Very impressed. I was visiting from out of town and lasagna sounded good. Well, it was amazing, as was the bread...and the service. read more

Service is great. Bring your own alcohol if you want alcohol. Love the Fettecine. Love the bread and the oils to dip in. Love the manicotti. Love the calzone. Very private and quiet place. Support our town and visit this great family. read more

We met the sweetest hostess/server who turned out to be the owner's daughter. Her European parents were refugees from Albania and now chose to live here. The owner came and greeted us and welcomed us to the restaurant. This is completely family owned. He and his wife and five children run the place. No other employees. Congratulations on a great success. Our view out of the windows shows off the rolling Iowa hillsides and spring plantings. The food was simply prepared, fresh and excellent! We had the cheese pizza with sausage and anchovy and I had the Pomodoro pasta. Good choices on both. Just wait until you taste the tiramisu...homemade and so tasty. Every meal should end with tiramisu! We are so blessed to have them open this restaurant here in Iowa. read more

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Excellent place, who would thought of coming across it in Denison? Very soothing and comfortable ambience. The main dish and dessert (tiramisu) was delicious. Thumbs up for sure! read more

We have eaten here so many times and have never been disappointed with the food! They grow their own veggies for the marinara sauce! The olive oil is imported from Italy and is incredible! I always get the Tiki Chicken and add artichokes. My husband usually gets Parmesan Chicken, and I have to steal a bit from his because the sauce is so fabulous! It has a great atmosphere and is always clean! read more

This restaurant is just a few steps down the hill from the Oak Ridge Cobblestone Hotel where we were staying, so we stopped down for dinner. There were only a few other diners there at 7 on a Wednesday night so we were quickly seated. They don't have a liquor license, so it's BYOB. We brought a bottle of wine and our server opened it right away and brought us glasses. A basket of light, addictive, hot bread was delivered, and we were offered refills a couple of times, which was tempting, but we restrained ourselves so we could eat our entrees. The menu has lots of options and the prices are very reasonable. I got the fairly simple spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and basil. It was a light taste of spices and I added some red pepper flakes (they didn't have my fav Tabasco) and it was good. My wife also gave me some of the flavorful link sausage from her dish, which really topped it off nicely. She got the Sausage Pizzaiola - which had sausage, green pepper, mushroom, and onion, which was excellent. Lots of flavor, and a good-sized serving. Great sausage without being too spicy, and a good red sauce. Our server was very attentive, checking in on us often. A few more tables filled up while we were there, so it wasn't like we were hIs only diners! The food came out fast, and was just off the stove, so it was hot and fresh. Hopefully the locals stop in regularly along with those of us that are just in town occasionally so they can keep going! read more

I came in to Bella Sera and expected a bit of a dull experience from some of the reviews, but I was hungry and I didn't want to eat fast food. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce, bit into it and was blown away. The sauce was savory and probably made the top two best red sauces I've ever had from a restaurant, and spaghetti is one of my favorite foods. My husband ordered the Chicken Parmesan sandwich with light cheese and loved it so much we had to go back and order another sandwich the next day. I received an ample amount of spaghetti for what I paid, only able to eat about half. I think the server may be part of the family I've read about in a recent review, not overly friendly as some other servers, but he was prompt and quick to bring the food. The atmosphere was very clean and spacious. I liked the ambiance and the windows were very large, allowing you to see some of the rolling hills from where I sat. As I was leaving, I noticed what I think was the owner taking a hose and water a garden at the bottom of a hill. I think I saw basil plants. I am looking forward to eating there again. read more

Stopped here for dinner one evening while in town visiting family. The restaurant was so quiet we thought it was closed (Sunday). Clean, good location and attentive staff. In fact, the service was VERY fast - our food arrived just minutes after we ordered. The menu offered lots of options and the food was decent. We had spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta was a bit starchy and the meatballs a little bland yet given that Denison does not have a lot of sit down, dine-in restaurant options I would say this place is worth giving a try. Overall we had a positive dining experience here and I hope that this local business will continue to prosper. read more

For I love small locally owned businesses I cannot say the same for this restaurant. First DO NOT ORDER Salads it is going to be 3 leaves on a plate with ranch drizzled on it and it is $4.00 yes that is right four dollars for the worlds smallest and most pitty salad. And whomever thought for it shame on u Secondly do not order their lasagna. I ordered it and It is just Baked cheese with meat sauce under it Lastly The BYOB (Bring your own Booze rule is even dumber (for I do not drink) and even more Stupendous is that they have a bar in the restaurant If you are the owner of this restaurant I hope you see this also 2 chicken Parmesans and a lasagna was $80.00 read more

Cute small town restaurant. Food was excellent! The rolls were delicious and pasta was cooked to perfection. I'd highly recommend if you are in the area! read more

Good service, clean and open dining. Comfortable seating. The food, I will say, it could be better. I feel the recipes have been organized in a cheaper fashion. I ate the shrimp linguine and it was okay. Needs a better sauce, more shrimp and the same amount of noodles. I hope to back and try a few more items on the menu read more

Food was average and our waiter got an F in table side manor. It was like if Bob Dylan was our waiter and said as little as he possibly could. read more

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when our friends said there was a new Italian place in town. I was pleasantly surprised at how authentic and fresh the ingredients and meals were. I had ordered the Bella Sera Shrimp. The waiter brought the wrong dish and apologized more than once. I know he thought I ordered the Bella Sera Special. He corrected his mistake quickly and my meal was brought out promptly and was super fresh and hot! I ate every last bite! read more

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I had chicken Alfredo and I've liked this place before but there was more oil than there was sauce noddles weren't even covered in sauce. Bread is very bleh, nothing on the bread. read more

Lasagna was cold in the middle last time. Appeared to be microwaved. Service is generally different but food can use some work. Is also pretty expensive. read more

I was hoping to give this 5 stars when we arrived. Beautiful building and interior. Has a bar but not sure why since BYOB. We came in Sunday night for my daughter's birthday. Ordered her chicken Alfredo was delicious she said. I had a bite and would agree. I ordered shrimp scampi. Shrimp were fine but noodles had more water than butter sauce and no flavor. Forgot to drain noodles. My son ordered the lasagna. Unfortunately it was meat sauce and cheese. There were No think lasagna noodles in layers and also a little watery like it was microwaved then baked. My husband's dish was good ( forgot what it was). But don't pay 3.99 for the side salad. We were brought out flimsy lettuce smaller than a deck of cards with ranch drizzle on it. I've never had a starter salad so sad looking and bad in my life. Bill was 80.00 with 1 soda before tip not bad if all the food was decent. We are not picky people but there needs some improvement in the kitchen. Bread was good but overall I was not impressed. I'm glad 50% of us liked the main course, didn't want to complain but buyer beware on those dinner salads. 3 bits of flimsy lettuce and they are gone. I want places in small towns to make it hopefully they will see this and make some changes. I would love to come back with a bottle of wine and have a great meal. read more

Im from out of town and came to visit family and friends. There was an eggplant lasagna special that night and the chef described the process of making it. My fiance decided to give it a try since the chef seemed very passionate about cooking from his description. Was VERY delicious. I am low carb, so I asked to substitute my noodles for just veggies, which they accommodated to that request. I had a wine sauce with mine (bella sera special). Everything was great and also its BYOB, but they do have soda, tea and coffee as an option as well. read more

Nasty !!! My Salad had black lettuce in it .. and my Lasagna was old and Sour . I told the rude waiter and he brought out the owner/chef. He was insulted that I sent back his food . I tried to pay and he refused. Instead . He Said " I see people like you all the time" then he said leave before I callthe police. I said call them .. he then said " let's go outside" as if we was fixing to start fighting. Just a weird nasty place that I will never attend again. Nasty old food that's way overpriced. read more

Just your average Italian food. Beautiful restaurant. Good service. Just looking for more. I ordered lasagna and it didn't have much flavor. This is a new restaurant. One of literally 5 sit down restaurants here in Denison. I'll give them other chances. But it will be awhile. read more

We decided to go eat here for mother's day. when we got there the waiter was completely rude and impatient for us to order. we ordered a side salad for 4 dollars a piece, i asked for a ceaser salad and my friend asked for a house salad. they brought us back a plate of lettuce that was barley covering the plate and just ranch. my friend ordered steak with hers and she asked for it to be completely well done. we got our food and it was good but when my friend got her steak it still had pink in the middle. while we were eating the waiter never came back for refills and we only had one drink. so we decided to talk to the manager because it was just not professional and not worth the money they asked for. When the manager/cook came he was being extremely rude and disrespectful it was unbelievable he only let us talk about the steak. this is the most rude and uncomfortable restaurant i've ever been to and i've never been to anything this bad in my whole life. never eating here again. the only positive was the pasta was good. read more

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My son and his wife treated her mother, my granddaughter, and his mother (me) to dinner on a Tuesday evening. Our orders were quickly taken and we were quickly served, all hot, all good. Each ordered a different entree. I had Fettuccine Alfredo, very good. The rolls are SO delicious and homemade! I would probably have scored this a 4.5 but that wasn't an option. It was not 'out of this world' but it was professional, pretty, not too vast or too little, and I enjoyed a dinner away from home while I got to see my granddaughter and have a lovely evening visit with all! Thank you, Bella Sera! Not my first visit and won't be my last! read more

One of the best places I've been to in Iowa. Try the lobster ravioli! The staff were super helpful. The atmosphere is nicer but I was able to comfortably dine in for lunch with casual clothes. read more