cucina bella

great food, but loud!!!. friends of ours told us how great this place is and we decided to stop by on a friday night when it was only the two of us. we ended up coming to an early dinner - which turned out to be a good move on our part as the place is very popular and filled up while we were enjoying our dinner.

this restaurant specializes in pizza. all of the pizzas share the same thin but crispy crust and have many different combinations of toppings that you can choose from. they have about 25 different sets of combinations that you can choose from, but if your tastes are different, they give you the option of coming up with your own combinations. pizza is not the only thing on the menu as there are also salads, panini, calzones, and appetizers available. while this menu cries out for wine to be served with it, the restaurant is byob with a $5 corking fee.

one of the local radio personalities always raves about the place's meatballs, so we ordered them as an appetizer. we got six meatballs with six slices of bread that had a small drizzle of olive oil and some shaved parmesan on them. the center of the plate had a small puddle of tomato sauce to pull everything together. as a dish it worked great! each of the components was well seasoned and tasty, and when you put some of the meatball on the bread which was used to scoop us some sauce - yum!

we also got a salad which was a nice change. arugula combined with apple chunks, craisins, and chunks of smoked mozzarella worked very well together. unfortunately, this was were we were hit with the first snag of the evening. the menu described this particular salad as coming with a mustard-based dressing. once the dish was served and we were eating it, we noticed that we got an oil and vinegar dressing. when we asked our waitress about it, she apologized and ran to the kitchen to get the proper dressing only to return to let us know that they ran out of if, but did not tell her about it.

our pizza arrived and it was delicious. the combination that we ordered worked really well and the drizzled balsamic - fig reduction added just a touch of sweetness which pulled it all together in a wonderful way. the crust was crispy and not greasy which was nice to see, and the proportions were just right for us to share. about the only negative thing that we can say about the crust was that we would have preferred for it to have some herbs in it.

however, there were a few negative spots about our experience. as i mentioned above, the place filled out pretty quickly. once the room was more than half full, it became very hard to hear each other as the acoustics of the room were such that they magnified every sound. by the time the room was completely full, we felt like we were at the end of an airport runway with several airplanes getting ready to take off! we could not exchange any words without screaming at the top of our lungs.

the second problem was that they have almost no parking available. smartly, the restaurant offers valet parking, but with the place being so full, negotiating the traffic in the immediate area of the restaurant was a chore.

we will definitely be going back again, but probably try to make it in the middle of the week to hopefully not have to deal with the noise and traffic issues.

my favorite pizza in the area. good crust and unique, delicious flavors. it can get very crowded though so we usually do take out.

what did you say?. i have been to cucina bella three times, twice in the last week, and my food has been wonderful each time but...the noise level in the evening is a little jarring. my first visit was for lunch with a friend and noise was not something i noticed as i enjoyed my delicious, thin-crust pizza. but the place was crowded during my last two visits, with christmas party season in full swing even on a week night, and the patrons seem to raise their voices to talk to each other consequently making an intimate conversation impossible.

i will go back for the food but if the noise issue could somehow be alleviated, it would be just about perfect.

the portions and pricing are spot on. great service, delicious food! will be back again soon!

as close to italy as you can get! authentic! banana peppers - oh my! just the way my parents used to make them! can't wait to go back.

awesome pizza!!. the food at c/b rocks. seriously good pizza. love this place.

not very good. it is way too overpriced. the toppings were too thin, and next time, i'm bringing my own pizza.

could've been better. first visit last night after hearing rave reviews. the place was jammed tight, and the noise level extremely loud. there are definitely more tables crammed into the space than their web site shows in the photos. the service was excellent with a menu limited to pizza, sandwiches, salads, and appetizers. everything served looked great on other tables.

the stuffed figs were delicious. the cheese filing overwhelmed the taste of the figs, but the honey drizzled over was a nice touch. the caprese salad was not quite as good as home made, but definitely better than most places. the imported mozzarella seemed a bit old. they smashed it down between the halved cherry tomatoes and it was a little too firm to be fresh. our pizzas came separately, and the ingredients tasted all fresh. my only complaint was that they left almost 2 1/2" of bare crust all the way around the 12" pie. i would have preferred the fixings to go all the way up to the edge, or at least within 1" of it. having to eat that much dry crust was a waste, with nothing to dip it into in lieu of more fixins. $16+ for a pie should buy me a little more goodies.

it's byob and we brought our own wine. dinner for two pizzas, one salad, and one appetizer was over $70.

with too much empty crust and the really loud noise level, i'm only giving it 3 stars.

it keeps getting better. if you live near upper st clair and haven't been to cucina bella in a while, i suggest that you stop by to see the updates they have made--all good! first, the valet parking makes a huge difference. next, the interior has been updated with new lighting and flooring, which creates a new more sophisticated ambiance. there is extra dining space available now. we have been twice in the past month without having a long wait for a table. it is still byob which is great, and the food is still out of sight! don't go if you want an extra large pizza parlor pie with extra cheese. these pies are all hand crafted with fresh ingredients. try something that sounds good, and it will taste even better than you thought. my wife and i split one of 2 different salads or i try to get someone to split the antipasto plate, the carmenucci, because the meats, cheeses and artichoke combo is tremendous. this is by far our family's favorite restaurant, and it keeps getting better each time we go.


-----06 mar, 2012-----

great for large gatherings. we recently had a large family gathering at cucina bella. wonderful from start to finish. meatball appetizer was simple, yet when paired with the fresca salad and our wine, it was perfect. everyone loved the antipasto, which we shared. we sampled about 4 pizzas, and our favorite was the aglietta. it is not too upscale for children. they loved the traditional cheese pizza. if you leave without having a bomba for dessert, you are missing out.

almost liked it. i really, really wanted to like this place - and i almost did but not enough to return nor would i recommend to others. the menu full of unique wood oven pizza options sounded so promising and the byob had me extra excited. i even gave them a 2nd chance as i was convinced my first time there must have been an "off" night; but no such luck so i'm moving on.

i started w/ an arugula salad topped w/ fresh peaches, pistachios & goat cheese. this might make me sound like a food snob but for $10 i expected a little more. for example, the peaches could have been grilled (vs. chopped raw) and pistachios toasted. instead it was just loaded w/ too much goat cheese which is a flavor i'm getting tired of anyways. my friends & i decided to split two pizzas; a margarita w/ extra basil & another red sauce option w/ roasted artichokes & mushrooms. this is where i explain why i "almost" liked it. the sauce, cheeses, veggies & herbs all tasted delicious and you can certainly tell they're using fresh, high quality ingredients. my issue is there was absolutely no doughiness to the crust - it was crispy to the point it cut up my mouth & took away flavor from everything else. this was my problem the 1st time i went but clearly a crunchy crust is their formula. if i could take everything on top & put on a little bit softer crust then we'd have a winging combination. others must like it though based on their ratings - i agree to disagree!

the food is fantastic and the service was pretty good too. i will be back for sure.

overpriced, tiny mediocre pizza. ordered an extra pizza to take home for work the next day...actually ate it on the way home from cucina because i was still so hungry.

not to mention the staff walking around in basketball shorts and tee shirts. and the delivery guy coming in and out yelling. will not return and will steer people clear of this place.

will go again!. we had a delightful experience at cucina bella. lovely casual atmosphere that feels comfortable as soon as you arrive but don't be misled--the waitstaff is friendly, knowledgeable and professional. the food was delicious--the antipasto plate very authentic and the pizzas-- not itlaian-american style--truly itlaian. we'll be back!

i love everything about this place!. i pray it stays small and is a cute hidden gem in the usc/bridgeville area. i just love it. i love the atmosphere, the patio, and byob. their menu is perfect just the way it is, and i could live on the joe t every day for the rest of my life and want for nothing but a little chocolate. but don't worry, they have dessert, too. and it's great as well. rarely do my husband and i agree when it comes to our birthday dinner and where we want to go. this year both of us celebrated our birthdays here. that's how much we love it. wonderful place!

2nd visit and there will be more. this time we tried a couple of the apps, splitting a small antipasti/salumi plate and an order of banana peppers. the antipasti was easily enough for two on its own - enough salumi and cheese for two footlong subs. comes with a small loaf of freshly-baked bread on a plate with olive oil. the bread was airy and delicious. if we really wanted to be picky, it would be nice to have an assortment of olives instead of all kalamata, as there were a lot of olives. but it's hard to argue what you're getting for $13. the banana peppers were awesome, but again, there was probably too much for one person, so it's ideal for sharing. the bread slices served with the banana peppers was not as fresh as that served with the antipasti.

wife had the four seasons pizza (again) while i opted for the pizza anna, which was fabulous. as with the first visit, crusts were perfect, toppings fresh. i was mildly concerned the anna, with its "sauce" of balsamic/fig reduction might be a bit cloying, but it wasn't, and the sauce offered a nice counterpoint to the red onions and peppers. the quattro stagioni delivered again, as all the ingredients are impeccable.

as it's byo, we had to make a stop first and there was a nice $15 chianti in the chairman's selection at the plcb that went perfectly with the pizzas. love this place. we'll be back again soon.


-----06 jan, 2013-----

excellent. this place can give il pizzaiola a run for best pizza, although i'd still give the nod to ron's pizza - although it's closer that i would've guessed. cucina bella far surpassed our expectations. the pizza crusts were remarkable - airy on the edges, dense in the thin crust body, flavorful throughout. the calzone shell is equally as tasty. toppings are high quality. prices reflect this, but it's really worth it. a pizza you savor instead of simply devour mindlessly.