ciao bella italian grill

delcious food and service at agreatprice.greatlunch, dinner specials, and happy hour in the bar! best martini in town!

try the beef gnocchi, spinach and strawberry salad, fig and prosciutto pizza, and lamb burger!

overpriced mediocrity. nothing bad but nothinggreateither. our food was $18 an entree and the dishes came out less than 5 minutes after ordering. only fazoli's is this fast and, of course, it's because nothing is freshly prepared. if you're going to present yourself as a moderately-priced italian restaurant, you should prepare your meals fresh. this isn't mexican food.

we came in at 3:30 in the afternoon so we really weren't expectinggreatservice since it is an off time. however, we were blown away!greatstaff. very attentive and happy to see us. food was a delight too. we had chicken carbonara, italian spinach, home-made (i promise) toasted raviolis and chicken scallopini parmigiana. we will be back!!

lunch review. i'll begin by saying that i really like ciao bella for dinner (see my earlier review); however, in my opinion, their new lunch misses the mark. for a little history, ciao bella served lunch at their old location next to kroger but stopped it when they moved to the spot on erin way. sometime after moving, they started an off-shoot, lunch-only spot, called carmella's that was attached to the main restaurant. it even served lunch on saturdays, which was a personal favorite. anyway, they closed carmella's and eventually resumed a m-f lunch service at ciao bella but with a few of carmella's offerings. i say bring back carmella's (even if it is still called ciao bella to avoid the awkwardness and confusion of different names/same space)! i just find the atmosphere at ciao bella for lunch to be dark, depressing, and a little stuffy; whereas, carmella's was well-lit and generally bustling. i also enjoyed the expanded sandwich offerings of carmella's versus the predominantly pasta-laden menu at ciao bella. perhaps they can come up with a best of both worlds option by utilizing the windowed carmella's space more and making the overall atmosphere and menu a little more low-key. maybe it's just a personal preference, but i'm not really interested in lunching there again with the current set up.


-----12 oct, 2011-----

great mid-range priced dinner. we had agreatdinner at ciao bella this weekend. they have a nice patio (which there are far too few of in memphis) and variety of selections. i opted for the spinach salad and wild salmon entree, and both were delicious. i was particularly impressed that the salmon was wild and not farm-raised or "atlantic." my entree was $20, and it was as good, if not better, than some of the $30+ fish entrees i've had at more upscale restaurants. service was on the slower side, but not to the point of being bothersome. overall, it was agreatmeal at a mid-range price.

chef johnathan steenerson and his team at ciao bella invited me over for dinner the other night to get to know them, to serve as a ‘guinea pig’ for a couple of new dishes, and to try out some of the stalwarts on the menu. i was happy to accept after embarrassingly letting them know that i had recently eaten at the restaurant, and that because it was a last minute decision, i only ended up with a terrible cell phone photo. i couldn’t use that in the blog as evidence of how good it had been. so, the professor and i met up over in erin way and settled in for an intense night of deliciousness. they led us back to a nice, well-lit (good for photos!) booth in the back and ourgreatserver cole got us started with a round of drinks. i’ll go ahead and get this out there, but when i was talking to jonathan during the meal, i was hyping up how good the service was, and he let us know that it was only cole’s second day at ciao bella. props to him, as he was excellent, as in knowledgeable, nice, a

great place. what a find.greatservice,greatatmosphere,greatfood. we have found our "go to " italian place. several visits and a number of different menu selections have uncovered some must have and some "good" items. very consistent food , and something for everyone's taste.

follow up review.... i have now been to ciao bella in person; my last review was of take out. the place is in a strip mall which i generally would be vehemently opposed to....but they managed to pull off a nice atmosphere with both the indoor and outdoor seating. beats me how because i was absolutely surprised. the service was awesome. i mean from the moment we walked in to the second we left they were johnny on the spot with seating us, taking drink and food orders, the timing and delivery of each course, on and on. couldn't say enough good things about the staff. the food was not the best italian i have ever had, but by memphis standards (sorry memphis chefs and cooks you just don't know good italian) it was very good.

i saw a complaint about the pizza and i haven't tried it so i can't comment. however it should be noted that the author of that complaint recommended carrabas...really? got any other good recommendations? like say olive garden or macaroni grill? seriously?

anyway i still don't get the greek foods on the menu but the tiropitakia and spanakopitakia are delicious. i guess southern italy is supposed to have come from mediterranean influnce or something...i don't know? anyway all in all really good place no complaints whatsoever.


-----09 jun, 2010-----

really good...italian?...restaurant.. so this is a combination review from myself and my wife. she actually went and ate there and was nice enough to bring me takeout. her review of actually visiting the restaurant was that her server wasgreatand the restaurant was clean and nice. she said her food was very good and the prices were reasonable. prices be d@mned...she paid so i will just comment on the food. she lugged it all the way back to midtown and it was still warm and very good. i had the patistisio...probably spelled it wrong...yummy. so here is where i put the question mark behind the word italian in the title...half the menu here is greek food. good greek food but greek food nonetheless. so i guess if you are looking for a full italian menu well not here...but if you are looking for a very interesting selection of greek and italian this place is a good starting point! i will eat here again for sure.

overrated and overpriced. pizza is ok, not great
pasta dishes were overcooked and tasteless.
the atmosphere isgreatand the service was very good.
go to carrabas or brooklyn bridge for real italian food.

great place!. had anothergreatmeal at ciao bella. its hands down the best italian food in mid-south....don't miss the veal picatta and the daily seafood specials are outstanding. nice bar too.

great italian.greatrestaurant,greatservice &greatfood. we love to come here to celebrate birthdays! i have never had a bad experience here.

great food,greatatmosphere,greatservice! i will be returning again and again!

excellent food!.greatatmosphere, friendly service, large portions of fresh delicious food,greatwine list,greatvalue.....what else can you ask for in a restaurant?

from the pizzas to the fish to the pastitso to the salads....everything is delicious!

wonderful food,greatstaff. i found this place on a business trip to memphis. the staff was really wonderful and the food was fantastic. i had the pasta portofino and i couldn't have been happier.

best italian food. ciao bella has the best pizza and italian food in memphis. its cozy and quiet atmosphere makes you feel right at home. service isgreatand food is even better. have to try it if you love italian food and wine!

strong to quite strong. i love this place.greatpizza and the veal is always good. good place for cocktail as well. its a see and be seen place on weekends.