Tony Lupino’s Bella Cucina

Bella Cucina is the BEST Italian food I have ever had! The staff was amazing and my personally favorite dish is the fillet Forenza! I loved the fact that they have a dessert tray and bring it out to you to look at. For dessert I ordered the homemade turtle cheesecake which was the best cheese cake I have ever had.

Went on a recommendation of a Utica native while we were driving through. The atmosphere was nice but not special. I think the worst part of the experience was they light a candle for each patron as a part of being seated, blowing out the same as soon as each table leaves. While they do a lot really well with the food, someone needs to explain a candle lighting does not create ambiance. The manner they do it is really insulting to the guests.
Food was much better. I went with a party of three. We started with calamari. It crispy and sweet. I didn’t like the cocktail and missed marinara which they brought right over. We then had greens and stuffed cherry peppers. They both were outstanding. They brought us fresh warm bread. I called it a treasure.
Salads were nice as a course but just a standard dinner salad. I think they should either carry more dressings or just have one.
Dinner entrees were great. A trio /​lasagna, pasta hats Alfredo and chicken Parmesan. Great sauce. Linguini with fresh clams. Just the right amount of garlic.
Desserts were homemade. Cannoli — great! Cheesecake with Carmel sauce stopped the show with coffee.
We all left with leftovers!

Very surprised at these reviews. Food is fairly decent but not terrible. Prices can be a little heavy though depending.

Loved the food, beautiful inside. Service good. Order the chicken franchese, or the haddock! You won’t be disappointed. Head chef John Lupino is an excellent cook.

Best italian cuisine I’ve experienced. Delicious food and nice staff made this dining experience a pleasurable one.
Bella Cucina has a wide assortment of dishes from pasta, steak, chicken and seafood.
Their appetizers are amazing also.
I had the eggplant parmesan and it was actually better than grandma used to make (sorry grandma).

I decided to try Bella Cucina in Nov. 2013 again and see if they got any better. I was sadly disappointed that they are still trying to up charge their pasta for $ 5.00. Three of us ordered the same meal (Chicken Ramano which was terrible) and requested the pasta and were told that there would be a $ 15.00 up charge to cover all three of our pastas. We told the waitress to forget it we were leaving. She went and talked to the hostess and the hostess said they’ll waive the up charge this time. You shouldn’t have to play these games to get an up charge waived. None of us will ever go back. It’s a shame because less then a year ago this place was great.

Had a large (12 people?) family dinner at Bella Cucina and can only give in luke warm reviews oveall. The food was OK (Greens (appetizer) was very good but the veal saltimboca was just OK). Biggest problem was the service… very slow! I understand it takes a while to cook for a large group but we were constantly looking for a server for drinks or other things. Not great. Good prices though.
They have all the Italian classics but I’m not sure that any of them are memorable. Just OK for me dog…

great place and food. G

Excellent food and service! Great Italian atmosphere!

Very attentive service, food was fine, but I’ve certainly had better Italian elsewhere. It’s traditional Americanized Italian with large portions. I was on the cheap so I ordered pasta with marinara ($ 9) and a meatball ($ 1.50 extra), which also came with a small iceberg salad. I didn’t want something covered in cheese, which was most of the menu, but the other diners I was with enjoyed their lasagna dishes. Marinara was tasty, but the meatball was eh… I’ve had MUCH better meatballs, and it wasn’t very big either. Desserts were tasty — we shared a vanilla crème brûlée and a tiramisu. Lots of angels in the décor so you are being watched over while you eat. Overall, a decent affordable meal in New Hartford with very nice and accomodating servers.

come for the overcooked pasta stay for the fake italian accents
#marinnnnaaarrrsauce

Good food and reasonable prices. Definitely one of the better Italian places in a sea of mediocrity.