Bellini (CLOSED)

I love this restaurant. Food is really tasty. People are nice too.

We returned for lunch because of a Groupon discount. Bottom line: they tried to ignore the discount and ultimately imposed a "service charge" ($4.85) for using it. We had large plain pizza ($16.00). Sauce was pretty good, cheese good, but crust was almost soggy and pizza not very hot. They promote their brick oven, but there was no pizza smell, no burnt or blackened crust. It was probably a regular oven and not being used--we saw no deliveries of pizza being made in the hour we were there. We were also the only diners. An eggplant zucchini appetizer ($8.95)was good. Service was friendly and excellent. Prices fair. We were never warned of any service charge for using Groupon. We gave them a 2nd chance and they did poorly; definitely will not return, as I guess other diners have learned already.

We went for an early dinner on New Yr’s Eve. Called at noon and got reservation for 4 at 6pm… which should’ve been an indication. We didn’t need it as the place was empty when we arrived. Bellini once occupied a space extending to the corner (93rd & 3rd) which has now been partitioned; a Turkish restaurant is in the corner space. Our server (seemed to be the only one on staff at that time) told us it was separated about 2 yrs ago. Fried calamari appetizer ($9.95) was barely OK; breading was minimal and falling off, no aroma of freshly fried seafood, kind of tasteless. Sauce had lots of red pepper in it (like from the containers in pizzerias)—a lazy chef who couldn’t even concoct a simple sauce? Small rolls (5) were offered (refilled twice!) and a dipping tray of olive oil and olives. Chicken piccata ($14.95) with capellini was not good. Chkn (2 sad pieces) was not dredged properly nor evenly browned and overcooked. There was no garlic, no lemon, no parsley, no wine or stock in sauce and only capers were added. It had to be “picatta”(sic) because the only other chicken was marsala and there were no mushrooms or Marsala wine. The capellini was ample but tasteless since it was in the nothing sauce with the chicken. Penne pomodoro ($9.95) was good, ample portion, tasty sauce, but nothing great. Fusilli al pesto ($10.95) is listed on menu with “touch of cream,” but it was way overdone with the cream. It was left uneaten. Décor was acceptable (what’s with the Mardi Gras masks on the wall?). Service was excellent: no need to ask for water to be refilled, bread replenished, several inquiries as to quality of food and if any anything else needed. Prices good for this area and portions abundant. May return, but will try pizza.

I ordered pizza and the delivery was pretty quick. Although I live only 3 blocks from the restaurant, my pizza was room temperature so i had to heat it in the oven. Sauce and mozzarella was sparse, broccoli was tasteless . The worst, however, was the garlic which bitter because it came from a jar.....unacceptable.

Went here this week and thought the food was really good! The eggplant parm was delicious and I would definitely go back. Everyone else I was with enjoyed their meal too. I've gotten delivery from here once before too and found it was just as good.

Bellini seems to have regressed from a full-size restaurant (converted to a Turkish restaurant) to a little take-out pizza place. Nobody really ever seemed to go to the full-size Italian place - empty every time I walked by, so this is probably a good thing. Nevertheless, it seems to still be owned by the same Turkish people who still run the restaurant next door. I've never had pizza from Bellini but the gyro sandwich is not bad.

Great food only matched by the atmosphere; I will definitely be coming back