This place looks like it used to be an old bank, but others have told me it was a bakery at one time. In any case, we ate there after visiting Amish Acres up in Fountain City. Â It was not very crowded. Â Food was okay, but nothing spectacular. Â I am still not sure I was served Minestrone soup which is what I ordered. Â I really think it was Italian Wedding Soup instead. Â Oh well.
Review Source:Our first visit to Bellissimo proved to be a pleasant experience. Â We have frequented the "other" Richmond Italian restaurant, and have had mostly pleasant experiences there also. Â However, Bellissimo proved a better value...despite some shortcomings. Â Value wise, our meals were great! Â Authentic, plentiful and very reasonably priced. Â Bellissimo gets a solid 5 stars if I considered just food quality, quantity and price. Â
On the downside, and in an effort to explain why I rated Bellissimo as a "3 Star A-OK": Â Atmosphere was mediocre. Â A flat screen TV in a dining area is not a plus in our opinion. Â Service was friendly and prompt...but I do expect the waitress to revisit after serving to ask if all is well. Â Music selection and volume should align with the caliber of the restaurant. Â Silverware should be appropriate...not stamped, bent and worn. Â My wife's beverage glass was sports memorabilia based. Â Waitstaff and kitchen help congregaged at the kitchen door leading into the restaurant itself. Â All in all, relatively petty cons, but still not competitive with the "other" Italian restaurant. Â
Would we go back...yes, for a good, reasonably priced meal...indeed. Â However, if you're looking for a higher end, romantic, professional atmosphere, keep looking.
I first time that a tried them out I was not impressed, however now I really enjoy going there. The reason that I was disapointed on the first visit was I ordered spaghetti, and when I was eatting it I found a chicken bone in my food, now mind you there was some shreaded chicken in the spaghetti, and I guess thats how they make it, and it is really good.. however you sould not find bones like that in spaghetti, and when I said something to the waiter, she just shrugged it off, and didn't offer to discount the meal.. let me say that I was highly disapointed...
Since then I have been there at least five times and the food has always been great. The portions are a bit small of the local area, however I think the portion size is correct, for the average person. I would rather eat great tasting food, and leave full, than eat okay tasting food and leave stuffed.
The dinning room is a bit small, but I have never had a problem getting a seat. If you have a large party, I would try Galo's, since there dining room is six times the size of Bellissimo.
I am all about eatting good LOCAL food, and this is one of the local area great places, forget Olive Garden.. I will be eatting here or Galo's
The only thing that no one at my table seems to like is the bread ,and I have seen several other people coment on this as well.
Today was my birthday so my husband and I went to check this place out.  We went at 6pm on a Tuesday night and there were only two other tables filled.  The atmosphere is pleasing to the eye, the music not so much!  Maybe if it weren't so loud and we weren't right under a speaker but by the time we left, we were both over the music..anyway on to the food, I had eggplant parmiginia  and my husband got the lasagna with meat sauce.  Mine came with two sides, the two I wanted (potato cake and the other cake (can't remember name)) were both not available.  So ended up getting side salad and garlic mashed potatoes.  It was all very good and very fresh.  The eggplant was a little too greasy for my standards but I love their sauce!  My husband enjoyed his lasagna and we both left stuffed, each cost $10.95.  We would go back again on a special occasion but can't afford it on a regular basis.  The service was good too, friendly and on time with drink refills.
Review Source:Best food in town. Lot better than olive garden and not so consistent Galos. Food was authentic and flavorful. Minestrone hit the spot. Never thought I would find such tasty food in Richmond IN. Don't let the outside look and the decor fool you. It is clean and no frills. Although one would expect a richer setting for a pricey place the food makes up for it. If you are all about food like me this is the place for you - hands down.
Review Source:We made our first visit to Bellissimo's on Memorial Day 2012. The staff there said that it had been open for something like five months. Â Decided to go between lunch and dinner, the place had four tables occupied. That being said we got a table immediately. Since this place does not yet have a website with a menu I was wondering about some of the previous posters comments about being too pricey.
Quite honestly I have no idea of where they are coming from. Â Two adults had tea and very filling meals for $26.00!
Back to the review. The place is a former bakery and the dining area is a large room with several tables situated around the room. The decor is okay but to tell the truth I could not care less about decor. There is nothing great about the view but again this is a restaurant not a sightseeing tour.
I ordered the Rigatoni Arrabbiata and I must say that it was excellent. Plenty of Italian sausage, peppers, onions and sauce. In fact there was much more of the toppings than actual rigatoni. Â The meal comes with a piece of bread that has a name but I have forgotten it. It was baked with oil and a light sauce. I personally like the bread the way it was prepared. Â There was almost more food in this dish than I could eat so for $9.95 this was a very economical meal.
The other party had the eggplant veggie parmigiana which came with two sides. She had a salad and potato cakes. Â She says the item was very good, among the best she has had. The salad was average but the potato cakes were excellent.
The service was good, not hovering but there when we needed drink refills. The food was ready fairly quickly but not so fast as to be a detriment to the quality of the food.
We did not sample the wine or beers (didn't even see a selection for beer) so cannot comment on those. My only negative was that they did not have sweet tea although it is on the menu.
I saw the lamppost in the middle of the walk. Â Can't see how you would get a wheel chair past it. Although there is somewhat limited parking at the restaurant there is a grocery store lot right next door.
Yes we will go back and recommend others to do the same.
Finally, Â a non-chain, independently-owned restaurant in this town, Â and it is really good, to boot! A wide range of options, fresh ingredients, homemade breads and potato chips, good service, a very clean space make this my new go-to spot when I'm back in town. The prices were great, and the portions large.
Agree that the layout could use some work, and some table cloths and curtains might help with the noise level. The wine-rack mantel was lovely, but the bottles of beer across it made it look less upscale.
Food a step above Galo's and Olive Garden for sure! Â Had the Venetian salad with great fresh greens, croutons, portabellos, Italian sausage, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Â The portabellos tasted wonderful, I couldn't tell if they were marinated, but there was something about them that gave a rich and savory unforgettable flavor! Â Dining companions were all pleased with their meals. The serving sizes were very generous and priced fairly. Â My entree sized salad and glass of white wine was under 14 dollars, a great value in my book!
They need to work on the layout. Â There is no area to wait, luckily it wasn't busy when I was there, but I can see how uncomfortable it could be if it's a full house, if you had to wait for a table, you'd be literally breathing down the diner's necks, so uncomfortable! Â The parking situation is like the inside, kinda tight, again they need more space! Â Waitstaff was very sweet but a bit inexperienced, that's something that will get better with time. Â Overall a winner!
My family tried Bellissimo for the first time last evening. Â We were seated without a wait. Â The place remained busy the entire time, but no one had to wait for a table (on a Friday night). Â The atmosphere was rather nice, especially for families with children. Â The wait staff were very attentive to us and professional. Â The food was great! Â Our bill was very reasonable and we all had more than enough to eat, taking home leftovers to enjoy the next day for lunch. Â I highly recommend this restaurant! Â It is a gem and so much better than the mass produced, large chain restaurants in town. Â We can not wait to go back!!! Â Well done!!!
Review Source:The menu items are a bit different from a typical Italian place, but features lots of sandwiches, salads and about 8 or 9 different pastas. The Panzerotti bread was good; Â a soft rather than crusty bread, but the meat had little flavor so I asked for sauce on the side and was charged extra. My friend had mushroom ravioli and said the filling was mushy with little flavor but the marinara sauce was nice and tangy. Service that day was very poor. There are no lunch servings and the prices average around $10.
Review Source:While I lived in the Philadelphia, PA area, I'd eaten at a lot of Italian restaurants where the Italians go to eat. Â Generally, I avoid the chain restaurants unless there is no alternative. Â One-off restaurants like Bellissimo make me nervous before I walk through the door. Â Since there aren't a lot of Italian places in town and the individual Italian place (Galo's) is really bad, I expected that I wouldn't like this one.
We ordered the bread, oil and herbs to start. Â It was a tomato foccacia and it was nice and crispy outside with a soft interior. Â There were two problems: some of the bread was wet and the oil and herbs had zero taste. Â It was more like an exercise in sopping up the oil, of which we got one small plate for 4 people. Â I kind of liked the bread but no one else did and the oil and herbs were useless. Â While it was an appetizer, they charged us each $0.75 + $0.75, I'm guessing for the bread and the oil and herbs, as I figure SOS = sauce = oil.
The food was, for me, quite good. Â I ordered a Rigatoni Arrabiata, which came with a 6 inch slice of foccacia bread for $8.95. Â It was too much for lunch and the price was rather heavy, also. Â For dinner, I suppose the price was fine, especially given the amount of the food and the peppers and meat. Â They didn't skimp at all. Â I thought that there would be more pasta than meat and I was wrong.
A friend ordered the Four (five?) cheese Ravioli with Marinara sauce. Â It was also quite good, but she didn't like it. Â It didn't have enough flavour for her.
On the other side, the Spaghetti Frittata was not quite to that woman's liking, but I also had a taste of that and it was very good. Â Neither were pleased with the Marinara sauce and, I hate to tell people, but Marinara sauce isn't overly flavourful and isn't like a Ragu or Prego sauce from the jar.
The other male in the group ordered Barbecue Meatball Sliders. Â This was listed under the Panini section of the menu. Â He enjoyed them but what I thought was odd was that they didn't bother to slice the meatballs to fit the buns. Â It was one big meatball, covered in BBQ sauce of some sort, on a slider bun.
The waitress said that she paid for 3 tiny desserts and that was really nice. Â The desserts were good, but a small child wouldn't have found them enough.
The facilities were nice enough, but not what you would expect to go with the prices. Â There were tables that seemed to have granite tops but no table cloths or cloth napkins. Â The china was thankfully plain and didn't have the name of the place emblazoned on the rim like the place across town. Â It was nice enough without being fancy.
The one thing I noticed outside is that there was a wheelchair ramp on one side and a post lamp in the way once you got to the flat spot.
There was absolutely no wait for a table and the wait staff was quite flexible.
Way less than expected. Feels like you are eating in someones living room. It's priced like upscale Italian but the feel is not there. The $3 salad very skimpy! Coffee $2.50. Service slow almost friendly! I will have to give good report on spaghetti and m balls! Good. Probably wont go back to expensive.
Review Source:I'm not completely sure about the Bellissimo concept, but I like it. (And "not sure" means "is it fast-casual, family-friendly, or some mix thereof?") I like the decor that is gently trendy without being (over)done by hipsters. I like the simple and fun menus that are playful without being childish or twee. I like the food offerings, especially the vegetarian dishes. I like the pace of the kitchen. I like the night manager. I like that the owner was IN THE KITCHEN. These are all things that would prompt me to return should Bellissimo be transported to my home Yelping grounds of New Orleans. The fact that it's around the corner from my Indiana home is even better.
So I dig all that...why is this a three-star review? Service.
My server was a young woman with a constant deer-in-the-headlights look about her and a nervous demeanor that carried over into her performance. I was afraid drinks were going to spill into my lap or my food would come out completely wrong because she'd been too flustered to actually hear my order. The tables around me were having issues with their service, too. The issues were varied--from not getting food in a timely manner to getting the wrong order--but they were enough to note. (And yes, you may infer that the restaurant is quite loud from my ability to report on the issues surrounding tables were having. The space has some noise containment issues.)
Refills were slow going, which was a minor annoyance. The kitchen was prompt, but the customization request I asked for seemed to confuse everyone. Yes, I know you're curious: I asked the kitchen to eyeball a 50/50 split of alfredo and marinara sauces on my ravioli to amp up the delicious factor without so many of the fats and calories and whatnot. For a pasta that's plated then sauced, a 50/50 split should be no big deal. Just ladle one then the other et voila! It's something I could do at home while drunk; I'm pretty sure a sober professional can handle it better than me. But ye gods! The kitchen asked so many damn questions about it. I know this because I was seated near the kitchen. Fascinating and sort of fun, but I'm not sure if that's the show Bellissimo wants to give their customers. Since I don't watch those TV shows that feature screaming chefs and lots of kitchen misdeeds, the yelling of the chef startled me a bit. Perhaps Gordon Ramsay fans should request the table by the kitchen...? Or maybe a swinging door to keep the kitchen noise in the kitchen is in order...?
And I know what you're saying, reader: this is rural Indiana, not my fancy-pantsy New Orleans. Cut the service some slack. To you, dear reader, I say nay. A girl must have some standards, even in the gentle backwaters of our fair country. A restaurant nestled squarely in the heartland has as much potential to shine as an eatery in a cultural mecca like New York, LA, or even my sweet home New Orleans. I do understand that Applebee's is considered fine dining in this part of the world, but do grasp that we need to aspire to something. If not a better standard of service, at least not one that leaves diners in fear of a coke shower to go with their rigatoni.
An aside: why was I paying New Orleans prices in rural Indiana? Quality, I suppose. This must speak poorly for the other restaurants in town, though.
Would I return? Yes. Do I hope to improve upon this review? Of course. Would I bring another Elite Yelper to dine here without embarrassment? Yes, absolutely.
And yes, darlings, I left a very fair tip. Even rural servers have to pay their bills.
Accessibility notes: Doors open out. Two ramps at the front of the building, but both are blocked by lightposts in the center. No braille menu or signage. Tables are close together for guests with mobility devices. Can get quite loud for hard-of-hearing guests. Lights are dim during dinner hours.
I got takeout from the drive-through one weekday during my lunch break. Â I got pasta with marinara sauce and added meatballs and a side salad (which wasn't listed on the takeout menu). Â I thought the marinara sauce was really nice with a fresh flavor. Â I enjoyed the meatballs and thought they were a nice addition. Â My total was about $13. Â I'd like to try Bellissimo for dinner or lunch but it always seems like there is a line since they opened in late December!
Review Source:Who needs Olive Garden with new places like this coming to town?
I'm rating this restaurant 4 stars based on the food. Â I figured it would be unfair to rate them lower because of a few minor glitches which I'm sure every new restaurant goes through after just opening.
I enjoyed the decor inside, and the cozy atmosphere. There were about 15 tables inside. Â
I came for lunch. Â I usually avoid sit-down places for lunch since my lunch break is only an hour. But they had a drive-thru so I figured the wait shouldn't be too bad. I can't fault them for not getting us out in an hour. They were very busy and it's very rare for a sit down restaurant to be able to do so. I'd like to visit again for dinner when I'm not so rushed, or maybe when the "new restaurant in town" factor fades away and they're not as busy.
The food was very good, although I'm pretty positive what I ate was not what I ordered. However, as stated before, I was pressed for time and didn't want to make a fuss. The sandwich I ordered I remember there being salami and marinara sauce in the menu description, however there was none on the sandwich. What I did receive was very tasty though. I would order it again if I knew what it was.
I also got a cup of minestone soup which was slammin. Very hearty and flavorful. I could've ordered just a bowl of this soup and have been totally satisfied for lunch.
I look forward to returning!
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