Bella Cucina
This weekend we had breakfast at Bella Cucina down in the Old Mill District, and I was suitably impressed to write about it.
In fact, Bella Cucina has been down in the Old Mill for quite some time and until Saturday I’d always avoided it. Why? Because of a really bad dining experience we had at their previous location (on Franklin and Third, the lava rock old Mexicali Rose building) under their previous owner years ago. Bad enough that I couldn’t get rid of the tainted association.
That’s all changed, and I’m sorry it took so long. I can’t speak to their full menu, but BC has a good and really affordable breakfast menu (here)—I had the Italian breakfast wrap (think breakfast burrito) for only $5. That’s an amazing deal, especially with the way restaurant prices have been rising out of control in Bend lately. And it was worth it—it was tasty and filling.
The space is a bit small, but comfortable, and colorful. Much more inviting than I would have guessed from the outside.
If you don’t mind dealing with parking in the Old Mill District, I’d definitely recommend BC, at least for breakfast.
What up HB?
A couple of friends just went to BC for a late lunch the other day and had nothing but good things to say. They both ate good sized meals and had soft drinks and the bill came to $21. They were very pleased with the service, in fact they said the service was almost too good.
After their comments and your post today, I’m ready to go check them out. I really like Italian food and would love to have a restaurant to go to in town that’s worth while. I need to bite the bullet and get to all of them and see what’s up.
-BOR
Well I just went there for lunch yesterday. Enjoyed sitting outside and had plenty of time to soak up the sun as we waited forever for service, drinks, a couple panini’s, the bill, collecting the bill, and change.
For $9 I got The Italian – Served hot on our fresh baked focaccia bread with salami, pepperoni & prosciutto, melted mozzeralla cheese. It was not hot at all and was served with the most bland and oily chips I’ve had in Bend.
I should have stuck with the breakfast menu, lunch was not good at all. I’ll blame the service on our waitress only and not say that all the staff is as bad. She definitely did not seem interested at all in helping anyone out.
-BOR
Oh man, that sucks… sorry my recommendation didn’t pan out. Maybe I’ll just stick with occasional breakfasts there…