Bella Famiglia

IMO Ranks a high as any South End place. Don’t miss the cheesy Garlic Bread. Garlic Lover’s Delight wonderful. Recommend the pizza (Restaurant type pizza, not pizza parlor stuff). Nice family and staff.

My boyfriend and I love this place. This is our go to restaurant when we want good Italian food without traveling into the north end. My usual go to is the linguini and clams in the garlic and oil sauce. It’s simple but very flavorful. We switched it up tonight and ordered pizzas that were delicious. The margarita pizza was perfect. We have been here/​done takeout at least a dozen times and it is always awesome.

Excellent meal. Had the ravioli special, stuffed with goat cheese, red pepper, and capers. Also tried the angel hair pasta with sausage, spinach, and artichoke hearts. Both meals very flavorful. House salad was just OK, made with iceberg lettuce. Generous portions! Dessert special cookie pie was a perfect ending– not heavy like expected, and Carmel center with chocolate mousse added a nice balance.

Great place we stumbled upon after buying a new car down the street. The food was excellent and the waitress was amazing with our daughter, treated her like a grown up and kept her smiling. Was on the pricey end of the scale, but worth it.

Last night was our first time at Bella. We were seated in about 20 minutes because we didn’t have ‘reservations’. The area where we were seated had about twelve tables, yet at least five were empty the entire time we were there. The food was good, but not exceptional and very overpriced for what it was… GF gives their rest rooms a thumbs up. Bottom line: if you have money to burn, for food that is just okay, then this is a good place to try. Unfortunately, we won’t be back, as we can get a better meal for a more reasonable price elsewhere.

Update: now they brought in a pretty nice locally-​made bread which I had a few pieces of when I was there a few weeks ago.

Great family restaurant. Good food and friendly service. If your at he bar on Friday or Saturday say hello to Mike. Everything is great but recommend the Alfredo and Marinara sauces as well as the pizzas.

Although very good food, I Was disappointed. We were a party of 10 in the Godfather room and sat at 6pm. At 8pm the waitress told us they had another party of 10 waiting. I’m sorry but do you not want our service?

First time in the area, so my fiancé and I decided to stop in for dinner. We’ve been loving the weather lately so we opted to sit outside. They’re patio is adjacent to a busy road so it was a little noisy. The landscaping keeps it private from the road so you don’t have people driving by and staring while you eat.
The food was delicious, and seemed pretty fresh. The service was good. When asked if we wanted bread, the server only brought out 2 rolls, which was fine I guess. When my fiancé asked for more rolls, she brought out only 2 more rolls. I thought this was funny; I guess you have to cut costs somewhere. It’s a shame when food is wasted anyways so it didn’t bother me much but I did find it humorous.
All and all, we enjoyed it here and most definitely will return!

Took my mom and sister here the other night. Service was decent, prices were on par for Acton, the food was excellent. Mom had salmon with Brussel sprouts and my sister had chicken piccata with a side of potatoes and broccoli. Both raved about their meals afterwards.
The waitress did mess up the sides for my sister, but gave an appropriate, humorous response when my sister pointed it out, and her sides were quickly replaced with what she had ordered.
I can’t have gluten, so I was stuck with a chicken Caesar salad without the croutons. Don’t go here if you are gluten intolerant, there’s not much selection. However, it was a pretty good chicken Caesar salad, so zero complaints about the quality there.

Food was pretty good, although a little pricey. What really bugged me though was waiter told us ‘appetizers half off after 8:00 PM”, and then proceeded to list of bunch of appetizers, including a caprese salad — which we ordered. When the bill came, it was full price. We asked why and he said — «technically, it’s a salad not an appetizer. I told the owner I accidently mentioned it in the list of appetizers and asked if we could charge 50%, but the owner said no, too bad». We’re only talking ~$ 5, but it really felt like a bait and switch. Pisses me off when the boss doesn’t stand behind his employees.

I’ve been to Bella 4 times now. Each time I’ve been satisfied. Tonight my wife and I stopped in to grab a bite after our daughter’s hockey game. The parking lot was rather full and we were a little worried that we wouldn’t get a spot at the bar which is our favorite spot at most restaurants. We were fortunate to snag two seats at the bar as soon as we arrived. The affable barkeep, Michael, greeted us almost immediately. Michael is full of energy and darts around the bar whilst conversing with his patrons. We each ordered a glass of wine. We were offered a taste before the full glass was poured — something I’ve not experienced before. When the glass was poured it was a generous goblet of fermented grapes. We ordered marinated steak tips and the lasagna. Both were delicious and presented well. We will definitely return.

We are devoted customers who consider the owners and staff as friends. The food is wonderful, cocktails super and the décor is charming and inviting. We love this place and are there at least once a week.

Love this place! First time there. Great and friendly staff, best chicken piccata I’ve ever had, delicious Caesar salad (so fresh!), and even the ginger ale was delicious! The atmosphere was perfect; not stuffy like other Italian restaurants but tasteful and special. Definitely recommend this place for any occasion! In our case, celebrating being 41 weeks pregnant!

CONFUSED! Verdict is still out on this restaurant. The first time we came here, we sat at the bar for dinner (as we do everywhere) and the place was EMPTY. We told the bartender/​waitress it was our first time there and she was indifferent. She pointed out an owner, who was standing behind us talking BUT never came over to welcome us. It seemed a bit weird for a local restaurant. We’ve been back twice, and each time the bar has a few people BUT the bartender/​waitress spends all her time talking to her friends who stop by and ignores the rest of us. We have waited toooooo long to get a drink as she chats up all her friends. The food is okay, but not worth what you have to go through to get it. We eat out several times a week, Sunday evening being one of them. Unfortunately this place is not open on Sunday, which again for a local place seems a bit odd. I guess my main issue is the vibe brought on by the owners/​staff.
For a local place, the owners should be working the room, not sitting at a high top killing time.

very nice atmosphere and cozy dining area. the food was disappointing. overall, everything was OK but the veal parm was tough and the seafood dish we ordered was dry. the antipasto was mediocre and we were really excited about it :(it is one of the reasons we picked the restaurant. the waitress served our meals and did not come back to the table to check until 20 minutes later. in the meantime, my mom didn’t like her veal because it was very tough and didn’t even have the opportunity to send it back. once the waitress finally got back, and my mom said the veal was tough, her response was «bummer! would you like a box?» we think maybe she was taken off guard but still disappointing. the owner did offer us free desserts and seemed very friendly. we might try again another time.

Love the sangria and the cozy atmosphere. Friendly bartender. Good service. Buffalo chicken appetizer signature dish was unique and tasty. Looking forward to coming back for dinner with my wife this time. I just need to make sure Rick is actually working that night.

We asked about the buffalo mozzarella and the waitress said it was spicy like buffalo chicken wings. Pretty funny but they need to train the staff more. She was very nice and tried hard. Meals are pretty average but they always seem to be out of something. Saturday was no strawberries for the cheesecake
I hope they can improve because we really need a good Italian restaurant in acton!

Good food, okay service. I had linguine with meat sauce. Sauce was decent, linguine was quite limp.
Kids had penne with tomato sauce and a meatball each. Both liked the food, which was a plus.
Wife had the caesar salad and liked it. I tasted it and thought it was one of the better caesar salads i had had in a long time.
Reasonably priced, decent atmosphere.

I met up here with a friend for dinner on a sunny weekday evening. I had read the mixed reviews of this establishment and other Italian restaurants in the area prior to making the decision to have dinner at Bella Famiglia (Beautiful Family). The prices are moderate here, but seemed pretty reasonable for the area, decision made!
We were greeted as soon as we entered the restauirant and promptly seated in the dining room upon request. We were also given the choices of sitting in the bar area or in the outside patio area (It was a bit hot & humid outside).
In making a decision in what to order, most of the entrees sounded pretty good and typical fare of what you’d find at an Italian American family restaurant. I was going to order the Baked Lasagna, but then I noticed they were offering a Fixed Price (Prezzo Fisso) Special for $ 14.95 (offered Tues-​Thurs 4PM-​10PM in July) which includes soup or salad, choice of one of three special entrees, and dessert (tiramisu) & coffee or tea. Since it was Thursday night, the Fixed Price Special is what both of us decided to go with for our dinners.
First we started out an appetizer, the Fried Calamari ($ 8.95), which was a modest portion of big rings and tentacles with a golden crunchy breading on the outside and chewy texture inside, served with Italian hot peppers slices and a cup of thick marinara sauce. This appetizer was interesting, but a very good appetizer choice.
Next we were given fresh hot out of the oven rolls (with butter) which were firm on the outside and soft inside. The house salads were good which had a mixed of fresh lettuce, tomato wedges, cucumbers (peeled), black olives, onion, and grated cheese, topped with dressing.
ENTREES: Capellini Patresia with Chicken (add $ 4), which had spinach, diced tomatoes, artichoke hearts & pieces of boneless chicken sauteed in garlic oil, tossed with angel hair pasta. The chicken was tender, the angel hair was cooked just right (not too soft), and the flavors of the dish worked.
The Chef’s Choice was interesting which had fresh yellow & green zucchini slices, spinach, broccoli, diced tomatoes, & garlic tossed in a light cream sauce over linguine. The linguine was cooked just right and the flavors of the dish were satisfying.
Though the entrees did not look fancy, both of us enjoyed our dinners and actually finished the good sized portions of sautes.
For dessert, the Tiramisu (happy ending size) triangle with a cup of hot coffee was a nice way to end our dinner. The Tiramisu had layers of light cream, soaked espresso ladyfingers, dusted with cocoa and drizzled with chocolate sauce, whipped cream & cherry on the side.
As for the service, the waitress was very attentive, checking up on us often making sure with had drinks and how the food was. The food arrived to our table in timely order and in courses. We were offered grated cheese on our entrees and also offered refills on the coffee with dessert.
The total check with one appetizer ($ 8.95, two Fixed Price Specials ($ 14.95 & $ 18.95), one Moretti Larosa ($ 4.95), glass of Aranci Pino ($ 8.95), and one Sangria ($ 8.95)-a very good summer drink, with tax before tip was $ 67.68.
The food overall was 3.5 stars and the service was very good on our visit. We believe we found a solid good Italian American restaurant in Acton and would definitely return!