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    Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar

    4.0 (212 reviews)
    ModerateItalian, Bars

    Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar Photos

    BELLA LUCE RESTAURANT AND BAR ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Classy
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar

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    Rigatoni with meatballs! Delicious!

    Great place! Classic authentic Italian restaurant. Love the crowd. Music was a bit loud tho couldn't communicate much at the table. Food was great!

    The left dining room and bar
    Eloy Y.

    Translated from the Italian meaning Beautiful Light, this establishment opened in March 2015 and is located on a busy Franklin Avenue in Nutley. Bella Luce has a trendy yet casual vibe and serves authentic Italian cuisine. My partner, our friends and I came as first-timers for dinner tonight. Reservations were easily made via Open Table. Upon entering, we had to wait a few minutes for the host and got to look around the dark and classy interior, with a well-arranged bar area in the middle dividing the two dining rooms. We were promptly seated on the quieter side to the right and could hear the upbeat music playing throughout the restaurant. The menu comprised all of your typical Italian dishes along with several tasty daily specials. As starters, we opted for the Crispy Calamari and their special, the Bruschetta. For our main meal, we decided on Short Rib Pappardelle, Grilled Pork Chop, Chicken Oreganata, and Rigatoni Bolognese. Complimentary warm bread with softened butter started our meal. The food was fresh, delicious, and well seasoned. The short-rib pappardelle pasta, which I had, was outstanding. Cooked al dente, just like it has to be, is served at the perfect temperature with an excellent ratio of pasta, sauce, and meat. The portion was perfect. During our meal, the owner, Joe, walked to all the tables to greet everyone, making sure everything was to our liking. The service was perfect, not overbearing but always there and our server was Cali. We had a great dinner, which we can recommend.

    Dinner
    Donna V.

    Friends of our recommended this restaurant to us. So we decided to give it a try. The restaurant itself is very nice inside. Love the glass front. Staff and service was excellent. Very attentive. The basket of bread.... Um.... Not sure about this one. The bread was hard and very difficult to pull apart. Maybe they should warm it up first or something. We ordered the meatball appetizer, which was really good. Sauce was excellent!! Minestrone soup was delicious. Had the blank ink linguine with shrimp and octopus. Absolutely delicious. An abundance of shrimp and octopus pieces. Flavor was excellent. Grilled pork chop was fantastic. Perfectly cooked and seasoned. Nice size pork chop also. Pasta with garlic and oil was ok. Didn't use enough oil. Very bland taste and pasta was sticky. Apple crumb dessert was awesome. Very different flavor. Would definitely go back.

    Short Ribs Pappardelle
    Adalise M.

    Food tasted very good! We had calamari, burrata and the meatballs for appetizers. And for dinner I got the Short Ribs Pappardelle which was delicious! We also had the sangria and it was very large and were each able to get about 2-3 cups from it. The waitress and staff were extremely kind and accommodating to the 3 children that were present.

    Octopus salad
    Steph C.

    The staff is very attentive. Complimentary bread & eggplant dip. We Ordered for appetizers the meatballs & octopus salad. For dinner the Fettucine Norcia & Short Ribs Pappardelle. The food was great. I would definitely recommend this place. Food: 5/5 Service: 5/5 Decor: 5/5

    Charcuterie - don't pass up the Gorgonzola!
    Heather L.

    Kudos to the chef! Everything sounded so delish I couldn't wrap my brain around what I even wanted to try for my first visit here! It didn't help seeing everything being brought to its respective tables as everything was screaming CHOOSE ME! NO CHOOSE ME! Lol I probably could have just ate a huge bowl of the complimentary eggplant caponata and bread. I would have licked the plate if it was socially acceptable. We started with a charcuterie which was great! I have to say though I was more of a fan of the cheeses versus the meats, but we could see the meats being freshly sliced through the open kitchen window. That little cup of candied fruits perfectly complimented the cheeses especially the Gorgonzola. For dinner we chose Fettuccine Norcia, Pasta Braids and the Paccheri Bolognese. Everything was so yummy and fresh, but we could only finish a third of the fettuccine and braids because we kind of got tired of the flavor. However no discredit to these dishes! I normally don't go with creamy sauces so that was on me, not the Chef! For dessert we had to try the modern cannoli. Well well well....good thing I saved room for this! The caramel almond tuile alone was pure bliss! Finished the night off with a coconut mojito! Such a happy drink! Parking on street, but I think there is a municipal lot nearby. Make a reservation because this place gets popping fast. All staff was on point, friendly and nothing sat at that open kitchen window for longer than a minute! Well done Bella Luce! We will definitely be back!

    Eggplant served with their bread
    Nick C.

    I grabbed dinner with a friend here on a Tuesday night. The restaurant wasn't really busy, and I found street parking right in front. The guy who seated us was very friendly, and often checked on us during our meal. The restaurant is very nice, with a modern look. There is plenty of dark metals in the furnishings and the tables were granite. The dim lighting set an intimate mood. The meal started with complimentary bread served with eggplant Parmesan. It was pretty tasty. I chose this restaurant specifically because I wanted to try their Fettuccine Norcia , fettucine with crimini, shiitake, porcini, roasted garlic, black truffle butter, and grape tomatoes. This dish has A LOT of mushrooms. The sauce was rich, heavy, and creamy. It was a delicious dish, but extremely heavy. It was one of the few times I did not clean my plate. But i got to take it home anyway. I also tried got a taste of the pasta braids. This was a much lighter dish, with delicious Brussels sprouts. For dessert, we split a gooey, warm, chocolate brownie. It was served with ice cream and loaded with nuts. The service set the experience apart. We were checked on frequently, but not too often. We stuck around to chat over dessert and they didn't rush us out, even if it was after closing. A good dining experience overall.

    Meatballs & octopus salad appetizers

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    Food, service and ambiance. I love the family oriented service. Everything I tried was amazing.

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    Food was very good - not too much BUT as a lot of people have mentioned, the service is slow.

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    Page 1 of 6

    Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar

    Do you have a kids menu or serve pizza? I Want to have a dinner party but will have children with us?

    Can you please contact the restaurant and 973-661-4300 and ask to speak with Joe. He will be able to discuss.

    Would I be allowed to play a gig here?

    Hi Tiffany, please send more information including any demo reel/video etc to customer.service@bellalucenj.com for our review. Thanks.

    View All 6 Questions

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    Bella Luce Restaurant and Bar - italian - Updated July 2026

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