Located in Cubus, Bella Vita is a restaurant which serves traditional Italian cuisine. I have read reviews on their Sunday Brunch, which seems to be quite popular for their seafood selection with fresh lobsters and oysters. The pricing of the restaurant was definitely high-end, but this was not matched by the setting of the restaurant – even though sophisticated, the space was small and narrow. When I came on a Saturday for lunch, the restaurant was only half full; they were sufficiently staffed, but the service was unenthusiastic and slow.(1) We started off on a high note with the appetisers. The Artichoke in oil, mussels and cherry tomato with basil pesto sauce was delicious, with big, supple mussels in a well-judged dressing.(2) The Bresaola carpaccio with mix salad, sliced parmesan and lemon oil dressing was refreshing and delectable: the beef was tender and fresh, and the lemon oil dressing was agreeable.(3) The Mix bruschetta with tomato, cannellini beans, anchovies and butter was also a fantastic summer dish, with clean and light flavours of the tomato and cannellini beans being contrasted with stronger tasting anchovies.(4) The main courses, however, were a completely different story. A good pasta means a lot to me, and here at Bella Vita, they really did not get the hang of it. A lasagne is usually a pretty failsafe option at a restaurant, but the Lasagne with Tuscan meat ragout we ordered was mediocre – the taste was all right, but the dish was lacking in substance as there was too little meat and the lasagne sheets were too thin.(5) The Spaghetti with shrimps, cherry tomato and rucola, which was recommended to us by the waiter, was a disaster on a plate. The spaghetti was hard as it was not properly cooked, and while the prawns and cherry tomatoes were fresh, the whole dish was wincingly salty! The only reason we decided not to send this back to the kitchen was because it took half an hour for the spaghetti to be brought to us, and we did not want to wait another 30 minutes for a new plate to be cooked.(6) The Pappardelle with ox tail ragout, on the other hand, was tasteless and could benefit from a generous pinch of salt. To be fair, the oxtail ragu was well cooked and was butter soft and tender, but the blandness could not be excused. Seriously, for these prices we would hope for something better!(7) Thoroughly disappointed by the pastas, we were not in the mood for more food, but we decided to give their desserts a try since we would not be coming back to the restaurant anytime soon. We ordered their signature Tiramisu “Bella Vita” ($88), which the waiter recommended because it was made with real mascarpone and there was no gelatine added to it (Really? It was a house specialty because they didn’t add gelatine?) The tiramisu was smartly presented in a white porcelain bowl, and even though it was on the sweet side, the texture was decadently creamy and smooth, and there was enough coffee at the bottom for my liking. We drowned our sorrows by tucking into this classic Italian treat.Lunch at Bella Vita costs above $300 per head, and dinner above $500 per head. For the prices they charged, the food was rather appalling. Given that the ingredients were all fine and fresh, the poor execution of dishes could have been forgiven if the service was up to scratch, but unfortunately, that was unacceptable too. Perhaps we came on an off day, or perhaps the restaurant does much better at their Sunday brunches. Either way, I won’t be stepping foot in this restaurant any time soon.

A friend recommended this restaurant to us and in particular the t-bone steak, so I decided to come and try.

When we arrived at around 7:15pm, the restaurant was practically empty. The waiters were hanging around not doing much and then I realised they were standing on one side chatting among themselves. Then they were louder and louder and I could hear exactly what they were chatting and laughing about. This was not a cheap restaurant, appetizers were around HKD200 to HKD300 and main course were on average HKD400 to HKD500. I would have expected the service be a lot more professional! The restaurant was only one third full throughout the whole evening. There was a big group (adults and kids) sitting at the back of the restaurant in a private room without doors. They were so loud and at one stage I thought I was at Cafe de Coral!

I shared the t-bone steak with my husband. The steak had little flavor. You needed mustard or sea salt, if not it was so bland. We quickly asked where the steak came from. They said New Zealand. No wonder! Should have asked the origin of the steak before we ordered...

Overall with the price tag, i consider this a total rip off considering the quality of food and the service.

Monday Dinner

In fact, I am drawn to this restaurant by their brunch.Heard that they got a pretty good selection of good quality dishes for brunch buffet. Thats why I come here for dinner, but will come back for their brunches soon.

Bella Vita is located on the 11th floor of Cubs. It is managed by 1957 & Co. In the same building of Cubus, this management also provide dining experiences at Mango Tree & Sushi Ta-ke. I am not that eager to try Mango Tree, cause its thai food, but i would like to come back for Sushi Ta-ke.

For the appetizers, we ordered Burrata Salad w/ Rocket Leaves & Onion Soup.

The Burrata Salad is great. Because I like mozzarella very very much. In fact, burrata is an italian chees that made from mozarella and cream. It is soft inside and a little bit hard outside w/ mozzarella. It is a perfect combination w/ rocket leaves and cherry tomatoes. Some diners may not like the bitter tastes that rocket leaves give, but if u match w/ cherry tomatoes, its goof to give a try! For the onion soup, i am quite disappointed instead. The onion soup is quite creamy. The pieces of onions are dissolved in the soup. I always like to have onion soup when i go to steak house and such, because of the melting cheese ! (the Parmesan and cheddar cheese) !! Unfortunately, theres no cheese in this bowl of onion soup. Otherwise, it would be great ! They also serve you basket of warm breads, bread sticks with vinegar and olive oil. You cant miss this in an Italian restaurant.
Especially, I like the vinegar they serve.For main dishes, we ordered Red Prawn Pasta & Lamp Chops.

The Red prawn Spaghetti is quite creamy and the choice of the pasta is linguine. It is above average standard ! THe red prawns are great and fresh, but the pasta dont give us a taste of " Al Dente ! " Maybe we demanded too much, but it should have been better ! For the lamb chops, I ordered it medium- well. It is cooked well and grilled well. I dont need any mint sauce or mustard. The lam meat is quite softened inside but crusty outside. It is so lovely cooked that I couldnt get enough.For desserts, we ordered the Apple Pie w/ Gelato & Tiramisu !

The apple pie is served w/ warm green apples, hence, give us a taste of sourness. But, if you eat it w a spoonful of vanilla gelato, it actually well balanced out. The serving size is appropirate for 3-4 persons to share.

Also, we ordered the Tiramisu. The waiter told us that they dont put in any wine or whatsoever to this dessert. I found interesting is that they have 3/4 portion of this dessert with the Tiramisu cream and 1/4 renaming as cake. I like this raito as I like the sweetness of Tiramisu. All in all, I will definitely come back for brunch here! Wanna come here to try the various selections of parma hams ..

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Price : $ 750 per person
Similar restaurants: Casa Fina, La Cucina Italiana

We always count down for weekends as we struggle to work in the midst of a busy week. Weekends mean not only day-offs, but also opportunities for us to loosen up our collars, mute our blackberries, go for a walk in nature maybe, just to do what we please to relax our tired minds.

To me, nothing is more relaxing than having a slow and enjoyable brunch at weekend. Not that I don't have time for breakfast during the weekdays; but how relaxing can brekkie be, when you have lectures and tutorials to follow and readings and assignments to work on, and you have to literally grab the notes with one hand and your dearest 'breakfast' with your another?Having read about Bella Vita's superb Sunday brunch from a magazine, I decided to give it a try on a special day - April fool's day! Absolutely my day it is haha.We booked a table in great advance fearing for a full-house, but our worries casted away as we arrived at the restaurant up on The Cubus, a new 'gastro' building near Lee Garden. The restaurant was not particularly spacious, but since it was not very filled, we customers could enjoy some air of privacy in the cozy yet comfty interior.

We were given a table the inner most 'room', so that means a short walk everytime to the buffet spread near the entrance in a room filled with sunshine.The long white table was filled with amazing-looking appetizers and seafood - from greens to cheeses, from parma to smoked salmon, from grilled eggplant to seafood salad...What attracted us most, however, are definitely the little heaps of boston lobsters and king prawns - they were HUGE! The prawn in particular was as big as an adult's palm, making them look more like sea monsters than edible crustaceans haha.At the other end was an action-station (I learnt this term only lately) for - disappointedly, not foie gras on toast, but fish crudo on toast. The chef explained that frying foie gras produced too much oil and smoke, so they switched to something less smoking. I believe that to be an excuse however, as foie gras was available (how surprising) a few weeks after my visit. This Sunday brunch was superb not only because of the buffet spread, but also the selection of main course and free-flowing champagne, red and white wines, and fresh juices. $498+10% is really a bargain not to be missed, and we were glad that we made it before the promotion of free-flowing drinks ended in mid-April.

As a greedy glutton I tried to sample with everything available. Among the appetizers I was disappointed by the staleness and blandness of the mozzarella cheese, but the Italian cold cuts and cheeses spelt love - great to go with Champagne or the slightly dry white wine.The seafood tasted as great as they looked, and we indulged in the luxury of eating the juicy and sweet prawn that could not be finished in one bite (but a few - it was THAT big!).

Boston lobster is not my favorite species of the delicious crustacean, yet the claws and flesh were sweet and spongy enough to shut my complains. Some lobsters were full of sweet soft roes, and I'm sure people fond of this will have a great time exploring the heap of lobsters for an exceptional fertile one! I was not let down by the fact that foie gras was replaced by fish crudo - I am not especially fond of the fried fat liver anyway. Fish crudo, in the chef's words, was 'sashimi'. I thought it strange to use a Japanese term to explain an Italian cuisine so I checked up the web and discovered the term 'crudo', which I believe is referring to the thinny sliced raw fish served here. The chef first pan-fried a piece of toast, toppled it with tomato sauce, olive sauce and garlic (making up an Italian tricolor flag) and fish 'sashimi'.

Strange as it may sound, this toast was extraordinarily tasty and we both had seconds! We didn't know that raw fish would go so well with pesto and crunchy toasts. The bread soaked up some oil and might be a bit oilish, yet the freshness and slight sourness of the fish balanced the fatty feeling of the bread. It was also very crunchy, adding texture to the fish. Yum! What a nice new way of serving raw fish apart from putting them with vinegar rice!

We could choose from 5 main courses - lamb chop was not on the menu - and we picked rib eye and Italian seafood soup.Apart from that we could also order pastas with either tomato sauce or lobster cream sauce. Fearing of bursting ourselves with food, we only ordered a very small portion of penne in lobster cream sauce for a taste.

It was good, the cream sauce was very balanced in favour and not overly heavy, however the penne was slightly overcooked (in my humble opinion) and could have retained a bit of chewiness. It also lacked the texture of durum, not being handmade pastas (okay I admit my palate has been ill-pampered! LOL), but it was good enough and I would have had a few more forkfuls had there been no main courses to follow.

I like my choice of main course as I love seafood. What's fresher than a soup base cooked with different kinds of fresh seafood?They had not been overcooked either, as I happily consumed a spoonful of soup followed by a big bite of chewy seafoods. It was the best indulgence I could have imagined.

The grilled rib eye was not as great however, as it was slightly overcooked. What a way of wasting a good piece of beef! The texture of the meat was not too fine as well, and we concluded that Bella Vita might be more skilled in serving jewels from the sea than gifts on earth. Last but not least was dessert time - I was thrilled to see the once-empty white table now filled with all kinds of desserts: from tiramisu to berry tart, from chocolate cake to apple cake, the dessert corner was a delight to see. However, the taste of it further confirmed our conclusion on Bella Vita's strength on seafood but not other ingredients!

The mango napoleon looked decent but it turned soggy having absorbed the moist from the custard, they must have brushed no butter or whatsoever to keep away the moist.

The pastry crust of the lemon tart and berries tart were soggy and blah; the meringue was melting halfway and tasted awful. Even the chocolate cake was not 'rich' but pretty plastic in taste.

The Chocolate Profiteroles were also melting under the sun; droplets appeared on the chocolate coating and it looked awful.

The tiramisu was the most normal among all perhaps, but it was too eggy and not 'alcoholic' enough! I didn't expect the desserts to be THIS bad that it nearly ruined my splendid brunch experience at Bella Vita. Luckily, I couldn't save much room for desserts anyway (the seafood was too good to be missed!), so it wasn't much of a let-down anyway.

I as usual ended my meal with hot mint tea, partly to help digestion and partly to help wake myself from the alcohol i consumed.All in all, it was a great place to brunch at, given that you love seafood as much as I do. But if you were a sweet tooth and defines the beauty of life by the amount and quality of sugar you consume, be read to be disappointed.

Time for some good food again to celebrate Chinese New Year! This time, a food buddy and I picked Italian and decided to visit Bella Vita at Cubus. Bella Villa means Beautiful Life in Italian, we were in high spirits when we arrived at the restaurant, hoping to enjoy the most of the it.

The ambience was very cosy, modelled like a house with shelves full of wine and books about Italy and Tuscany. There were only around 10 tables and we could sort of watch what was going on in the kitchen through the little window in the middle of the shelves. Having looked at the menu, we also went through the special dishes written on the chalk board. We decided to go light on the meal and waved to ask a waiter. It was a little weird though one of the waitresses kept seeing us wave but did not come by and offer help. She sort of hinted at the manager and he came over and suggested some dishes.First came were our appetizers. We picked three. I started with Cod cooked with Scrambled eggs and white truffle. It was the only hot appetizer that we ordered. The cod was wonderfully blended with the egg and the white truffle was an additional sprinkle to make the dish perfect. The truffle smelled good and quite intense but did not cover the light taste of the rest of the food. Both Cod and Scrambled eggs were my favourite ingredients which Chef Francesco has made me reluctant to slur the dish, hoping there would be more.Moving on, I started to work on the Grilled octopus with black pepper and green apple salad. Unlike most salads, there was no dressing but actually all the ingredients were already rich in flavor. I was delighted to realize the Octopus was not overcooked and rough but still managed to remain its chewiness. Green apples were refreshing to the taste buds and made room for me to move to the third appetizer.The third appetizer was Duo of scallops: “Galera” with pancetta and rosemary, topped with truffle caviar. Scallops were lightly pan-seared, which went well with the caviar. Maybe this was more common than the other two dishes, so maybe next time we could go for some other interesting appetizers.We shared a pasta for the main and this was definitely a good pick - Orecchiette pasta with Sicilian red shrimp and date tomatoes. It was one of the best pasta I have had here in Hong Kong. Orecchiette was very small, maybe because of this reason, they absorbed the sauce well that the pasta was rich in tomato juice while it was still al dente. There was a tiny of spiciness in the sauce but it did not thwart me from literally cleaning the plate! The red shrimps were fresh and the texture was 'al dente' as well! loved it Saving up space for dessert, we ordered two. We started with Apple tarte tatin and vanilla gelato. Apples were very thinly sliced and spread over the tarte. Reminded me of the good and homey apple strudel I had back in Europe. Would be better if the gelato did not melt so fast.The second was Tiramisu! This was really really good, had I had enough space in my tummy, I would have finished the whole thing. You could actually taste the real mascarpone cheese. The cheese layer was very smooth, and the balance of coffee and amaretto was perfect in the cake layer. It was moist but not overly soaked. Sometimes I had Tiramisu at other restaurants and found it too strongly soaked in amaretto. This Tiramisu Bella Vita had everything ingredients precisely blended in harmony.It was a great dinner for the start of Chinese New Year, with good company and good food. Would be better if service quality was up to the food standard as well. I am not saying service was bad, but there is room for improvement if the waiters can be more proactive explain the menu and give suggestions accordingly. Space between tables is a little tight, more privacy is appreciated given the price and the ambience of the restaurant.

The bread was a good variety,and the butter was excellent which is my favorite white truffle butter.First courseSecond courseMain courseOne cannot find a better wine list anywhere in Hong Kong's restaurants, in terms of completeness and prices. The mark up was very very reasonable indeed . . . You don't have to worry about bringing your own bottle anymore! Moreover, the sommelier is very nice and honest.Staff were very attentive, professional and nice. They explained every detail of each dish patiently.

Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar
The Oil isn't overly aromatic or deep in flavour. Balsamic was a bit corrosive leading to a seizure in the throat. Arrgh.

Bread Basket with Dips
Came with a few dips,The crispy Grissini its rare to find though I havne't eaten at Grissini's to compare yet. Bread basket was surprisingly better than so many Italian restaurants, eg. Zefferino's, Da Domenica, Mistral or even the new 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo by Bombana.

Sliced marinated beef salad,with truffle oil.Scallop with Caviar, and tiger PrawnSeafood SoupThis is quite tasty and the seafoods are cooked perfectly.

Tiramisu
Bellavita tiramisu is the real thing, not those fake whipped cream or ice cream filled ones. Real mascarpone cheese is used here. The cake layers have been soaked to seep up the right amount of coffee and amaretto to keep them moist and wet but not dripping. One of the VERY few good ones in Hong Kong.

The only thing i don'y like is the space between the table and table is too narrow, unfortunately it is very common in HK restaurant.

honestly the food was good, definitely could not fault it. but not exceptional on par with the likes of Pierre or Amber etc.

the wine list was limited and way way way over priced. overall around $900pp was a bit of a rip off given the service was sub-par.

of course when we went, it had only been opened for a couple of months. however it was just so disorganised and unprofessional that you should not be charging 5 star prices when you're not ready to provide 5 star experience.

no interest to go back but if someone insists i will go.

hope it's service has improved by now.

Had a last minute booking for lunch with my friend today. Here is my quick impression:

Environment:
Cosy and comfortable - in particular I love their little outdoor balcony and tables by the huge ceiling to floor glass (the restaurant is located on the 11/F)

Food:
Good variety of choices for set lunch. Taste is ok, though not great with its relatively high price.
I had a mussels in cream sauce as starter - again, OK but not super tender and fresh.

Service:
I was surprised to see how untrained and lost the staff looked, the least you could expect in this kind of small cosy restaurant.
Need to repeat 4-5 times before I could get a cup of warm water (while the restaurant was far from fully seated)

I really love the ambience of this restaurant. But I decide to give them a bit more time for improvements before my next visit.

Set Lunch:
Appetizer + Pasta + Coffee = $270 / head

After reading the 1 st comment fin open rice, Come here with little expectation..........& thinking it must be $$$$.

Sorry, did not take PIC, as no intention or thinking it is not worth writing a comments.
Nevertheless... the food quality worth some credit.

The menu is preset by the host with RED & White wine

We share some starter & cold cut, salad...........Salad is refreshing by adding walnuts & grape... U can tell the chef does put effort & detail to make the difference.

I have a home made pasta & other guest has soup.

The mushroom soup, like the other 's comment, unevenly heated OR not hot enough..it is probably due to the fact tht it is a party of 12... waiting to serve has chilled the serving.

the home made pasta.. highly recommended. Al dente. Just perfect !!

The main course: T bone steak ( serving for 6 )
large portion, excellent meat quality , well charcoal grilled & juicy / tender inside.

very impressed with the T bone steak... AWESOME !!!
better than the one I have in Steak House ( Inter-continental ) on the next day.

dessert: Tiramisu, brownie & a slice of dry glazed orange.... Luv the orange slice.. perfect match with the Espresso...
A lovely foot note to end a party.

good food, good wine , good friend...... life is wonderful !!

++++ there is a small balcony for chill & hangout.. no view at all, but peaking in the apt across the street is fun.