Ciao Bella

Recommends

grandmamarie

Joined 2 years ago

I agree with ziggiefoodie - not the same!!. I haven't been back to Worcester in 10 years and decided to visit some oldies that were still around. Ciao Bella was one of them. I remember going there and getting fresh food as well as large portions. The portions are HUGE but the quality seems to have slipped. My son went the other night and said it was wonderful however. I think this restaurant is great for college kids or young adults who eat one meal a day and need to save money. As for me - what ever happened to Tianos?

Doesn't Recommend

ziggiefoodie

Joined 2 years ago

Spend your money elsewhere. seriously.. This place is so inconsistent that it's just not worth it anymore, especially paying $15 for sub-par food. It's amazing what's passing for food nowadays. I was so disgusted with the quality of a meal last night that I'm signing up for the first time to write restaurant reviews. I've noticed people really liked the amount of food for the $$, but really, is bad food worth it? 2 lbs of slop is still slop.

Example:

For my boyfriend's meal, the fettuccine carbonara was a sauce soup with some pasta, and the sauce was broken (i.e. didn't stay emulsified; the egg or cream coagulated and separated). It looked like small chunks of cream/egg within runny oil.

For my dish, the chicken saltimbocca was worse. A true saltimbocca should have flattened chicken/veal, prosciutto, fresh sage, lemon, capers, and fontina/mozzarella cheese.

Whatever they were passing for saltimbocca was made up of chicken tenders, parmesan, and a dark turkey-ish gravy. Yes. Gravy. I wished I had the foresight to take a picture with my phone....

No sage, capers, or a white wine lemon sauce. It look NOTHING like any saltimbocca I've ever had.

Worse...the gravy was like a "just add water" super salty msg-laden grocery store packet gravy. It drenched everything. All I could taste was gravy and salt. Everything was swimming in this stuff. Honestly, It was one step above dog food.

Covering up food components, rather than let them shine, to me means that you're using sub-quality products. Much like covering up horse meat with a potent sauce.

Both a carbonara and saltimbocca are BASIC Italian dishes, and if a place messes up on the basics, then not much can be said for the other menu options in my opinion.

But hey, if you like your food very salty and drenched in sauce or condiments, then this is the place for you. But I'd personally spend my $15-20 at someplace like the Abbey, and avoid the slop....and the salt-induced bloating and digestive problems.

Recommends

akela999

Joined 5 years ago

Good Pizza!. Good pizza and pasta dishes. Best for take out though as the seating is limited and not very welcoming due to the space. Staff is great.