BEWARE!! If you are looking for a place to eat, DO NOT dine here! Place is not clean and staff is rude. We ordered 2 meals and both meals were disgusting, lacked flavor, and were just overall presented sloppy. The Owner/Chef BENNY is rude and nasty and could care less about customer service. GO ELSEWHERE. (Garlic Rose-down the road is WAY better!) read more

I will note I never got to eat the food but figured I should share my experience. We waited about an hour for a table outside and were hoping for a great experience at a new place. We happened to run into friends who had already ate and they informed us that they had waited over an hour for their food but that despite their food not being what they actually ordered, it was pretty good. Once we sat down after a few minutes a waitress came by and opened our wine and I also requested real sized wine glasses which the waitress informed me she didnt think they had as they were all dirty but would go and check. At this point the show really started. The table next to use was comprised of a small child maybe 4 or 5 and 3 women. In the 30+ minutes we waited outside the restaurant we had not even noticed them but they were the focus of what happened next. They were just beginning to eat their food when an employee came to the table and just blurted out "you need to leave" and in response the table asked understandably wait what? And she repeated that the owner no longer wanted them there. They left without incident but I have to say I have never seen anything like this before. I cant imagine this type of response is ever necessary and certainly shouldnt be handled in this fashion. I would of hoped the owner would handle something like this personally if that were his/her desire. To top it all off the police had even been called! I just couldnt believe what I was seeing. It seemed like everything blew over without major incident but this all seemed terribly uncalled for. Afer another 5 minutes of waiting we still never saw our waitress so we decided to just grab our wine and leave. This just didnt seem like the kind of place we wanted to spend our money. It may have been a fluke but any business that handles customer service in this fashion, especially in the hospitality business needs to take a hard look at their practices. This is no way to endear people to your business, even if the customer is wrong. read more

My husband and I went to this restaurant for the first time 2 weekends ago. We were surprised that it wasn't busy for a Saturday evening. There was only one other table occupied with a party of 3 when we arrived. As soon as we arrived, the hostess asked us if we had a reservation which we found odd since the restaurant wasn't busy. :\ We were seated right away and a very friendly waiter took our drink/food orders. The food arrived to our table quickly. It was good and the servings were generous. When I was almost finished eating, a gentleman stopped by and asked me if I was done (even though I was obviously still eating). He also asked us if we wanted more napkins? Very strange ... read more

I was actually very surprised how good this pizza was. I've been going down the list of local places to order from on the app BeyondMenu and Ciao Bello is the only one I will return to after trying the rest of them. The pizza had sufficient amount of cheese just enough crunch and sauce and plenty of pepperoni. I ordered in the snow storm and picked it up and drove home and it was still warm after carrying it and my two year old inside. I would go back & recommend. read more

Don't recommend the whole wheat fettuccine pasta... service was alright kinda slow when not even busy.

Pizza was so greasy we ate 1 slice. Not good. I knew I should have made a digorno at least it would be edible. Maybe their salads & pasta are better.. I will never know..sad no good pizza in Cranford.. Going to Westfield. read more

I was so disappointed. I ordered from this place for delivery. It took over two hours to get the food (Grubhub said the driver that brought it was in a car wreck, so my condolences to the driver). It wasn't the time that was the issue; it was the fact that the order was incorrect. I ordered two diet cokes. Instead, I received two regular cokes. Additionally, when you order approximately $60 worth of food, you would expect to receive some utensils. Luckily I travel enough to know to have some utensils, else Grubhub said the restaurant had to remake the food, so really they had TWO opportunities to get it everything right and they didn't. The veal Parmesan was decent; nothing to rave about. Same thing with the fried mozzarella. The best thing was the fried zucchini. Will I order from here again: no. read more

I ordered a "large" calzone for about 12 dollars and to my surprise it wasn't large at all. Large calzones from other restaurants are the size of a full sized pizza box. As you can see from the attached photo, the cheese inside was like liquid and I couldn't even pick it up because it just dripped onto the box. The calzone itself wasn't even hot it was just sorta warm and it also just fell apart whenever you try to cut it as shown in the photo. I'd say if you want Italian food order from the plethora of other Italian restaurants within a 5 mile radius because this was actually disgusting. The crust was very chewy and thick and tasted like cardboard. However, they did include a lot of sauce which was nice but the sauce is easily the worst I've ever tasted (no joke). The delivery took ages and the guy couldn't even find my house. The food arrived kinda warm. I've eaten here before and it's been decent but this is just flat out disgusting and I'm never ordering from here again. The food was very bland and barely mediocre at best. read more

Ciao Bello - Italian Near Me - Cranford, New Jersey

We came here on a Friday night. I only wanted to go here for the outside seating. Otherwise I would have been at Il Gabbianos for Italian food. Turned out there was a 30 min wait for outdoor seating so we had to sit inside. Food was pretty good. We got the caprese salad for an appetizer, the Brooklyn square pizza and the chicken ciao bello. The chicken was overcooked. My biggest complaint was the service. Our waiter was arguing with the manager because they had moved some of his tables outside. He barely paid attention to us and it took a while to ask for simple things. It did seem like the other waiters were better but there was definitely a bigger focus on the outdoor seats. I think I'll stick to il Gabbianos for Italian. Food is more authentic and service is better. read more

Food was excellent. Service also. Plenty of local parking. So that's not an issue. Not quite warm enough to eat outside, but they have a nice outdoor area. Not a sidewalk situation, and actual full outdoor set up. read more

this place is very clean and everyone who works here is very professional. Bathrooms are very clean, the only downfalls to this place are parking which is horrible and this place used to serve much bigger portions than what they serve now, they definitely cut down on the portion sizes, and for that reason my rating went from 5 stars to 4 stars. read more

Ciao Bello - Lightly battered fresh mozzarella appetizer - Italian Near Me - Cranford, New Jersey

We have ordered in twice and tonight sat outside for dinner with family. The food has been fantastic. I'm always concerned with delivery as sometimes food doesn't always travel well but there's does. We have had the eggplant sorrentino several time and the portions were plentiful. Tonight I had the chicken ciao bello and it was spot on. Loved it. Even my 1 year old loved her ravioli. The staff is very friendly. My one critique would be the attentiveness of our waitress. She did a nice job and didn't make any errors, but I think she may have had too many tables to cover at once. Not her fault but just my thoughts. Anyway, Ciao Bello may have just become our go to Italian spot in town. Hopefully they keep up the good work. read more

I've gone here 2x and there will never be a 3rd. Waited over 2 hours each time for PIZZA. Nobody was served at the same Time , terrible service . Don't go, especially with kids . read more

I'm giving this place 1 star...because 0 stars isn't an option! Food was absolutely disgusting! We tried to order pizza (easy choice)...they had no pizza..when they have a large selection of pizza on the menu! So we ordered penne w/ vodka sauce, shrimp scampi, and mozzarella sticks.....when I tell you....that was the worse pasta I ever had! The noodles weren't cooked all the way. (they were hard), the vodka sauce was more like butter with no flavor, the shrimp scampi was awful. The mozzarella sticks taste more like cardboard with stale cheese. The hostess was nice. The waiter took forever to even come to our table. I will NOT be back here. Please get a better chef or do something to fix this. Oh 1 star because it was BYOB. lol but that was the best thing about this place. read more

I'm going to give it four, but it's really a 3.5 , but it's new, so I'll give it the benefit. The appetizers are too big-- I had the beet tower, and it was huge, great, but ginormous. Service is really friendly and attentive. The chicken entrées were excellent, we had chicken 'benni, and the chicken funghi--juicy and different. We also had a fussili entrée that was quite good, too. We'll be back! read more

Ciao Bello - Beet tower==great, but too big - Italian Near Me - Cranford, New Jersey

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Would have given 3.5 if an option Food: there were four of us. We went a few weeks ago and I forget one of the entrees, but two of us had the penne vodka and one had the cavatelli and broccoli. Both were very good. Apps included mozzarella carrozza, bruschetta and balsamic fried calamari. The calamari gets very high marks by most and I would agree that it was very good. Different. The bruschetta is on point and the carrozza is filled with cheese. If you like cheese, get it. Service: we had a very polite waiter who was attentive and welcoming. Atmosphere: casual yet clean and proper. Open space with a couple of televisions. Great spot for adult dinner, but I would also bring my kids. Misc: BYOB. I'm sure we'll be back. read more

Very nice place... I forget New Jersey has so many BYOBs. Good food and good service.

Went there last night for dinner with a group of 7. We were celebrating a birthday and there was nothing offered to the special person. My friend ordered a Cobb salad with buffalo chicken. It was sent with breaded chicken instead of grilled. When my friend pointed it out the waiter argued with us and asked to be shown the menu. My friend did just that and finally got the right dish. I ordered eggplant parmigiana which again was wrong. Menu stated breaded eggplant layered with ricotta but what I got was a stack of eggy rolled eggplant slices with no ricotta. The prices are high and food quality is low. Service was ok but the attitude was disgusting. If guests have to show the menu to prove to the waiters that they are correct then this place needs Gordon Ramsey! Never going back again. read more

The Gnocchi was fantastic. Would have gotten 5 stars only the service was a bit slow and food took a long time to come out.

Another place where you can't judge a book by its cover. It was a surprisingly good restaurant (with equally surprisingly great bathrooms!). The bread they served was amazing, and the olive oil dip that accompanied it was superb -- they added something that I couldn't put my finger on, but it made it so much better. We got a calamari appetizer, which was very good. Instead of marinara sauce, as I'm so used to, it came with balsamic vinegar, which was good change in pace. I usually don't use the marinara anyway. Husband got the pasta special, which was super buttery and delicious. I got the lasagna, which was only OK. The prices were quite reasonable and the service was excellent. I would come again if in the neighborhood. read more

DISGUSTING PLACE!!!!! Stay away. Terrible food. My wife and I had bad stomach ache from the food there. We told the waitress it smelled bad but she said "thats how it is". The manager was rude as well and it was just a terrible experience. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DONT EVEN TRY. I spoke to 2 friends after that been there and they said they wished I spoke to them before as they had the same experience and would have told me to stay away read more

Probably the worst restaurant I have ever been, the service was terrible, the food was cold and the waitress didn't want to listen to us. In addition no manager was there to help us and when he finally arrived he told us to take it or leave it. Ware definitely never going back to that place and you shouldn't even stop by even. DISG read more

I met some friends here on a Monday night. We sat outside which was so nice. Our waitress was very attentive and took our orders promptly. I ordered the gnocchi with marinara sauce. They were delicious and the dish was reasonably priced too. Everyone enjoyed their meals and we had a great night out. I'm looking forward to returning! read more

Place is very nice Outdoor sitting available Problem with the service Poor poor service all waitress were lost with the orders I order a soup as appetizer and pizza for dinner And everything came out at the same time Needs to improve a lot read more

Fantastic new BYOB place in town. Menu has normal Italian fare. From the soups & salads to apps and entrees to dessert, everything was delicious for our party of 3. While it can get quite busy & loud on weekends, the staff is pleasant and the atmosphere is low key. Perfect for a date night or a nice local spot to dine with family and friends... read more

Wonderful dining experience. Quiet Italian place. Went for an early dinner and had the ravioli with parmesan cream sauce. Food was great. Service was kind and attentive but not overbearing. Highly recommended!special thanks to chef benny read more

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I normally don't do reviews but This place don't deserve a star. We place an order at 5:55pm and didn't receive until 7:55pm. 2 hours to cook and deliver food to the house is really ridiculous to say. I even call to check status on food after an 1 hour of placing the order and told about 15 min it'll be here more like about 45 min later. Our food like it sat around for awhile and wasn't even warm. will never recommend this place to anyone. read more

We moved to clark and ordered from this place because of recommendations. The first year ordering was good. But the last 3 months have been terrible. We order our dinner and they constantly forget something. They send the chicken and veggies but no pasta, then the next time it's pasta and no veggies. When you call, the girl on the phone is awful. The food is good. The service is awful. For the amount you pay, it should be better. We won't order from there again. read more

Went here for mothers day and I can honestly say this place is not capable of a big rush. They were basically out of all the appetizers except maybe 3 things. The pasta we ordered was not even cooked and the salad was missing basically everything and they told us once again they ran out of things. They are very poorly prepared and need to order better. When we asked to speak to the owner they said we couldn't because he was the one cooking they sent a bus boy out to talk to us who was very sweet but the owner does not seem to give a damn.If you go when they are slow then it is perfectly fine. Everyone is so nice there but they need a owner that knows what they are doing. read more

Disgusting! First of all I hate when you can't even understand your waiter. Seriously? My Mother ordered the Chicken Benny and it came out raw! Then I tried my Chicken Frances and raw! There were 2 other people in the restaurant so how does that happen? Food tasted like it was microwaved. Then we asked for the manager and instead we get a waiter that said basically nothing. Very disgusted with this experience. Beware!!! read more

Best chicken caesar wrap I've ever had !!! First time ordering from here and I'd order over and over read more

Ciao Bello - Italian Near Me - Cranford, New Jersey

ZERO stars ! Made reservations for 5 for Mother's Day. Hostess was rude. They were out of Diet Coke and the appetizer we wanted to order. It took 25 minutes to receive our drinks and bread (had to remind waiter twice that one person had ordered coffee) so many staff members were walking around back and forth aimlessly. 45 minutes later we still did not receive our appetizer that we had to settle on. No one knew what they were doing. Horrible horrible service. We got up and walked out before any food was received. I will not be back ever again !!!!! read more

The place to go to instead of Italian sellout, Ferraros. Amazing food, great portions and staff that really cares! The sea bass is incredible and the calamari is perfect! This place doesn't get as much credit as it should! read more

DONT GO THERE!!!! If I could give zero or minus I would. Terrible food. Everything came cold and Terrible service. Not worth even $1 for any dish. This place should be close! Its filthy and has bad smell. read more

I used to enjoy Ciao Bello, but I believe it must have changed hands recently. The staff seems not only unsure of themselves, but we observed some squabbling among them, as well as long waits for water, cleared plates, ordering dessert, and a surprising lack of knowledge about the menu. Our server commented she needed to start eating Italian food so she could tell what food she was serving and who it should go to. There is nothing special about the food. The chef's special salad was drowned in dressing and some of the fruit was not ripe; it was evident the greens were taken directly from a box and left whole with stems. The eggplant rollatini lacked flavor and the sauce is in dire need of seasoning. The only really good thing was the gelato, which really can't get messed up when you don't make it. The Benny's special banana crunch is a bowl of filo dough (described as a cookie) with a tiny dollop of ice cream and bananas and a pool of chocolate syrup underneath. Describing our dissapointment to the server, she said it was better last night, someone different made it today. (!) read more

I will never spend money at this restaurant again. I came here with my husband and our kids to eat outside. There were a few tables open. The hostess greets us and asks us if we would like a table inside or outside. Of course we said outside, it's a gorgeous day. Then she proceeds to say we don't have any tables available because other people will be coming in to eat in 30 minutes. What does that even mean!? Then why give us the option!? The atmosphere was completely uncomfortable. Nothing inviting about this place. We went inside and were the only ones in there. We kept getting stared at by your staff, but no one smiles. The food is not that great for the prices. Never again. read more

I personally am a big fan of this restaurant, and I got excited when I saw on the Bring Fido website that dogs were allowed on their patio. Just to be safe, I called to confirm that I could bring my dog and sit outside. Initially I was told yes, and they just requested that I let them know in advance when I was coming so they could reserve the appropriate outdoor table. After making the reservation, I was called back about 5 minutes later and told that they were expecting it to be busy that night (a cloudy Tuesday night) and the manager said no dogs were allowed, because people get annoyed and "distracted". I explained that my dog would be sitting by my side the whole time, we'd already be sitting in the back corner, and asked if there was a less busy time that we could come (initially planning to go at 6pm) and then the story changed to "dogs are never allowed". My level of frustration and disappointment with this place is through the roof right now, which is unfortunate, because I really do enjoy their food. I can't believe how difficult it is to find a dog friendly restaurant in this area. Lighten up and get with the times NJ. So many cities are becoming more dog friendly. It's disappointing to see that we're not. read more

We had a catering order for a New Year's Eve Party. My wife and daughter had been here previously and liked it. It was very easy to place the order via phone and it was ready when they promised. We ordered a small tray of the house salad, a medium tray of the Cavatelli and Broccoli, and 9 pieces of their chicken Parmigiana. The chicken parm came by piece and not by the tray. They provided 3 loaves of Italian Bread. They offer sternos, racks, and trays, for a very minimal deposit, which we did. It worked out great. The house salad was very good. Plenty of green and black olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce. We had the Italian dressing. The Cavatelli and Broccoli was average at best. My daughter and wife both believed I made a better one. I would describe it as just above bland with not a lot of broccoli. However, the chicken parm was fantastic. Huge pieces covered in melted mozzarella and sauce. Very Tasty. One of our guests commented it was the best chicken parm he's had in years. The bread was very fresh and probably from Arthur Avenue or Brooklyn. Overall, it was a very good experience. The prices were very reasonable for the amount of food they provided. Everything was cooked fresh and piping hot when we picked it up. I would do it again. read more

REALLy good establishment that might get overlooked among the Italian restaurant scene in Union County. We started with both calamaris and the fried mozzarella - delish!! Then we had chicken parm, salmon, sea bass, penne vodka... all amazing!! read more

Very rude management. Food delivery was 2 hours late. The manager yelled at me over the phone