Bella Luna

I've been meaning to make some restaurant posts about new places we've tried. Last night Dianne and I went to Bella Luna for the first time. We've lived in the Cincinnati area for over a decade and haven't ever been there.

Bella Luna is an Italian restaurant that is family owned and operated. It's a little East of downtown on Eastern Avenue (duh). As we learned last night, they have a standard menu that has all the traditional family recipes and a separate, shorter menu with specials that change every couple months. Not having been there before, we just stopped in without a reservation. We lucked out and got a table in the bar area. Reservations are a good idea.

I started with Italian wedding soup that was excellent. I had a stuffed pork chop from the specialty menu that came with steamed vegetables and roasted red potatoes. Everything was great. Dianne started with a Caesar salad with anchovies and had a thin turkey breast wrapped around asparagus and fontina cheese for her entree. Her choice was also good and had a fantastic white wine sauce on it. We split some bread pudding for dessert. That was killer!

Our waiter wasn't the best, but perhaps he was a bit busy managing the tables in the bar area. Next time I'd make a reservation and get a table in the main dining room.

Bella Luna is definitely worth the trip! If you're a first timer, their web site has a 10% off coupon. This is one of my new favorites for local Italian fare.