Bella's Bistro

Jo's review... I REALLY wanted this to be a good review.  Operated by three local chefs, Bella's is located at 4050 Bath Road (the intersection of Collin's Bay and Bath Roads).  They are a casual neighbourhood bistro serving pizza, pasta, panini and more...  I have often heard from friends that Bella's serves great pizza and they are well known in the area for their pastas.  When driving by at any time of day or night there always seems to be lots of customers.

Stephen & I stopped in one Wednesday afternoon and there were many customers -  a good sign in my book.  
From what we've read both on the internet and on the chalk boards, the establishment makes  every attempt to purchase local meat and produce.  I was impressed by the focus on local (Sandbanks and Kingston) breweries and wineries.  The waitress was very knowledgeable about the vision of the restaurant and enthusiastically answered our questions regarding where the meat and produce was sourced.

At this time of day, the menu offered a number of $10 lunches, including the "Classic Burger" and fries.  For an extra $1.50, I ordered Caesar Salad instead of fries.  First the positives... the service was excellent and the waitress was warm, sincere and cheerful.  The salad was delicious (with real bacon).  Unfortunately, the hamburger was very disappointing.  My burger was overcooked and charred on one side, and my bun was stale.  Therefore even with the fresh condiments, my burger was so dry that I could not finish it.  So disappointing!  I also have to mention that Bella's offering was priced the same as Harper's - but Harper's was so much better - in both taste and presentation.

Stephen's review... As Jo noted, we really wanted this to be a huge hit in every way. This because, over the years Bella Bistro and it's predecessors have all served us very well. I have had many a meal here and never a bad experience in any way shape or form. Since the advent of Bella's we had heard many good news stories especially about the menu, local selections and concentrations and as always, the friendly staff.

As Jo said, we finally had the opportunity to hit Bella's for lunch and as you can see from the photo's... the burgers looked fantastic. My first disappointment was the shoe-string style fries. Now the taste was very good but I just am not a big fan of this style of french fry. Inevitably, you are left with a quantity of overcooked, tiny pieces of inedible fries! Again, the taste was excellent but the leftovers... not so appetizing.

Now the burger looked awesome. Great size patty, well seared, nice fresh condiments; lettuce, tomato and pickle on the side, to which I added mustard and ketchup. Now on this occasion I did not order cheese and bacon like I have done in most of my other reviews. Again, the order looked fantastic. However... from almost the first bite, there was something missing. I tried hard to ignore it but if we are going to be honest in this endeavour, I must call it like I taste it. This gorgeous looking burger was dry... very dry. As I have noted before, I do like a well cooked burger, certainly on the medium-well side, but this one was really a little too well done even for me. The bun was a good sized kaiser style and it looked fantastic with a light toasting but again... it came off very dry. I can't easily say that it was stale but it certainly came off very dry. Now this is where I have to say that perhaps had I ordered my burger with bacon and cheese, perhaps that may have aided in adding a little more moisture to the mix. However, as I ordered it, this burger was simply dry. A big disappointment for sure but based on previous experiences, I will commit to a second try at some time in the near future.

Foot Note: Well as mentioned, I was somewhat disappointed with my first burger bite so I went back to Bella's for a second try a few weeks after our first visit. Unfortunately this time, Jo was not with me as I was meeting an old work buddy for lunch. Again, the staff were excellent; very attentive, friendly and another welcoming and positive experience from that perspective. I ordered the burger with fries, same as last time and added the same condiments. I can say that I did feel that this serving was a little bit moister as the patty did not seem to be as well done as before nor did the bun seem as dry. However, despite my best wishes and highest hopes... this one was just another burger; certainly no more and no less. As before, I would give it my recommendation but would not suggest you go out of your way just to try it.