This is a review of the Bellini Grill, an Italian Restaurant in Center City. It is located on 220 S. 16th Street, walking distance from city hall and the Kimmel Center. Street parking is pretty hard to come by in this area so it is probably best to park at a garage. The price is about 15 to 20 dollars a dish.
Bellini is a BYO (and I love BYO's). But I came unprepared for this part of the meal. I know, I know. Shame on me. But I'll know better for the future.
The place was pretty quiet when we first got there. But as the evening continued and more people filled the restaurant, the conversation volume of the room was temperate for the whole evening.
The place is more on the fancy side. Unfortunately, I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt so only half of me was properly dressed. The atmosphere was nice, a semi-casual/fancy.
The service was great. Our dining needs were readily attended. But the waitress didn't smile so much, which was okay; I personally like smiling waitresses. In fact, if there was a category for non-smiling waitresses, she would have gotten the highest marks in that class.
Before any of our ordered food came, we were served bread and a semi-spicy dip. The bread was fresh Italian bread and the dip was very good.
We started with Caesar salad. Apparently, Caesar salads are pseudo-salads; they are not as healthy as regular salads. But they sure are delicious if you're into that sort of thing. Note: if you are a fan of protein foods like I am, you may want to skip the salad and head right into your main course.
The two dishes that were ordered were:
(1) Linguine Bolongese. If you look on the menu, there is no description of this dish. I suppose that this is because the name of the dish tells you everything you need to know. For example:
KYUNG: Excuse me, waitress. What kind of pasta is used in Linguine Bolongese?
WAITRESS: Linguine, sir.
KYUNG: Outstanding. Thank you.
The pasta was fresh and the dish was good. The pasta tended to be on the al dente side. The portions were very generous.
(2) Chicken Parmesana. This dish came with two cut generous cuts of Chicken Parmesana and a side of al dente linguine. It was good also.
We did not get any dessert. :(
Overall, the atmosphere was good (a little on the fancy side; don't wear shorts), the food was good (but not the best italian food i've ever had). The service was very good. I would eat here again. Maybe before an orchestra performance at the Kimmel or before a jazz show at Chris's. The location is great in facilitating a lot of center city activities. I moderately recommend Bellini's Grill. Nothing in the place was bad but nothing really caught my attention as outstanding either. Good times.
NOTE: If you read this, drop a comment or a "like". It encourages me. :) Spanks.
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