Bella Milano brings something great by way of bread and olive oil with shaved parmesean cheese. I would return just for the bread and oil, or as its known, "Italian Butter".
The lunch specials are a great deal and all come with a salad and sizeable portion for around ten dollars. That can't be beat in a town starving for authentic Italian food. While it is a commercialized version, they hit the nail on the head with simple dishes. The chefs special is always pleasing as well.
I would also make a point to go on Monday when their appetizer and special cocktail menu is only $5!
Just had my monthly Ladies Day Luncheon here yesterday. Â I expect impeccable service from the facilities that we select to host, and received nothing short of that here. Â They provided sufficient wait staff who were attentive, quiet during the presentation, & polite. Â If you have an event coming up, I would highly recommend them.
Clarus Wealth Management
Great lunch! Was busy at lunch because its so good- worth the wait if you have a wait a bit. The bar was pretty open to sit in. The Milano salad is yummy with prosciutto ham and special cheeses!!! I also had the Ravioli for the main dish and that was the perfect serving.
Clean restaurant and bathrooms. Friendly and knowledgeable staff! I can't wait for what I try there next!!
Only been here once for dinner and it was packed.
If you don't want a sports bar, or college bar, and want to have a decent conversation with who you are eating with, this is the place.
They have a nice menu, any fish served here has always been rather good, along with the steaks. Â The service has always been really good, and the prices are not bad at all. Â Don't get to come around this area often, but it's a nice place to stop by.
Will return in the future.
Bella Milano brings great Italian food to the metro east, with a upscale casual atmosphere and quality service. Be advised that this is a popular place and it is often packed, with good reason. The food selection is great, you can order anything from seafood, pasta, pizza and even steak or chicken . I opted for a special which was an Apple Pork Risotto, which was nothing short of amazing. I wish that it was a regular on the menu .
The atmosphere is very nice, somewhat upscale while still maintaining a relaxed casual setting. The service is also great, our waiter was always there when she was needed without crossing the line of being overly annoying. Â This is a place you have a nice dinner with the family or bring a date, either way everyone should leave happy.
Prices are somewhat reasonable with a few exceptions. Pasta ranges from $10-16, with some extras like chicken or meatballs costing more. However most of the pastas do come with either Chicken or meatballs. The entrees can range anywhere from $18-27, which in my opinion is a little too high but the food is amazing so I will give them a pass.
When I am in Edwardsville Bella Milano is usually on my list. Also the Edwardsville location is actually one of three, with the other the in Springfield and O'Fallon, IL. I highly recommend Bella Milano, if you are ever nearby any of their locations.
Bella Milano is uneven at best. Â At times we have enjoyed hot, flavorful meals. At other times we were quite disappointed. Â Six months ago the lasagna was the culprit. Â Several layers of pasta covered in a pound of thick, gooey cheese. Â Just because you can use that much cheese doesn't mean you should. Â Yuck. Â Sent it back. Â Got a bit of attitude from the manager of the day. Â Last night it was flavorless orange roughy. Â Sent it back. Â Manager apologized and took it off the bill. Â Spouse had linguine and clams. Â Tasted reheated, kinda like the pasta you brought home and reheated for lunch the next day. Â I don't want to beat this place up, it just seems to have a lot of turnover of wait staff and I wonder if the same is occurring in the kitchen. Â Eight out of ten times it is fine, not outstanding, but good. Â Two out of ten times make you wonder why you came back those other eight.
Review Source:We finally came here after everyone kept talking about how great the food is. The service was great. The food was 1/2 a star, if that. The calamari and marinara sauce was the only thing that was actually good. The calamari had freezer burns, but it was still pretty good and the sauce was just right- tomatoey and tangy. Mostt of the bread was burnt. The caesar salad had way too much cheese and crutons had burnt crumbs all over. The house salad was iceburg lettuce, scallions and bacon with some shredded cheese on top. The linguini with clams was terrible. There was way too much cream in the sauce, there was a fishy smell to it, and it was waaay too salty. They used regular mushrooms in the sauce which the texture and taste didn't even go with the dish. Even worse was the spaghetti and meatballs. It tasted like they poured a cup of sugar into the sauce before they put it on the plate. I have never tasted spaghetti that sweet before in my life. Even after adding some tobasco, the sweetness was too overwhelming that we became sick to our stomach. It tasted like tomato syrup. I would think any tomato based meat sauce would be the same sauce. It was the worse tomato sauce I tasted in my life.
Review Source:This place was just okay. Â I was a little disappointed as many people had mentioned this place was pretty decent. Â The martinis and the toasted ravioli were awesome! Â My husband ordered the veal marsala and it didn't even taste like there was any marsala in it. Â It was pretty bland. Â I ordered the pepperloin which was okay. Â The house salad were also really good. Â I might return for drinks and appetizers, but not sure I would choose this place for dinner.
Review Source:I've been here a few times. Â I've really wanted to try to like it and shop local, but this is no "taste of the Hill". Â Disclaimer: Â I AM A HILL SNOB. Â I think I'm 50% Italian, I've been to Italy, and I can cook good Italian food. Â That being said here is my review. Â
I've had the Chicken Stasilli that has received raves and honestly I can say "I don't get the hype!".  The chicken was fine  on it's own, but the veggies and heavy lemon gravy was something bad from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FKraftfoods.com&s=9ccc64281256bec6c516bc407ee83bd0d47bba292c0d4e8a37d48dacf0efd026" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Kraftfoods.com</a>.  It did not seem like the quality of food they advertise.  Also have tried the Blackened Grouper due to Lent season. Let's just say my Mother is an aficianado of all things hot.  The hotter the better.  She said well this is spicey for just being "blackened".  Although it didn't bother her heat wise there was something that just didn't taste well at all.  If you get this, I suggest no cheese or peppers or aioli.  Something didn't mix well and it would probably do good on its own, with those on the side or not at all.  Jury was unsure about this.
This place is not fancy, it is not upscale. Â This is a casual restaurant in a strip mall, in a city that has a lot of $$ to spend, but few choices to eat at. Â If you eat here I believe the service will always be fabulous as I have not had a bad experience both eating in and take out. Â However, the food is nothing more than OK. Â Â I would only suggest anything with their meat sauce as it is edible. Â Anything else I would say no. Â The only thing you can't go wrong with here is the ravioli, the meat sauce it is served with and the bread. Â The Milano salad is fine as an accompaniment but I think it's very over priced for the serving sizes and quality. Â I feel really bad saying this, but I won't eat here other than for take out Milano salad and ravioli period. Â If all I like is their meat sauce, well I can make spaghetti or ravioli at home from DiGregorio's staple items and be just as happy. Â DiGregorio's Mama's meat sauce is heaven in a frozen tub. Â I really feel bad for this review, but I'm just not a fan. Â I'll just be the takeout ravioli girl.
##rating does not reflect service
Generally, good food and good service. Â A couple times, my meat was way undercooked (rare instead of medium well) and the special wasn't all that great. Â Those couple of incidents haven't stopped me from coming here because all of the other times were so good, even if it's a little pricey.
Review Source:We had a great experience on our first visit together. Â Our biggest compliment is to our server, James. Â He really went out of his way to make it a great meal. Â One thing he asked almost right away, really impressed me. Â How do you want to pace your meal? Â Do you want to stay a while and take one thing at a time, or are you wanting to take things more quickly? Â I can't tell you all how many times I've gone to a place and gotten my appetizer at the same time as my main course AND salad. Â He went out of his way to make sure he asked. Â
Our food was good. Â You have to love Provel cheese to love some of these items. Â To the reviewer complaining of the thick, "cheap" cheese and loaded with corn starch, I'm not so sure you understand the St. Louis tradition of Provel cheese. Â Both my wife's and my entree featured it, and we loved it.
I will say I wasn't impressed with their calamari appetizer. Â Their coating was great, and it was a great chance to try their own red sauce. Â I love both, but the calamari itself was tough, and overpowered by the thick coating and red sauce. Â It deserves a more delicate treatment.
Their salad is typical for St. Louis area italian. Â Lettuce marinated in sweet italian dressing until it turns a bit soft. Â And it was great with prosciutto and cheese.
The one real negative is that we had asked for chive on our baked potato, if they had it. Â It came out with green onion. Â That's not the same thing. Â They should know that. Â They served the condiments on the side, though, and that was easy to correct ourselves. Â
Even with a couple minor complaints, the service we received more than made up for it. Â Even their complimentary glasses of water were good, which is rare. Â I'll be sure to visit again.
I am a huge fan of the Chicken Stasili! Â I also love the Eggplant parmagiana, cannelloni, Salmon, and the pizza is great. Â The house salad is good, but would be better with less cheese, dressing and italian ham and made fresh-often it is soggy. Their bread is wonderful also. Â We really like the private room for birthday parties. I have enjoyed many wonderful meals here!
Review Source:When yelp readers last encountered John H. at Bella Milano, he was, as you may recall, grumpy. Grumpy about the quality of a few large group experiences: the food, the service, even the poorly air-conditioned room. Subsequently, he was contacted by an owner-partner, who offered a complimentary meal and explanation. Â While John H. declined the offer of food and drinks, he did appreciate a breakdown of the challenges facing Bella Milano, particularly hearing about the vacant and superheated adjacent units that overwhelmed the restaurant's AC units and his goodwill one August evening.
John H. respects any businessperson who makes time and energy to respond to customer comments. This firm but friendly effort to reach out to a grumpy yelper reflects well on Bella Milano. Nevertheless, John H. is not inclined to write an update without a new experience on which to report.
Such an opportunity presented itself when a less grumpy John H. was invited to Friday lunch. The room was a pleasant temperature (a crisp fall day!), and the server was knowledgeable about the menu, friendly and respectful, comfortably competent working the table. The thing that stood out was the tilapia, in its final days on the "summer" menu. It was plated with a wonderful sauce featuring (to the best of my recollection) capers, kalamata olives, feta cheese, chopped red pepper (or perhaps pimentos), chopped parsley, and probably a few more unnoticed ingredients. Tilapia @ $12, including a milano salad, this was a very good lunch.
This place is very popular with the locals, probably because it's about the only place you can get decent Italian food in the immediate area. I would describe the overall experience as good. The food is fine, if overpriced. (If you can't make money selling pasta or Chinese food, you're in the wrong business.) Service is usually pretty good. Since they do not accept reservations, I think that the servers are under pressure to turn the tables on busy evenings, leading to a deterioration in service. They do have early bird specials on drinks and food if you arrive before 6:30.
Review Source:My parents raved about Bella Milano so when we were in town we all decided to go. Went on a Wednesday evening and it was very busy but we were seated right away. It took about 8 minutes for our server to come over and take our drink order. He came back about 5 minutes later with the drinks and we placed our dinner order. He never really came back much after that except to deliver our dinner.
I had the seafood ravioli and it was very good. It wasn't very hot..but it was still good. Everyone at my table actually had the dish except my husband - he had chicken parm and said it was good. The server never came back to check how our meals were.
I honestly felt bad for him. You could tell he was overwhelmed and doing the best he could. He had sweat pouring off him and he was just running around like a chicken with his head cut-off. He had WAY to many tables. It seemed like they didn't have enough servers but they have 3 hostess (who were pretty useless). It's a shame because the food was pretty decent, the service just needs a bit of work.
Went for lunch at 11:30. Â It wasn't too crowded and we were seated immediately.
The house salad was awesome, as usual.
The Chicken Stasili was excellent.
Service was also very good.
This has been my experience every time we've been to Bella Milano.  We've been there  a handful of times and have always enjoyed it.
I'm going to have to agree with the other mystified reviewers. I've eaten dinner at Bella Milano three times, and I just don't get it. The last time it was because I was basically forced to go there for the sake of other people's convenience. The oddest thing about this place is that people love it. It has a sort of fancy, glitzy, pretentious self-image which is amusing to some extent, but ultimately a little depressing. I've had two chicken dishes and one fish dish. The sauces are very salty and sticky, like they have too much cheap cheese and corn starch in them. The wait staff has been friendly, and it is cheerful to be in a place where the other patrons are enjoying themselves...but it's just kind of weird! Nothing seems very fresh. The chain-look of the place, in the strip mall and all, is totally consistent with what you're going to get on your plate.
Review Source:I have been to this restaurant twice now and both times the experience was OK. Â The first time I was there I had the pork chops, which were good, and the most recent trip I had the chicken parmigiano, which was just OK. Â The chicken seemed a bit overdone and dry, which was quite disappointing. Â The rest of my group seemed to really like their dishes which ranged from pasta to seafood, which means maybe I am just not selecting the right dishes. Â The one thing that I really like at Bella Milano is the Milano dressing for their house salad. Â It is very delicious and almost addicting. Â I lapped up every last drop with the bread. Â
Although the restaurant is located in a strip-mall, the atmosphere is quite nice, and the staff was friendly and attentive. Â I would have liked to give it 3.5 stars, but due to the price of the food and the quality I received I had to knock it down to 3 stars instead of rounding it up to 4.
I like this place! I was surprised to see that others didn't! It is one of the nicer places in the area, it is almost always packed and the food is reasonably good. I have been there for lunch and dinner and have to say that the lunch menu is more affordable. Lunch entrees come with house or Cesar salad, I prefer the house- it comes with a delicious vinaigrette dressing and tiny bits of bacon, it is good. I usually get the Eggplant Parm, it is a reasonable portion, I never have leftovers, the bread/butter are also very delicious. The lunch portions are smaller than the dinner entrees, but I think they are sufficient and fill you up!
Review Source:I have had herd a lot about this restaurant for quite some time. I was hearing mixed reviews but I thought i'd try it any way. My girlfriend and I visited a week ago and it was a terrible experience. First things first the staff was mediocre at best. Our waiter was not nice at all, dis not know anyting about any of the dishes they served here. Next the prices were astronomical given the totally sub par taste. The food wouln'dt be so bad if it was priced in the 6-9$ per dish. I'm not a tight wad, i will gladly pay top dollar for good Italian food. However this is the oposit. The food is totally bland. The salad was raved about but was just ice berg lettuce with bacon and provolone. I get better salad at imos pizza. Be sure to steer clear of this restaurant and go to the hill in st Louis or something just not here.
Review Source:Although I've had a few people tell me that their visits were not great, I've had nothing but superb experiences and I'v eaten there several times. The salads, bread, entrees, deserts, appetizers, etc. are always done right. The food is fantastic. The way Italian shoud be! It is a bit pricey so we save it for special occasions (a great place for birthday or anniversary celebrations). Their Sunday night family meal deal is reasonable. They are much better than Fond or the old Rusty's and about even with Neruda.
Review Source:I don't get it. I really don't. For years all I've heard about this place is how awesome it is. It wasn't. It was lackluster. It was, in all honesty, not good and kind of gross. And nothing had any taste! Even my salad was bland, though luckily there was some kind of prosciutto or something in there to make it at least salty. Too bad it cost us $60 to find that out. I'm so confused!
There's nothing worse than experiencing a TRUE fancy restaurant. One where serving is an art. The worst part about that experience is then going to a suburban "fancy" restaurant and they don't even take your dirty plates away, even though they have their hands free and they just stopped by to ask how everything way. It was great, no thanks, I like looking at my empty, dirty chili bowl. See ya later!
Here are some gems that my husband said while we were there:
"If they lowered everything on the menu by $5 this place wouldn't be nearly as popular."
"Everything here is so OK it's obnoxious."
"They are going to bring us the dessert menu and it's going to say 'White Bread.'"
Yet, despite all of this, all around us people were telling others at their table how awesome this place was! How everything on the menu is SO GOOD. I wanted to tell all of these people to go to a REAL fancy restaurant. Hell, I wanted to tell them to go to a real Italian restaurant. Ugh. Oh well, maybe I'm just a snob. Or maybe they're all morons.
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