For more than 20 years, Bella Mia restaurant and banquet has been offering Californian and Italian cuisine in San Jose, Calif. It offers soups, appetizers, salads, pastas, pizzas, sandwiches and main courses. These include garden salad, baby spinach and beet, golden apple and gorgonzola, crab cakes, chicken and walnut, chilled shellfish, grilled salmon, roast turkey cob, grilled steak, pepperoni pizza, club sandwich, chicken breast parmesan, oven baked lasagna and lemon and herb roasted chicken. Bella Mia s banquet hall is available for a variety of occasions, including wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers, business morning meetings, corporate functions, private parties and business dinners and special events.
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Reviews

H
hoodchip

09/08/2007

Provided by YP.com
This is a GREAT restaurant!

My lawyer, Jeff L, kept telling me about this place so I had to check it out.

I was very impressed. Bella Mia is probably one of the biggest restaurants in Downtown San Jose with a huge formal grand ballroom with private bar, two "very clubby" inter-connected fireside club rooms, (and thats just on the second floor). There's a hidden fountain garden patio as you enter from Second Street, you pass by a very open and "brassy" exhibition kitchen and casual style booth room section and then there's a formal tablecloth and white linen napkin dining room facing First Street. The bar entrance facing First Street is small but very elegant with very tall, well stocked, wine cabinets lining one wall and an even bigger mirrored back bar on the other wall.

Who ever designed this restaurant had very good (and expensive) taste. Lots of mahogany stained solid woods accented by heavy brass . I used to be in the restaurant biz so I can appreciate the beauty in a well designed eatery.

The menu is Italian and unlike most "cookie cutter" restaurants that are popular now, from what I learned on my visit, everything in the Bella Mia kitchen is made from scratch. The prices are fair for dining out with some very good filet steak specials on mid-week nights.



While looking over the menu, my usual aperitif, Compari and soda with a twist was served promptly in a heavy rocks glass.

As recommended by the waiter, I tried a new lunch item on the menu, the rib steak sandwich with garlic fries. Grilled on an open flame and placed inside soft garlic French bread. This was one of the best steak sandwiches I have ever had and now I know where Gordon Biersch got the recipe for garlic fries. Try the fries with a side of ranch dressing dip and don't fill up on the warm foccacia bread and tasty cheesie spread before your meal arrives.

The espresso was served as it should be, rich, strong and creamy with a twist of lemon and raw sugar cubes...the best.



The service couldn't be any better for a Downtown restaurant.

I hear Bella Mia is famous for other dishes (scallopini and parmigiana) with many reviews and write-ups from critics.

"I'll be back soon"

More Business Info

Hours
Regular Hours
Mon - Thu:
Fri:
Sat:
Sun:
Extra Phones

Phone: 408-280-5624

Payment method
amex, diners club, discover, master card, visa
Neighborhoods
Central San Jose, Downtown San Jose
Categories
Mediterranean Restaurants, Banquet Halls & Reception Facilities, Family Style Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, Restaurants
Other Information

Cuisines: Family Style, Mediterranean, Italian, Continental, European

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