Bella Napoli

[njchick]

I just drove passed the old Bella Napoli location on Bloomfield Ave and saw that it reopened on Sept. 30th. What is going on?? I thought they moved to Broad St., I have not had a chance to go to the new location yet - did something happen?

[NJ2FLA]

What town is that located in?

[Rosie]

My notes have Bella Napoli, 1640 Broad St, Bloomfield (973-365-8987) opening around Jan.

[thereuare]

NJ2FL,

The Bloomfield Ave location is in Clifton, just off of Rte 3 (near Rowe-Manse Emporium).

I know their new location is (was?) near their old location, but don't know if it's still technically Clifton or a neighboring town.

[NJ2FLA]

Oh ok. I always forgot about that other Bloomfield Avenue. I miss Bonds Ice Cream. It was loacted where the Dunkin' Donuts is now on the lower level or Stiretown.

My dad told me stories of how they went there when he was a kid. He is from Passaic.

[RockADS21]

The new location is on Broad Street in Bloomfield near the Clifton border. Growing up in Nutley I was a regular at the old location both for dining in and taking out (near Rowe Mance off of Rte. 3 in Clifton). I often wondered why such a successful restaurant with such great food never expanded beyond it's 8/10 table hole in the wall. They didnt take reservations and often had a line expanding out the door and onto the sidewalk. One visit to the new location answered that question. I visited the new spot in April and couldn't be more dissapointed in the entire experiance. The food and the service have gone drasticly downhill. We were barely greeted at the door by a hostess who clearly didnt want to be there - what makes it worse is we later find out that she is one of the owners. It wasnt a busy night but it still takes us over 5 minutes to be seated and seemingly foerever to be waited on by a waitress as eager as the hostess. I proceed to order a bottle of chianti which is served out of the refrigerator. When she presents me some to taste I politely ask if she has a bottle that is not chilled and she tells me no that is how they serve it and continues to pour for the rest of the table. Isnt the point of the orderer tasting the wine to let the server know if it is acceptable - apparantly not here! When our food arrives she is not there to serve it to us so it sits on a service table for a few minutes until a busboy realizes and comes over and gives it to us. Completely unacceptable on any night but especially on one where only 3 or 4 tables are occupied! The food quality which while at the old location I considered some of the best casual southern Italian around was average at best - again very disapointing. In short dont waste your time here - Formia just up the road in Bloomfield is a far superior choice.

[jtb]

Re NJ2FLA's note on Bond's. Bond's was home of the famous "Awful Awful", a huge milkshake served in a pail. They used to have a large rendition of their trademark pail rotating on a pole on top of the building. This was a real flashback to the 60's. I really miss the place.

[doodlebug]

I have been going to Bella Napoli for about 20 yrs and have seen absolutley no decline in the food quality. The service remains quite good and there are many long time servers who are very good and efficient. The new location is a pleasant improvement with far more space and tables. The food, most importantly, remains the same.

Last week, when we had a mid-week dinner there our waitress told us that the former location was just re-opening as Bella Napoli. The restaurant owner did not give up the lease on the old location when he purchased the new one and decided that there was enough business to have two locations going.

The old location will be the only one taking take-out orders. There have also remodeled the restaurant and will also be serving their usually menu items, but I can't comment on that.

[Rosie]

Thanks for the update. Where else do you like to dine?

[chefb]

Good seafood salad. I haven't been there in 10 yrs but I remember the bullet holes in the wall to the left of the entrance.