cucina bella

wow. see also: yum. my first trip here and only sampled two menu items so i can't say everything is a home run but whoa - the pizza (the daily special) and the antipasto were both delicious. knowledgeable, friendly service and a nice-casual atmosphere to boot - and byob always makes me happy. i wouldn't consider this a place for romance (kind of loud and a little crowded) but if this place were near my office i would want to get lunch there pretty much every day. i can't wait to gobackand try more offerings! the only suggestion i might make is that the two-top tables are really small - if i had been there with my husband, i am pretty sure he'd have wanted to try two pies, and there's no way they'd have fit on the table.

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 goingbackagain, but probably try to make it in the middle of the week to hopefully not have to deal with the noise and traffic issues.

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 gobackfor 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 bebackagain soon!

the food is fantastic and the service was pretty good too. i will bebackfor sure.

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 bebackagain 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.

i celebrated my birthday here recently and the food was okay, not fantastic. my expectations were high, and what made my experience worse was the service. it was busy on the friday we were there, but it seemed difficult for us to get our water refilled. in addition, when i asked for crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese, the server had an expediter bring it out , but they forgot one item and i waited over ten minutes for the item. the server seemed angry that we were upset that it took so long. she explained that she was unable to gobackinthe kitchen to get these things. this ruined our experience, she should have just got the items. on a busy day expect bad service.

hidden gem. what a hidden gem. my wife and i were comingbackfrom a movie and happened to drive by and saw enough cars and figured why not - this is great place. simple menu with very good quality food. we got the meatballs and margherita pizza - they were very good. pizza was light, thin crust perfectly cooked. meatballs were very tasty - apparently the owners grandmother's recipe. reasonable prices and good staff. we will definitely be back

great food, service is ok but i am willing to cut them a break because they are relatively new. i will get to the service later. the product carmen serves is high quality and very tasty! the arugula salad is quite possibly the best salad i have ever eaten! the zucchini pizza is to die for and their crust is super light and airy. the antipasti is fabulous too! also try the peppers app, both the hot one and the cherry one. we went to dinner w 3 other couples and brought 6 bottles of wine. we were seated at the large high top table, which is a great spot. the hostess left and no one came to our table for 15 min. they were busy but that can't happen. luckily we are all pretty easy going (some of are former waitresses/bartenders) but at least send someone over and let us know it might be a minute or two. and like a previous review - they did not serve our wine to us. it may be their policy but it would be a nice touch if they could do it. anyhow - we live very close so we will certainly bebackto eat in and for take out. lastly, the owner is a local guy from lebo from a great family so it's nice to see him succeeding and we love to support him! mangia!

cucina bella rules!. how did i not know that cucina bella existed until now? my husband and i were invited to a birthday last week ( april 18/12 ) held at the restaurant and were delighted with the food, the service, the atmosphere and most importantly, the chef----a genius in my opinion!

since we were a sizable party, we were able to taste a large selection on the menu-----antipasti, pizzas, salads. the range in the pizza selection were really unexpected. excellent dough topped with such a simpatico and imaginative variety of ingredients. our favorites were the arugula, capricciosa and one called
tartufata. i would never have imagined eating a pizza topped with fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, truffle oil and walnuts of all things---just out of this world delicious!!!!!

the service was friendly and attentive, the ambiance relaxed and a general feeling of fun and good humor
ruled. we have already beenbackto taste more of carmen's excellent cooking and this time tried the
desserts-------uuuummmmm!

so do yourself a gastronomic favor and head for cucina bella soon!!!!

cucina bella- eccezionale!. just when you think that you have had dinner in every possible establishment in the south hills, you discover cucina bella. it is an unexpected surprise tucked in a residential section in thebackhills between bridgeville and upper st. clair. we met chef carmen for the first time and he made us felt extremely welcome. the surroundings are warm and inviting and the food is tremendous! we had the meat ball appetizer, the sylvette salad, and the stagoni pizza. all of them were tremendous and promptly served with a warm smile. our only regret is that we did not have enough appetite left to finish off all of their generous portions to order their desserts. usually with food this of this caliber there is usually a hefty bill that comes after the fact. i am happy to report that the check was also a fantastic value coming in around $40. make sure to bring your own wine to complete the evening. we will bebacksoon and next time well bring our friends.

nothings better than pizza and wine. this is the definition of a good time. i ate here with a few friends and had an awesome time. the meatballs are among the best i've ever had...made by hand (i was told) and tasted awesome. we brought our own wine, had meatballs, pizza and deserts, which we were told come from italy every week...they were nothing like i've ever tried or seen before. this place has it down...simple food, great ingrediants, great service, and it seems like everyone knows everyone.

i will continue to gobackagain and again. and at about $15 a pizza and $5 for corking fee...i can afford to every week!!

just awesome!!. "i want to have this pizza baby."
"this pizza makes me so happy."
"oh my gosh.....this is so good."

these were probably the only real words that came out of my mouth last night other than grumbles of satisfaction. the pizza absolutely lived up to all of its hype. we tried the tartufata and the cucina bella and devoured them both. this place was just ...win...just win win win.

the service was top notch as well. our server was more than helpful when we asked her for recommendations. even if the pizza hadn't been so flippin' amazing, i would have returned for the great service. i can't wait to comebackhere again and navigate the rest of the menu.

always awesome! our favorite.. this is long overdue. we have been dining at cucina bella since it opened. the food is always excellent. the pizza crust has just the right thinness and crispiness and the sauce and toppings are just right. the antipasto is delicious and nicely presented and the salads fresh. the menu is freshly prepared and reasonably priced and the service is always friendly and attentive. a big plus is the byob policy with a fair corkage fee. carmen pirain, the proprietor and main chef, has done a great job making this cozy neighborhood restaurant in the middle of suburbia a welcoming gathering spot. he is also cordial and generous to his loyal customers. we continue to gobackagain and again.

artisan pizza. absolutely delicious! all the ingredients are fresh!!! my husband and i use to live in europe and cucina bella took usbackto the fours years we lived there!!!! fresh and exceptionally fantastic!!!