Ristorante Bella Vita

Very good paninis and fast service. Stopped by for a quick business lunch. Will come back again to check other items in the menu.

— — -FOR LUNCH ONLY — -
3.5
Their lunch menu is pretty cheap for Italian food (most pasta dishes were ranged from $ 9 – 12). My co-​workers were big fans. I ordered the mushroom fettuccine. It tasted a bit plain to me but I also opted out of getting pepper or cheese added to it. It was pretty empty when we went on a Fri afternoon right at 12:30PM so it’s nice that there’s no wait (but you also wonder why it’s empty).
Service was so friendly and helpful. The owner (I assume) even offered to split our checks beforehand since she knew that would be an issue later.
Overall, it’s a great place to go for lunch. I probably wouldn’t drive out of my way to come here but if I’m in the mood of Italian and I’m in downtown, I’ll prob swing by here

I ate here over the weekend, and I had a nice evening. The restaurant itself is very lovely, right on the corner with lots of nice large windows to look outside. The staff was friendly and quick, I saw no problems with the service.
I ordered a braised short rib that was on the specials list. The short rib itself was a very decent size, but what keeps me from rating five stars were my sides. The veg and potatoes were practically non existent, i think they were just placed there out of custom rather than having really given them any thought. This was a shame since they both tasted great and I wanted more.

Nothing special. There are better Italian joints nearby, but my seafood pasta plate was moderately delicious.
Like others have mentioned, serving sizes are a bit small, and the waiters aren’t even Italian… they’re Turkish!!! Somehow I feel jipped.

This place looks cute, walked by plenty of times and been meaning to try.
since the menu seemed good and the prices were pretty low.
Finally came in, and ate the food. Reason why menu prices are low, it’s because the portions are tiny. Unless you pay the higher prices for bigger portions (the ones that are daily specials).
The bread here they give you are strangely cut into almost jumbo sized croutons. They’re like a foccocia bread but with cornmeal in it. HUH? why the cornmeal made me feel like I was eating the bottoms of pizzas with cornmeal on it. — don’t like
Tried friend’s garlic and shrimp ravioli with vodka dill cream sauce and didn’t think too much of it. Just tasted like ravioli with shrimp in it, and the sauce a heavy cream sauce sans the flavor of dill or vodka. — didn’t care for
I couldn’t decide on anything on the menus so had the Arugula Lettuce salad, which could have been named the «Lettuce and ok maybe a sprinkle of Arugula Salad», had sliver almonds and some cheese sprinkled on it, and i think 4 little rounds of heart of palm on it. Dressing a little sweet. — bleh.
My New York steak (i know i should have ordered something Italian, but i didn’t want anything on the menu, figure they can’t mess up a steak) that I ordered medium rare came out medium very well. Wth.
Another thing i have to bitch about. one of our dining mates ordered bruchetta for appetizer, there’s 5 of us there, the plate came out with 4 pieces — wth. 1. the waiter could have either said ‘oh that comes with only 4 pieces, would you like to order two portions?’ or 2. He could have informed us that there’s only 4 pieces in an order, asked if we would like to add another piece to the order for some additional charges (which we would have gladly done) or he could have informed us of the amount in an order and offer to add another piece for us so everyone can have one. I dont know why but this just bothered me so much, why wouldn’t someone working at the restaurant know how to win their customers with just a tiny bit of detail??? — totally not like.
The meal came out to be $ 140 for 5 people, 5 entrees, 1 appetizer, 1 salad, 2 desserts and 2 sodas, and one coffee. FOR LUNCH. — I feel like I just bent over to pick up a quarter on the ground and got a swift kick in the ass.
Don’t bother here. Go to Vaso Azzurro at the end of Castro near the train tracks and eat with Momma in there. She’s a hoot and their food’s much better.

Came here for my birthday lunch with the coworkers.
I ordered the manila red clams with pasta which I absolutely loved.
It came with complimentary bread in which my coworker mixed olive oil and Parmesan cheese to make a really good dip.
Overall, super satisfied and tasty. A bit on the expensive side though!

Walked into this place while strolling down Castro for dinner idea with friends
The interior was cute and cozy, not too many tables.
Food on average was OK. The mushroom ravioli with Gorgonzola cream and walnuts special was good. It didn’t look much but filled me up comfortably. The chicken saltimbocca was rather so-​so and unmemorable, so was the lasagna.
The service was rather slow. Asking for water several times and it didn’t show up towards the end of the meal.

My boyfriend and I stopped by on a Sunday for an early lunch. The place is pretty cute and small, a little fancy.
The service was horrible. There was one waiter for everyone in the entire place and he was snotty. I ordered ravioli in pink sauce– not good and too salty. My boyfriend had a panini, which was a little soggy. His salad was also really small. We asked for a coffee and waited for 10 – 15 minutes for it because the waiter forgot.
There are way better places to eat than this restaurant. I wouldn’t recommend it.

This is a Part of Castro Eats: A Museum Staff’s Journey from Central to El Camino and Back…
DO you ever have your hopes dashed and then feel bad about relating said hopes? The atmosphere seemed to say ‘Hey, this is gonna be good’ and then you go and everything is kinda off.
The place is nice, comfortable, despite chairs that are uncomfortable. The colors are warm, the kitchen being right there is a nice touch. The service is very weak. The server messed up at least one order (I think maybe two) and was very slow. The place was quiet, only two others during what would normally be a busy Friday afternoon.
The food wasn’t good. I had a shrimp and steak dish where the steak was very good, but the shrimp were over-​done. The pasta that Sarah had was bland, as was the soup. I wasn’t overly impressed with their bread even, which is one of the things even crappy Italian restaurants get right!
All in all, it was not worth our time.

Ah, another Castro Italian restaurant run by Turkish people.
My mushroom ravioli was pretty good. The polenta appetizer was yummy, and enjoyed by all. My husband was underwhelmed by his pasta arabiatta (although they win points for making something off-​menu!)
The tiramisu was pretty but not great. It tasted more like birthday cake than tiramisu.
If the prices were lower and/​or the bread were fresher maybe I would go here again. Hmmm… maybe lunch?

This used to be one of our favorite restaurants. From a purely flavor point of view it still is.
When seeking to preserve profit margins while maintaining the same menu, there are arguably only two ways to go: sacrifice quality, or reduce portion size. This place went the latter route.
While our favorites were as good as ever, the quantity given the price was just absurd. The original servings had always been just right. We’re not large eaters, so their portions were always great. Now, they are half what they were.
My wife still can’t get over the bread that’s typically given as an appetizer. They were the size of over-​sized croutons, and served directly in the basket, without a napkin or anything.
This resto is definitely experiencing problems. It even appears to be in the midst of a name change. I hope they recover. But the rip off the other night will keep us away for a while.

Ever had one of those meals where everything is pretty good, but nothing is particularly outstanding? That’s this place.
My group of 3 all had pizzas, and they were good, though slightly bland and sparsely topped. The beet salad and prosciutto-​melon appetizers were a bit better. Cannoli for desert was passable, but I’ve had much better.
Service was fine. Atmosphere was blah, especially the cheesy music track that made me think of a retirement home.
Bottom line: If you’re on Castro with a group and can’t agree on anything else, this could be your perfect backup plan, but don’t make a special trip.

I really love their mushroom ravioli !!!
The only bad part is that it didn’t really fill me up. Only had like 4 large ravioli pieces and prayed that my coworker didn’t want any bite of it. –_​– i know i’m a fatty. I don’t get how Gnocchi has like 30 pieces too much and ravioli only has 4. Wtheck!
Anywho so to fill myself up, I used the bread and dipped it into the CREAMY SAUCE OF GOODNESS! :D Will I go again, of course! Will I order the same thing? No, learned my lesson to never order ravioli!

Decent italian place, but not to knock your socks off …
Good start with some good quality focaccia bread.
As a main dish, I had home-​made ravioli filled with porcini mushroom, but I asked not to have cream in the sauce. They proposed to replace it with a marinara sauce (what a creativity … honestly not the best combination with mushrooms) but ok … At the end, the ravioli were really well done (the consistency of the pasta was perfect and the cooking was perfectly «al dente»), the sauce had a tasty and light tomato base, but the combination of the two (ravioli and sauce) was far from ideal.
The tiramisù I had as dessert was also well done: soft, light mascarpone cream, not butter-​ish and not too sweet, even though the biscuits should have been a little more soaked, in my opinion.
As in other cases, I would add half a star more, if possible, but not more. I recommend this place for quick and cheap dinners with simple but tasty food. The quality is comparable to Vaso Azzurro.

NYE and I was searching for a place to get a bite to eat and Ristorante Bella Vita caught my eye! So I decided I would try something new and walked through the door! I was immediately greeted with a warm smile and seated near the window!
I ordered bruschetta and it was wonderful! I also ordered a chicken pasta dish with extra garlic and it was perfect! Of course I needed a Italian soda w/​o milk and ended the meal with chocolate gelato!
The staff was friendly and tentative. Just because I was dining by myself they didn’t forget about me and I really appreciated that!
I will be coming back again!

Very nice simple menu. If you enjoy places with basic menu’s so the executive chef can focus more on individual dishes, you will love this place.
The «Besto for two» was the perfect appetizer. A little of everything on one plate (Brochette, prosciutto, buffalo and goat cheese). The goat cheese was by far the highlight of this dish. If you have a chance get it just for the cheese! We actually bought an unopened package of this cheese at end of dinner. It was that impressive.
Wine was reasonable. We purchased two Italian Sanegious by the glass. Smooth, muted, oaky with great after flavors of blackberry.
Gnocchi and boglenese were our entrees. Both very full of flavor. Gnocchi’s had great pine nuts influences in the pesto sauce. Boglenese had the taste that it was simmering all day. Full body of tomato, spice and beef in every bite.
Dinner: 1 sampler, 2 entrees, 2 glasses wine, 1 desert, 2 after meal ports, 1 block goat cheese. total (without tip) $ 94
You can go cheaper then this, we kind of splurged.

The alarm bells went off when I walked in at 12.30 and there were only 2 other customers and 1 waiter. It was super hot outside and after trying to get into other restaurants that had long waits, decided to just go ahead and eat here.
I had the gnocchi which was around $ 10. The taste was average. What amused me was the fact that it was served in a huge plate with a lot of creamy sauce but there were only like 11 pieces of gnocchi. That translates to almost $ 1 per gnocchi! I am 6’2′ and ~200 pounds and need more food than that. The chocolate tart was average. Stay away unless you have an undeniable urge for Italian and can’t drive a few mts to Frankie, Johnnie and Luigi.

Blah. Went here the other night and was pretty disappointed.
Basically, it all tasted frozen. It looks like to me they order everything frozen, then cook it to order. The term «fresh frozen» comes to mind — which is a term that makes my skin crawl.
We started with the fried calamari. Hardly any meat at all. You could hardly taste the calamari. And the tartar sauce (tartar sauce? no cocktail sauce?) was thick and practically impossible to dip into.
I had the crab ravioli special. I’ll put it this way: I had a lobster ravioli at a restaurant down the street that was basically the same ingredients — just substitute crab for lobster. The lobster ravioli I had at the other restaurant was one of the best dishes I’ve had in a LONG time. The crab ravioli here was one of the most disappointing dishes I’ve had in a long time.
Even the bread and oil/​vinegar was something you’d expect at Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. My fiancée had the beef lasagna… what can I say — it’s pretty hard to screw up beef lasagna. So I’ll give an extra star for that.
Next time — I’ll walk further down Castro.

I’d give this place five stars, if the service were only a little more attentive! The bread here is fabulous if you get it fresh. .. almost worth a visit for the carbohydrate high that one is rewarded with after dipping a slice into the perfect balance of olive oil/​balsamic vinger. .. once this runs out, you’re left at the mercy of the often-​times inattentive staff (even on a slow day).
The polenta cakes are heavenly with just the right amount of gorgonzola cheese, mushroom and marsala wine. .. delicious! The roasted beet salad with goats cheese is also fabulous.
My brother enjoyed his thin-​crust pizza of Italian pepperoni, gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese. I believe he described the slices as ‘flavorful and filling bites”. .. a good thing.
So the only ‘gripe’ would be over the lack of customer service. .. bring out a litle fresh bread once in a while, keep an eye on the drinks, make sure there’s a decent balance of olive oil and balsamic, and you’ll have some über happy campers as everything else is pretty darned bella!

I didn’t spit the food out, but then again, I wouldn’t recommend this place. Therefore, two stars.
The flavors were bland or just OFF.
COMPLIMENTARY bread, similar to pizza dough, but w/​o the crunch, not good, I like a nice vinegar to oil ratio-​too much oil here.
–Caesar salad, not enough zing in the dressing & more cheese please!
–Carpaccio tasted like roast beef
–Salmon was WAY too lemony
–Rib Eye Steak seasoning was strange, not bad, but just not Italian.
–Tiramisu tasted like a cupcake in cake form.
–Pinot Noir was cheap and good at $ 8.50/glass.
Total bill incl. tax + tip = $ 118.