campanella's italian

it’s been there for a while…and looks it

campanella’s has been a fixture in various incarnations in pinellas park for many, many years. for whatever reason, we hadn’t eaten there in a long time.

the staff is friendly and everyone treats you like family and most customers seem to be regulars.

the food is hit and miss. the lasagna was pretty good and the serving was very large. the veal in velvet sauce was a few pieces of very pounded veal in a sea of white sauce that reminded me of chicken gravy over chicken fried steak—ugh.

the other issue was the general tidiness of the place. it looks like it has been in the same spot foryearsand the best way to clean is to turn the lights down low. everything is worn and nothing is especially clean. from the entrance to the bathroom, everything was sorely in need of a deep clean.

with the much better (and cleaner) desesto italiano within a couple of blocks, i don’t think that i’ll be back to campanella’s real soon.

yum yum. my bf and i were looking for a go-to italian restaurant severalyearsago when the one we had always gone to had closed. we have never been disappointed. the pizzas are huge and are hand-tossed; the calzones are so big that they almost fall off the plate. the size of the restaurant is tiny and might hold 40 people but it puts out some of the most wonderful food that i have eaten in a long time.

same campanella's?. is this the same campanella's italian restaurant that was in st. pete about 20yearsago? owned by ralph and rita campanella? they had the best italian food that i've ever had. i've been searching for the same type of italian that they served from the naples, italy area. they used to prepare a dish called veal velvet that was amazing. i'd like to know if it is the same. does anyone know?