Review: Bella Italia has tasty pasta with merch on the side

A rich Bolognese sauce coats pappardelle at Bella Italia Delicatessen and Gifts, a small restaurant and store in the "pink shopping center" on South Virginia Street. (Credit: David B. Parker / RGJ)

BElla Italia Delicatessen and Gifts on South Virginia Street has a modest interior, and its airy but L-shaped strip mall space would be a challenge for any restaurant. Still, Bella Italia delivers enough ambiance to make me feel at home.

There are white tablecloths, cheery red and yellow walls and the owner's lilting, Italian-accented voice. On one side of a short dividing wall is the restaurant; on the other, a modest shop that features items like handmade pappardelle, Cento tuna in olive oil and San Marzano tomatoes, as well as a hulking prosciutto.

(Find more Italian restaurants in Reno.)

Appetizers are absent from the menu, which perplexes. No carpaccio or steamed mussels? Mozzarella fritta or calamari? No matter, we go on to salads.

The Caprese offers standard slices of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes topped with a bit of fresh basil and olive oil. The disappointing, underripe tomatoes — where are the delicious, in-season tomatoes? — drown in the olive oil, and the dish is too heavily salted. The mozzarella, however, is delicious. It is fresh and has a creamy mouthfeel.

The insalata della casa consists of shredded romaine lettuce, porchetta and more of that fresh mozzarella in a lemony dressing. This salad, too, is salty (even accounting for the porchetta). The romaine lettuce, being shredded, is difficult to fork, but the lovely porchetta and mozzarella redeem the dish.

Cannelloni are stuffed with a mix of chicken, beef and pork and baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The filling is flavorful while not overpowering the other ingredients. The dish is gooey, delightful comfort food — although more suited to winter than summer.

Fusilli are dressed with the perfect amount of pesto. The pesto has the proper consistency; it's not too saucy, as some pestos are. A sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese from the server makes the dish even better.

The pollo alla Valdostana offers chicken topped with prosciutto, melted fontina cheese and white wine sauce. Pesto pasta and sautéed zucchini complete the dish. The chicken, while visually appealing, is disconcertingly sweet. The cheese and prosciutto are appealing of themselves, but the sauce as a whole is cloying and overpowering.

Desserts, which seem an afterthought at some restaurants, are not at Bella Italia — they're delicious. Only two options grace the menu, tiramisù and panna cotta, but both are done well.

Tiramisù — the classic Italian confection of ladyfingers soaked in espresso and layered with sweetened mascarpone and a dusting of cocoa — is moist without being soggy. Panna cotta, alone, is nicely creamy, but a funky, unnecessary mango sauce throws off the balance of the dish.

Service at Bella Italia is friendly enough, albeit a little slow. My companion and I order Diet Cokes, only to be told that the beverage might not be on hand (the server leaves the restaurant and returns with a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke). Bread arrives after we tuck into our salads, and a weekday lunch has the leisurely pace of dinner.

Still, Bella Italia's pasta dishes are well worth a trip. And at about $9 for a full plate, you get a fine meal for a fine price, too.

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