Ciao Bella Italian Grill - Memphis

First time eating at Ciao Bella on Sanderlin Ave. Nice place and atmosphere. They open at 5pm. The server was timely but had an attitude as if she didn't want to serve us. She gave us our water, no straws, and got our drinks, no straws. So I asked may we have straws please and her attitude came out. She was snappy when asked a question. When you haven't been to place before you might ask the server for suggestions. For the most part we knew what we wanted but a couple, two, didn't. We had about 13 people in our party. We were there celebrating my granddaughter's birthday. She had no problem taking that gratuity. An automatic gratuity is a given at places serving 6 or more. Which at some places if the service was bad enough I ask for the manager to let them know no sir no ma'am no gratuity. I could almost understand if she was tired but the place opens at 5pm. She wrote Thank you to herself on the merchant's copy as if from the customer. All the other employees we saw and passed by were very friendly, speaking and acknowledging the birthday girl.

First visit to the new location. Food and service were fantastic, ambiance was lovely. Perfect weather for dining on the patio. Favorites were the smoked chicken ravioli, limoncello marscapone cream cake, and sangria. Penelope was a great server. Highly recommend definitely will be back soon!Vegetarian options: My pescaterian husband very much enjoyed the Capellini Toscana and the garlic parmesan mashed potatoes.

Much ado about nothing. Chicken Alfredo had absolutely no taste. Chicken was barely cooked, rubbery, lots of noodles but no sausage. Tea never had ice and was more sugar than water. No amount of salt and pepper brought out the taste.Cold, uncooked baguette for bread. Been wanting to eat here for ages. Left us all disappointing.Parking: Park at the curb

Daaaaaang! This place has delicious food! The ambience was lovely and it felt like casual fine dining. We could have dressed up but we felt just fine being dressed casually. The service was excellent, the lasagna was yummy, the parmesan risotto was killer (seriously soooo good), and the restaurant was clean. Plus, the bathroom sinks are pretty cool. This is a nice shift from the ordinary but bear in mind the price range before going!

Our group made reservations for the inside of the restaurant. A patio area is also available. Parking was a little tight as the shopping center was quite busy. A security patrol was patrolling the parking area. Our table was ready for our use immediately. The restaurant was clean and nicely decorated. We had a small problem with the setting sun blinding one of our party when the doors were opened. Another small issue concerned the leather seats. The leather was so new we couldn't slide into our seats easily. With the high traffic, I'm sure they will worn smooth soon!A note that due to this high traffic, they will cancel your reservation if you are over 15 minutes late, and they ask you to limit your time to 2 hours.The menu had a nice array of Italian and Greek fare. Appetizers were a meal unto themselves! Main courses were a ridiculously large amount which we choose to take home. I had three more servings from my penne bolognese, which was delicious. All of our party thoroughly enjoyed our meals. A nice variety of wines were available to pair with the meals.Our waiter was very pleasant but seemed to have a large area to service. All in all, excellent evening! If you can't get reservations, a takeout/ delivery option is available.