I have definitely had better (from Bangkok Bistro in particular which Kate blogged about here). There was hardly any crab in them, and the bottoms were a little soggy from sitting in the sweet and sour sauce for too long. Hopefully they serve the sauce on the side at the actual restaurant because it really took away from the yummy, crunchy appetizer.

Next we tried a potato cake from Izzy's. We were torn on whether we should get the reuben or the potato cake - both are pretty legendary around the Cincinnati area. We agreed on a potato cake, which was probably a good call since a reuben may have been difficult to split between three people. It turned out to be a good choice...it was very tasty. Crispy on the outside, with a warm potato filling. I found myself eating around the edges because it was the crispiest part. See the brown edges in the photo?! Yum!

Next up we tried a Cincinnati Roll from Kyojin. This is a sushi buffet located near Fields Ertel. The Cincinnati Roll consists of spicy crab, avacado, masogo, spicy mayo, eel sauce and sesame oil. I thought this was pretty good. It was nice and light after all the fried food we started with. The roll itself was quite large and a little hard to eat in one bite, but it was pretty good and did intrigue me to try the restaurant. 

Winner of Best Entree at the Taste, the Jameson Burger from Claddagh Irish Pub was the fourth thing we tried. This was my least favorite thing. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was smothered in onions, which I hate (but removed), but Ross also didn't like this burger and he really likes onions. Kate liked it...so we really had mixed reviews. It was named Best Entree, so somebody must have really liked it!

We noticed quite a line forming at Bella Luna - probably since they had 3 winning dishes from the "Best of Taste" awards...prime rib cannelloni, lobster ravioli, and bread pudding. We decided to get in line and see what all the hype was about. We ordered the lobser ravioli and were told it was the last one of the day! We were just in time...and it was only 1 p.m.! There were going to be a lot of disappointed people after us; however I truly don't think they're missing anything. We all three agreed that this was just okay. Nothing special. The cream sauce that the ravioli was served in was a little gross to be eating outside on a 94 degree day, and there was hardly any lobster. Not something I would have awarded Best Seafood Entree - but I wasn't judging.

Kate and I had picked out just about everything else we tried, so we let Ross make the next selection. After reviewing the brochure with all our options, he decided on the Chipotle Chicken Wings from Rusty Bucket. These had an excellent flavor! They were smothered in a sweet and very spicy sauce. It was just the right amount of spice though. I hate when things are so spicy that you can't even enjoy the flavor. My only complaint is that I would have preferred a wing..I don't really like the legs, but it was still tasty.

Finalllly, after stuffing our faces for about an hour, we decided to wrap up with the Raspberry Cloud Pie from Courtyard Cafe. This was my favorite dish overall. Maybe because it was cold...and outside it was stifling hot. This was the perfect treat to end on and cool down with. This won Best Dessert last year, and they ran out before Kate could try it. This was on her "wish list" before we even got there.

Taste of Cincinnati is such a great event. There's live music, drinks and great food from all over the city. If you've never been before, I would highly recommend going next year! It's always held on Memorial Day weekend, so mark you calendars!

~Kris