review: Bella's Pizza

Bella's Pizza

date of visit: 2/16/08

kiwis:

taste: 2.5

service: 4

ambience: 3.5

So Ryan & I are on a quest to find the best pizza in Atlanta. So far my favorite is Pero's. But I won't talk about why because this post is about Bella's. We've been reading reviews etc and have a short list of pizza places we want to try in the near future. We happened to be hungry late at night and pizza was what we wanted, so we decided to try a new place. Bella's is on Atlanta Rd. right on the edge of Vinings/Smyrna. So, not more than a 10 min drive from my apt.

Now, for me, the perfect pizza is all about ratios. Besides being great tasting, you have to have the right ratio of sauce, cheese, and crust. This is where Bella's failed me. The taste was not all that bad, and I was able to get one of my favorite toppings - eggplant. As in fried, like what you would get for eggplant parmesan. Sounds kinda gross but I promise, it can be soooo good. Bella's did not disappoint on the toppings front. The eggplant, besides being an option which is amazing in itself, was very tasty! Ryan got fresh tomatoes which were equally delicious. However, the pizza ratios were just not right. Not enough sauce, and toooooo much cheese! Like...globs of it. Not good globs. Gross globs. And the crust...oh the crust. The crust is often my favorite part! some pieces had a good amount of crust, other pieces had less than a centimeter of crust at the end :( And the crust, while lightly baked (which I prefer), was pretty tasteless. Same with the sauce. Or maybe, they did have a good flavor, but the cheese was just so overpowering I couldn't taste anything else. Who knows?! It was very frustrating b/c I wanted to like Bella's so much, just for the toppings.

The service was pretty good, our server was a nice, attentive guy. Good on getting us refills. The atmosphere was really nice, very  neighborhood hangout. They have some great specials too that I would like to try - weekday happy hours where you get a free slice with a drink. yum! So Bella's...just kind of your average homey pizza place. I rate it above Fellini's but below say...Giorgio's or Pero's.