One of my guilty TV pleasures is Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. I’ve worked in plenty of restaurants that probably could have used his help, so that’s part of the appeal.
But what I really like is that the show can offer a mini-tutorial on what restaurants should not do. Aside from all the yelling, the moral of each episode is: Have a plan; be consistent; and cook good food well.
In some ways, my visits to Bella D’Auria reminded me of Kitchen Nightmares. Not because of cleanliness issues—the restaurant seemed quite clean and well-kept on both of our visits—but because it seems to lack direction. Fine dining, sports bar, nightclub, coffee bar … Bella D’Auria is all and simultaneously none of these things.
The décor is confusing. Tall, pub-style tables are adorned with white-linen tablecloths, and the tile work on the floor is very classy and beautifully done. There is even a pianist on Friday and Saturday nights. But the majority of the seating is in what would traditionally be considered a bar, in full view of several TVs with sports channels blaring. The front of the bar is decorated with neon lights and panels that change color and would be better suited at a nightclub. And on top of the linen tablecloths are cardboard coasters advertising NFL Sunday Ticket. The other half of the dining area, not in front of the bar, has three huge, ceiling-mounted speakers and a projector, and more neon lights adorn the walls.
I will concede the point that if the food is good, the atmosphere in which it is consumed shouldn’t matter as much. But, in reality, it does—yet the food at Bella D’Auria wasn’t impressive enough on either of my visits to forgive the lack of direction. As for Ramsay’s advice to cook good food, and cook it well, Bella D’Auria has the “good food” part down, ingredients-wise. The kitchen uses quite a few organic, sustainable and locally sourced ingredients—but the execution of the dishes is often a failure.
Overcooking pasta in an Italian restaurant is absolutely unforgivable—but amazingly, that wasn’t the worst part of my Friday-night meal with Ted. Both the hostess and server were aloof and inattentive. Even worse, many of the staff members, including someone who appeared to be either an owner or a manager, chewed gum throughout our visit. If you’re serving food or drinks, that’s completely inexcusable.
The menu also speaks to the lack of direction. The appetizers on the dinner menu are more like what you might find at a sports bar: fried clams, fried mozzarella sticks, coconut beer-battered shrimp, fried calamari, hot wings, bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers and our choice, pan-seared provolone ($9). These menu items are not in any way Italian (with the exception of the provolone, perhaps), and are definitely not something I would order at a restaurant where the table linens are white, and the male servers are dressed in head-to-toe black, with button-down shirts and bowties.
The provolone appetizer was, frankly, gross. A half-inch-thick slice of provolone, a little bigger than the size of my palm, was pan-fried and topped with sautéed greens. It wasn’t even completely melted in the middle, and the outside had a vague burned taste, as if it had been fried in used oil. There was no detectable seasoning on either the cheese or the greens—and eating a slab of semi-melted cheese with nothing to accompany it was just plain bizarre. After being charged $9, I was appalled.
The entrées weren’t any better. My linguini with clams ($18.99) was drowning in garlic (and I really love garlic). The dish came with 12 tiny clams that were so chewy, it was like eating rubber bands, and the pasta was way past al dente. Ted ordered the veal parmigiana ($18.99)—and by the way, if you’re going to go with the “organic, local and sustainable” mantra, including veal on your menu seems like a poor choice. The veal was pounded thin and was tender, but was overwhelmed by the thick, bland breading. It sat atop a pile of spaghetti that was so overcooked, it was near mush. The dish’s only redeeming quality was the red sauce, which was thick, flavorful and well-seasoned, with just a touch of garlic.
Dessert, thankfully, ended the meal on a positive note. We chose to share the Italian lemon cream cake ($8). The cake was light and fluffy, with the perfect amount of lemon. The splash of amaretto on the plate was a lovely complement.
Lunch with my mom was better, but there were still some issues. The lunch menu features a few of the same entrées as the dinner menu, plus some burgers and entrée salads. I decided on the meat lasagna ($11.99). Our server, who was quite friendly and competent (although a bit nervous), warned me it would take 25 minutes or so, and it did. When it came out, the dish was drenched in sauce. The lasagna noodles were soggy, and there was way too much cheese, but the meat sauce had a nice flavor to it.
Mom ordered the salmon salad ($13.99), which consisted of a grilled filet on top of mixed greens, various salad veggies and some grilled pineapple, all dressed with cilantro-lime vinaigrette. She enjoyed it, saying that the flavors blended quite well, although the salmon was a bit dry and just a little overcooked.
All in all, I can’t recommend a visit to Bella D’Auria until the owners figure out what it’s going to be—a fancy Italian restaurant, a sports bar or a late-night DJ hangout—and fix the sloppy errors in the kitchen.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2012.
“Finally, Tucson has a REAL Italian restaurant!”
Actual quote from Bella D’Auria’s original AM radio spot that plagued my 1330 listening… ah, hubris.
Bella D’ Auria has barely been open a month or two and the Tucson Weekly once again does their best to ruin another Tucson business with a bad review. Sorry Jacqueline Kuder the reviewer is dead wrong. All of the other Italian restaurants, including Olive Garden have high prices for what you get. All Italian dishes of this nature are seemingly sloppily prepared. How do you serve pasta and sauce???? One ignorant review with perhaps a personal grudge against the owner of the restaurant – means nothing. It was poor and unfair of the reviewer to print:
“All in all, I can’t recommend a visit to Bella D’Auria until the owners figure out what it’s going to be.”
I have eaten at Bella and the food is great. As far as the decor, two other Italian restaurants off the top of my head have lousy layouts and a bar close to the tables. Maybe Bella is still refining its image and direction? Maybe they need a bit more time to work things out. It could be too soon to review a restaurant. Regardless, the food is great and you get what you pay for. I recommend this restaurant for authentic Italian. Reminds me of NYC and the Godfather.
This review is spot on! I ate at Bella D’auria and was dumbfounded by the poorly prepared extreemly overpriced food, horrid intereror and marginal service. But worst of all was the Zero accountability or interest in improving. What i mean by that is – no one ever asked how our meal was: perhaps they didn’t want to hear the answer: awful. I never saw an owner (only the waitress) and it was offensive that the owner was absent – there were four of us, the dinner cost over a 100 dollars and the experience and food could not have been worse. An owner or manager should have been there to ask how was everything…instead they just charge a hell of a lot for food none of us ate.
Since they never asked I’ll answer here: we will never go back. D’auria is absolutely one of the worst restaurants ever to open in Tucson.
FYI: The Weekly’s policy is to review restaurants after they have been open for at least three months. Bella D’Auria had been open three months before we reviewed it.
It would seem the wife & I have been going to a different restaurant. The Bella D’Auria we frequent has what I would characterize as a sleek contemporary interior. I guess it is confusing to some that an Italian restaurant doesn’t have red-checked table cloths and murals of Italy on the walls. Too much cheese in Italian food??? I always ask for extra cheese, go figure. The prices at this locally owned restaurant are comparable to a chain Italian restaurant just a few blocks down the road. The owner has stopped to chat every time we were there.
We are planning on dining there again this weekend…our eighth visit since they opened.
I wonder who the owners are?????
We agree with the review. Sloppy, poorly prepared and too, too expensive for small portions.
I heard a radio ad for a new Italian place on Broadway & Swan. We visited with another couple on a Friday evening in mid-July.
About ten people there and then a diminishing flow in and out. Pretty live piano music. The waitstaff was prompt, courteous and cute—but not real waitstaff—just girls bringing out plates.
The owner/chef came to our table and interrupted our meal with too much chat. Please leave us alone. We didn’t come to talk to you but sample your cuisine.
—Ordered two lasagnas, eggplant parmesan and a chicken parmesan.
—All entrees were swimming in a plate of the same red sauce.
—Bread was just terrible.
—We were all disappointed.
—Shared with my wife their “best west of NYC” cannoli and we each has a taste and left the rest.
—House wine was OK.
—They wrongly added our separate check. Trying to bill us for items we didn’t order and different wines. But owner/ chef apologized and corrected.
—For the two of us it was a waste of $54.00
Certainly doubt we’ll return or recommend.
Some friends went to Bella D’Auria to try it out. They were turned away because they were wearing shorts. In today’s world of social media, the restaurant offended more than just those two. Not tempted to try them anyway myself. Jacqueline’s review matches the opinions of friends who did eat there, but not wearing shorts.
Save some of your bile for a person who orders veal, despite knowing what kind of conditions the young cows are kept in. Jesus, who does that?
The owner is also a pretty foolish person that treats people that disagree with him as an enemy. Here is a comment that was posted to another review site followed by the owner’s response.
Review:
“orderd eggplant parmagian – taste was overwhelmed by the cheese. Also it was served over spaghetti which was cut into 2-inch pieces. Pasta was dry and lacked any sauce whicjh was only on top of eggplant. Dish was $16 – overpriced. No offer of shredded cheese or pepper for dishes. Bread was warmewd rolls but of poor commercial type.”
Owner’s Response:
First nice lie Eggplant is 14.99 not 16.00 second everyone loves our eggplant it’s made to order and three tier high. And it says on the menu all Entrees are served over Speghetti and topped with parm and parsley unless otherwise specified. Pasta is made daily and if you wanted more sauce, cheese or peppers our servers would have brought it out for you and our bread is made daily from Sweet Tooshies Bakery daily. So keep you mean unprofessional comments to yourself. If you don’t ask for something and misinform people about false pricing you can go to belladauria.net and see the menu and pricing. And my last cement to you is why are you a reward customer in the first place the point is you get 3 points per dollar spent including tip and the participating restaurants are the one paying For your benefit. By February 25th I will not be a rewards network due to idiots like yourself. And to everyone else reading this I will not be nice to negative people with false accusations. Everyone thinks there food critics because of all these restaurant shows on TV but I Still Remember my mother saying if you have nothing nice to say say nothing at all and all who read this remember this saying and it is sad no one lives by this anymore. Bella D’Auria is a small family owned and operated business and is trying to keep there doors open in this bad economy where it almost seems like the chains are taking over. But it’s the people that right a reviews like this that hurt the small business and I’ don’t believe in this day and age that the customer is always right.