Caffe Bello - good food comes with awkwardness

Quality	Ambiance	Service
8.0	7.0	5.0

Location: 322 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77006
Phone: (713) 520-5599
Cuisine: Italian
Price range: each item $10 - 26
http://caffebello.com/

So we decided to go try Caffe Bello on the usual Saturday night hunt for food. Unfortunately, parking at all the Cajun places were ridiculous and the line at Dolce Vita was out the door. So we drove for 3 more minutes and ended up at Caffe Bello. Despite the fact that the rather spacious parking was attached to the restaurant, Caffe Bello employees insisted on the complimentary valet parking for our car. First point of awkwardness at Caffe Bello - our car was right next to where you pick up the car. Do we still tip if they don't need to drive our car? Moving on, the interior of Caffe Bello was dim, and it was quite romantic. Fun fact we learned - it opens until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Their website touted, "Our menus are always changing, reflecting the best ingredients available that day." It is undeniable that their food is delicious. There was complimentary bread basket with a cream sauce rather than olive oil and also a delicious complimentary amuse-bouche. The amuse-bouche was a mustard yellow shooter with crispy prosciutto sprinkled. We ordered:

• Bresaola, taleggio, pear, Italian truffle honey Pizza
• Roasted Beet Carpaccio with goat cheese panna cotta, arugula, and pine nut puree
• Risotto Reggiano with crispy pork belly, green garlic, grilled mushrooms, and saba

Drool at your own convenience. The pizza was delightfully proportioned and very crispy. There were no unfortunate greasy residue. The roasted beet carpaccio (yes - beet! not beef) was surprising. I usually dislike beet because of the awkward sweet aftertaste, but the goat cheese panna cotta offset it very nicely although there was an annoying cloying aftertaste. I was equally surprised by the goat cheese panna cotta. Usually, panna cotta is eaten as a dessert and has a mild sweet and creamy taste, but the goat cheese panna cotta was very savory and the sweetness came from

the beet rather than the cream. The risotto reggiano was probably my favorite part of the meal. The crispy pork belly was, unfortunately, not crispy, but there were also very little fat (so it totally made it up for the not crispy) on it as the fat was infused into the risotto instead. The mushrooms were very tender and I'm not quite sure if they used saba the fish or saba the syrup. The amount of food was quite sizeable and according to Yelp, Caffe Bello is really good for brunch. (Bresaola, taleggio, pear, Italian truffle honey Pizza image courtesy of Albert N. on Yelp)

Service was a nightmare. I'm pretty sure it was only our waitress though as I saw other seats got their orders taken promptly and drinks delivered on-time. Instead, we waited a good fifteen minutes before we were served breadsticks and almost twenty before our orders were even taken. My order of italian soda wasn't even delivered until half an hour later. This really wasn't an excuse as we were her only table. Quite honestly, we almost just got up and left. It was that bad. When she came to take our orders, she took away our menus before taking our orders. WHO TAKES AWAY THE MENU WHEN THE CUSTOMER IS TRYING TO ORDER? Moreover, she did not bother to explain anything on the menu or explain the amuse-bouche until we asked. In fact, we were left in a confused state when the amuse-bouche was placed before us...not quite sure if it was for our carpaccio, bread, pizza, or what. Her redeeming feature was that after the initial wait and awkwardness with ordering, everything came along quite well.

So, in conclusion - food is great. Definitely come and get the pizza at least. I'd definitely come back here again for brunch or lunch or dinner. Valet parking might be useful when it's at a more popular hour, but if I get the same server, I might just get up, make an awkward remark about coming into the wrong place, and split.

Any suggestions as to where I should go next? Leave a comment!