Good News/Bad News: Ciaobella

Not to be confused with the gelato giant Ciao Bella, Ciaobella is an UES little Italian joint, owned by the Proietti Group, that opened to a modicum of buzz last month. Located on 85th and 2nd, the place natually attracted the neighborhood folks aching for something decent and not altogether boring in the area. As expected, they're writing in with some good news, and as is always the case, some bad. Let's get to it:

1) Good News: This short and sweet review/shill is the only piece up on Yelp. We'll say disregard the five star rating until some more Yelpers chime in: "Finally a place that has a downtown feel. The food is authentic and its great for people watching." [Yelp]

2) Bad News: The Chowhounders were chomping at the bit to hear news on this place, and two posters obliged. This one is not a fan: "We ate there recently, and we were not impressed at all. I will start with what is important, the food. My pasta was mediocre, which is OK but the prices are not set for mediocre anything. One of our dining partners called his appetizer inedible and his main course just bad...That said, the service was worse. Very tight quarters, 2-3 managers on the floor with little control over anything. The waiter disappeared for very long spells at a time." [Chowhound]

3) Halfway Decent News: The second Chowhounder to review the place is a little kinder, but thinks the price point here is way off: "Went there twice this week. Food was decent-vast array to satisfy everyone. 2nd night had t bone steak-i ordered it cause i saw someone else having it-decent but not for $70!! yikes-whole staff was great except one obnoxious bartender with a loud intrusive manner who kept butting into our conversations at bar-sooooooooooo annoying!! otherwise a nice addition to neighborhood..." [Chowhound]

4 Bad News: The following report is from someone so disappointed with the place, they decided to email us to complain: "Ciao Bella has been open over a month and although there is long wait for a table it is defiantly not worth the wait. They put to many tables in this place so the waiters and customers are bumping into just about every person sitting. Then you have a bunch of waiters yelling in Italian so it gets a little noisy and annoying. I ordered one of the specials on a thursday night, seafood over linguine in red sauce...sauce tasted a little burned and the seafood over cooked. Considering its a local eatery on 85th and 2nd the wine list with 95% italian wines are way over priced." [Eater Inbox]