Based on great reviews we went here for dinner on a Wednesday evening. Immediately had to wait for the hostess to greet us (10 minutes) then got on a 30 min wait list. After 40 minutes I go back to hostess and wait again for her to arrive. I see a couple walk in and leave due to no hostess greeting them. I notice no one else is waiting so we must be next. She comes over and I get the impression she forgot about us. She says it will just be a few more minutes. I let her know about the couple that walked outside no she shrugged her shoulders and said Oh Well. Hmmmm..... We finally get seated and the waitress is so overwhelmed we don't get a drink order in for at least 10 minutes. I see her apologizing to all her tables. I actually felt bad for her. The food was ok. The bacon wrapped dates were the best part of the meal so def order those! It wasn't worth a 2 hour night This world is falling apart with no staff at restaurants. It's scary. Once people start working again I would say then give this place a try. read more

Ciao Bella - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

Excellent meal and extraordinary service! Short staffed, but our waitress was driving 45 minutes instead of her usual 3 minute commute...team work makes a dream work! So good we came back a second time after they won the championship ball game at Sports Force of Cedar Point. Well worth the effort and time! read more

Ciao Bella - Filet! - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

First time and great! Great server! Great food! Highly recommend! Husband got the pizza. I got the shrimp pasta with pancetta and peas. Excellent! Are on the patio which is right by some water. Great atmosphere. read more

This is a great place! Fabulous Italian food and legit gluten free options. Will definitely be back to sit by the water!

My family loves the food and the location. The grand kids love that it is an upscale option but the still get to feed the gold fish .

We go every year for our anniversary and the food never disappoints! Food, service and atmosphere are excellent. Good for groups, special events and occasions. read more

Ordered Alfredo pasta with chicken. It was okay, but definitely not worth the money. Tiramisu was bait and switch -- they dumped a bunch of cream and sprinkled with powder ‍ read more

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Started off with great ambiance. Dark wood colors, beautiful bar, and amazing atmosphere. Had drinks in bar with the fabulous bartender, Lisa. Had a CA Merlot & orange/lemon martini. Amazing!!! Had French ginger liquor in it! Appetizer was fresh tomatoes from their garden, HOMEMADE mozzarella, and fresh basil. Met the general manager, Mary Ann, who was such a dear. Kind & professional. On to dinner, we ordered the Pancetta & Peas & Shrimp, which was unbelievable!!! Mouthwatering! And I had the chicken piccata which was lemony! But shrimp and peas was amazing!!! Wonderful place! Highly recommend!!! read more

Ciao Bella - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

I have have been here more than once. Is a typical 120-140 evening for two. The food is typical of any run of the mill Americanized Italian restaurant. I'm definitely not bashing the food as it is acceptable. What my issue/concern is, would be the staff. I understand that times are tough and quality employees are difficult to find so I try and not be too critical. Let me explain my scenario. I waited at the hostess stand for 15 minutes doing my best to gain her attention without being rude. A party of 10 came in after me and my friend, without reservation. They were promptly sat. Now after 20 minutes I asked the hostess who at this point had still been ignoring us, how long it would be until I could get on the waiting list.. her response, oh we are no longer seating people we are closing soon. I will never go back, I hope they take a nice long look at this review. I am going to show some restraint and not post the video that was made of the entire situation. It was really obvious she did not want to do her job.... I don't often complain about things, this had to be said. I didn't flirt with the hostess like the frat boy and his crew who came in 15 minutes after us did, this is the result. Management I suggest you figure this out. You have a problem. There were open seats, and three other families left, they had been waiting for her attention longer than me. Sorry for the rant. One star is too many. read more

It was Labor Day weekend so no seating for 2 hours. We sat at the bar which had full service. The drinks were great! Peach purée mixed with different things were delightful. The bacon wrapped figs with balsamic sauce was deliciously well as the stuffed mushrooms. We had the wedge salad which was good, but oh the baked lobster cream pasta dish was divine! Chicken Marsala was also a hit. Definitely recommend! read more

Ciao Bella - Baked lobster cream pasta and the spicy cappalini pasta - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

I will not ever and if mean ever recommend this place to anyone not even my worst enemy! I love in port clinton and we dont have much variety to chose from when it comes to resteraunts,and. I've eaten at this place twice and it was bad the first time 4 years ago and if just left today and it is even worse!! Dont do it all positive reviews are from idiots who have no taste or have never eaten the good stuff to know the difference !! Straight up could do better in a prison cell than they are doing in that kitchen ! read more

They do Italian food perfectly lots of good choices, service is always friendly . Nice place to relax and have a great dinner and for certain have their bread pudding with gelato for dessert it's worth having! read more

Everything, and we mean everything was outstanding! My wife's Branzino and my veal were divine!!!!! Oh, and the bacon wrapped dates.... WOWZA!!!!!! The service was very good, we had no complaint about price given the excellent cuisine, and we loved the quiet but friendly atmosphere. read more

I had a out of town guest, so we decided to check it out. the wait was long, but with a sweet glass of wine and great conversation, it is worth it. We had mussels for an appetizer, a margarita pizza, yum, and grilled salmon wth orzo. The left overs, we ate for breakfast. read more

Wow very surprised how much I liked this place. As we were traveling home from vacation and passing through this town for the night. We saw this place as it was close to our hotel. The food was delicious and service top notch. What impressed me the most was the price! I live in a big city and if we would of ordered in a restaurant where we live the bill would of been double maybe even triple the price! If I ever find myself back in port Clinton i will be back for sure. read more

Call ahead, GET RESERVATIONS!!! They probably have good food, but we showed up for an early dinner and were told there was a 2 hour wait for a table of two. read more

We have been waiting to try this place for a while, and decided to give it a try with the family. I've read the other reviews, and I will say we were greeted in an average manner - not good, not bad. When we sat down the waitress asked if we wanted a few minutes to decide on drinks. It took her a good while to return (long enough for two adults and two kids to decide on main courses). It's the little things that matter in this type of place. Your paying top dollar for the meals (not kidding it's pricey - but the food is good). We asked for lemons for the water - and had to ask again after five minutes. When you're paying $25-30 a plate, you (I) expect the simple requests to be delivered. My wife wanted to order the shrimp pasta special, but they had run out of the pasta. She substituted different pasta, but we were surprised. All of the other meals were great - the food was extremely well prepared and high quality. We ordered calamari for an appetizer, and I will say it was excellently prepared, and fresh when it hit the table - five stars here. I would say that the overall service was the largest disappointment. Just didn't seem over attentive to the tables needs - I overhead another table of guests discussing the tip they would leave, and the same theme arose. Management has a great atmosphere, great food, but really needs to nail down the little details of top notch personable service. They get that nailed down, and this place is five stars all day long. read more

See all

We visited Ciao Bella on Thursday, August 10 and the food, service and atmosphere all were perfect. Our server, Janie, was especially nice and helpful and provided great service. This is a great place to enjoy an afternoon or evening. read more

We visited Ciao Bella on Thursday, August 10 and the food, service and atmosphere all were perfect. Our server, Janie, was especially nice and helpful and provided great service. This is a great place to enjoy an afternoon or evening. read more

Our first time at this restaurant was yesterday for a friend's birthday. The hostess staff was kind and friendly and we immediately liked our server Charlie. My husband ordered the calamari which was lovely until he started choking. He attempted to clear his throat but was unable. I attempted the Heimlich, and when I was unsuccessful another restaurant patron also tried. Out of nowhere Charlie came and saved the day! He hoisted my husband up like a sack of potatoes and cleared the calamari! We are forever indebted! We continued our meal and the manager checked on us multiple times. I obviously can't say enough good things about their service. We'll be back to have a less eventful meal lol read more

We came at 6:00 on a Thursday straight from the island. Unfortunately it seems we must have been underdressed they met us at the door and told us the wait would be an hour.Even though there were many open tables including all of the outdoor seating. I guess the value of money depends on the person. Very disappointing. read more

I have always made a point to eat here when in town but no more. Service was horrible. Cuts to the menu selection were not chosen wisely. Some customer favorites are gone. Portions have gotten smaller as prices went up. Not sur3 I'll go back. So disappointed read more

This restaurant was amazing. Staff so friendly. Service excellent food amazing. I was in town and made 6 pm reservations and I was ordering dessert by 6:40pm. Caesar salad, chef feature Mahi Mahi and buckeye brownie for dessert. Absolutely no complaints. Beautiful setting. read more

See all

I've been here three times over the past three years and have had pretty much the same opinion each time. Pretty darn good food, but absolute abhorrent service. If it weren't for friends dragging us back here the last two times, I'd never step foot in this place.....and after last evenings experience will never set foot in here again. Last evening we sat at the bar. Had some young kid serving us (Ash). He seemed to have an attitude from the moment we sat down. There was hardly anyone in the place (in fact, we were the only people at the bar) and just about everything we needed we had to ask for.....at least 2-3 times before receiving it. Anyway, it's boring to go through all the details, but we waited over an hour to get our meal and pretty much walked out with a horrible taste in our mouths. Never going back....three chances is enough. I don't lightly, but that kid Ash, should be fired immediately, he has no business being in the service industry. I'm still in shock as to how we were treated by him. And trust me, read my other reviews....I don't post stuff like this for the sake of bashing someone. This was absolutely disgraceful behavior and management need to step up. read more

Ok first off this place has a very nice atmosphere and great food... but the customer service is horrible. We sat at the bar and the bartender was sort of "matter of fact" and blunt. Which is fine but she wasn't overly friendly and that was fine too. So the food was great and their featured cocktails were great! We got the bacon wrapped dates which were sweet and very rich. Then we split the lobster al forno and that was fantastic! That being said once my girlfriend was about to finish her drink, she had to spit it out. She notice not one but three LARGE fruit flies. We told the bartender and she was not too appalled or apologetic. She did take the drink off our bill but we had to wait on a manager to approve it. The manger did come approve it but she did not apologize or even say anything to us at all. Then the bartender didn't hand us a check she just shouted out our total. So now everyone knows how much we spent and we never received an itemized bill. It was just a nice meal, followed by a bad experience compounded by worse customer service. They handled it so calmly that I have a feeling this isn't the first time this has happened and it probably won't be the last. read more

Ciao Bella - Three fruit flies in the bottom of the Italian Wedding Cake drink. - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

We stopped in for an early dinner today and it was not busy and we were seated immediately. Our waitress was at our table quickly and had a big smile, was super friendly and very lovely. She took our drink order and brought that along with the delicious bread with olive oil and seasoning quickly. The bread was warm, soft and yummy...the olive oil and spices were perfect. I ordered the Lasagna and my husband ordered the Portbobello Ravioli. He had eaten there in January and loved the ravioli. Food came out quickly and was very delicious. My Lasagna was one pound and I ate about 1/3 and brought the rest home. My husband savored his ravioli because it was that good. Overall, we loved it and we will be back! Good job! read more

Ciao Bella - Lasagna - Italian Near Me - Port Clinton, Ohio

See all

Always satisfied at CB. Love the menu! The food is so good! Best place in the area! Try the dates!

Good food, friendly staff, beautiful location. It's a good place if vegetarian options are required, I and my wife will return.

I love there wedge salad! It has the right ingredients for a delicious salad, it just goes together. We were there on a weekend, early and they were very busy, had to wait. No big deal but....our waitress messed up our order and my salad came after my husband was finished! We'll give them another try since the food it pretty good, especially that salad! read more

This is where to have a very nice dinner in Port Clinton. They had me at capers. Where do you see restaurants listing capers in their ingredients these days? So I knew they knew what they were doing, and I was right. Delicious herby focaccia to dip in flavorful herbs and grassy olive oil; cool crunchy mediterranean salad (with capers!); filet of Lake Superior Whitefish over a light broth, a toasty almond-coconut crust complementing it's buttery richness. Spiced grilled peach and mascarpone trifle. Endless cold water carafe and a bold glass of wine. I love perch as much as anyone, but when you're ready for a step up, you'll like Ciao Bella. read more

I am disappointed in our first visit. There was a very rude customer not abiding by the guidelines the restaurant had in place and was argumentative with other customers and took a seat ahead of others waiting yet they manager did nothing about it. The food was not very good either. My lobster pasta was more like lobster soup that had been sitting too long and had to cut through the crusty cheese in the top. My husband ordered chicken parm and got veal parm but didn't realize it until he was almost done. Oops. Don't plan on going back there again. read more

The service is spectacular (thank you Denise!) everything is perfection here and the portions are ample enough for lunch leftovers the next day. The walleye piccata and chicken parm are highly recommended. We finished with the lemon ricotta cookie which doubles as the best day after breakfast ever. read more

One of the worst experiences ever. We had a table of 11 which proved to be too much for our waitress to handle. Drinks took forever and didn't get all that we ordered. We ordered the Tuesday turnover which is they bring out dishes of pasta all you can eat. Terrible Terrible Terrible! Served us two noodles each and most of the time ran out of food before everyone was served. Half hour between servings. Was at the restaurant over 2.5 hours and only got served 5 small plates. Totally waste of time. Would give 1 star but a couple dishes were actually good. read more

Turn Around Tuesday's. That is all. Perfect service and food. Such a good time with friends. So details on TAT: It's a pasta dish literally every time you turn around. You get served a different pasta each time and you have card that says "keep it coming" and "wait". So much fun and adventurous with my group of friends. Calamari and bacon wrapped dates were the appetizer and extremely delicious!! read more

My wife and I were disappointed today for lunch. Both meals were lukewarm. We sent both of them back twice before our pasta was mildly heated. The quality of the food was mediocre at best. Service was so-so. I felt as though I was inconveniencing the server by asking though the restaurant was mostly empty. In the past, food was good. Today it was not acceptable. I do not intend to return. read more

Amazing staff and food! Great experience and will definitely go again! Ordered the Tuesday turnaround and was awesome.

This is my husband and My favorite restaurant! The food is always so good! We even bring the kids and they love the pizza. The pizza is amazing, we always get the Encrusted Sol and Osso Bucco. Both are the best I've ever had and come with a homemade yummy risotto. Hands down my favorite Italian restaurant!! read more

The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great! This was the perfect dinner spot for my bachelorette party!!

We went to Ciao Bella in Port Clinton on New Years Eve (2022). Our host had been there multiple times, and highly recommended it, but we were disappointed. Service was rushed, with everything off the table moments after finishing our meal. My friend and I both ordered the Lobster Al Forno. The sauce was runny (think spoon, or bread to soak it up) and the lobster was disappointingly fishy tasting. I was not impressed at all, though our hosts say they have taken multiple guests there and never had a bad meal. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time. I might consider trying it again on a less busy holiday, but never again for New Year's Eve. read more

Glad we found it!! It is on the nicer side of things for the area and a nice change of pace from the very casual. Having lived in Italy I am a bit spoiled and have pretty critical views of most Italian places. This one met to exceeded standards. I hate Italian restaurants that serve breadsticks or other generic breads with butter. Here you got warm, fluffy, very tasty focaccia with herbed dipping oil! The appetizers ranged from great (stuffed mushrooms with awesome sausage blend), to really good (bruschetta - very fresh with pearlized balsamic) to ok (good but average calamari). Main courses were very good to great. The Chicken Marsala, Shrimp Oreganata, and Eggplant Parmesan were raved about. The meatball lasagna and sausage penne were very good. A couple of folks did their pick 2 special where you got unlimited soup or salad and a half order of pasta dish, or half a sandwich or pizza - perfect portion for lunch! Other "small things" also distinguished it as an authentic Italian restaurant - Parmesan grated at the table right onto your pasta vs spooning granulated cheese - a wine list that included some of the better but less recognized Italian Reds (Barolo & Brunello)- cappuccino in addition to regular coffee. Net - a definite repeat! read more