Bella’s Kitchen

I tried this Bella’s Kitchen location after trying out the 12 Civic Center Plaza one, which I was pretty impressed with.
I had no idea how much of a hassle it is to eat at a Federal building.
We were told upon entering that we can’t have our cell phones on us. Luckily, we just had to cross the street to drop off our phones. Then when we came back, they told us we need to take off our shoes! Ridiculous! But we decided to do it anyways because we were starving. Unfortunately, it just happened to be a day when I had my canvas high-​tops on… It was a total pain in the butt to take em off and put them back on.
The cafeteria area was not cool as the other location. It was smaller and the atmosphere was more subdued. A much older crowd for sure. I guess that’s what you get inside the Federal building. The food was underwhelming. I had the daily special of teriyaki bowl and they were soooo stingy with the meat.
I would not come to this location again. Anyone coming here that’s not a Federal employee, take note of their no phone rule and shoes off screening. Even though the 12 Civic Center Plaza location requires you walk past a block of homeless people, it’s still much better than this location.

I often have lunch at Bella’s Kitchen which is located on the ground floor in the Santa Ana Federal Building. Bella’s is a CASH ONLY cafeteria style restaurant that offers numerous lunch options such as sandwiches, pastas, salads, soup, individual pizzas, and daily specials (i.e. chicken parmesan w/​spaghetti, marsala chicken plate, etc.). Most of their lunch options are around $ 5 — $ 6. The other day, I had the lemon chicken, mashed potato, and mixed veges special for $ 4.99. The chicken breast was tasty and the sides were delish.
The only downside to the restaurant is going through the security screening process which disallows visitors from bringing cell phones into the Federal Building. However, Bella’s offers tasty lunch options, good service, at cheap prices. Don’t forget to ask for a punch card which will give you a free meal after your 10^th purchase. 4 Stars