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08/31/08
Fantastic Italian!
by TeacherWhoCooks at Citysearch
My fiance and I went to Cucina Bella for the first time last weekend, and I must state that is was delicious! The service was amazing and everything on the menu was appealing. It was hard to choose what to get. Out of the blue, we saw two of our friends and they raved about the tasty food. We both ended up creating our own dishes. Which we loved being able to do. They were both enjoyable and we can't wait to go back. The atmosphere was welcoming and I loved the brick walls and the open kitchen. It made me feel as though they had nothing to hide with their food!
- Pros: Service, Food, Atmosphere
04/16/07
Great atmosphere, open kitchen, excellent food.
by msnewma1 at Citysearch
This has easily become one of my favorite restaurants in the Lake in the Hills/Algonquin/Crystal Lake area. Reservations are taken, though generally not needed unless you have a party larger than 4. The building is nice inside--brick with wood floors. Cheesy (in a bad way) keyboard/vocalist on Saturday nights after 9:00 pm plays louder than he should. Laminated menus are a little tacky, though the food more than makes up for it. Decent wine menu with plenty of domestic and imported wines. The service can be hit-or-miss, though I've never had what I'd consider "bad" service.
The food is outstanding. The bruschetta is outstanding--you can taste the very good olive oil. The fried calamari is decent, though I'll continue to fall back on the bruschetta (which is sometimes served with melted mozzarella--delicious!). The dressing on the house salad is to die for--I've never tried the soups, so I cannot give an opinion about them. I highly recommend the Gnocchi or 8 Finger Cavatolli; both are served with vodka sauce and are tender and rich. You can design your own pasta dish--you pick the pasta, the sauce, and the meats/vegetables. The arrabiata and puntanesca are both well balanced and flavorful. My friends have had success with the Chicken Vesuvio and the Chicken Parmesean--good crust on the Parmesean.
Portion sizes are pretty big--I've never had room for dessert. The espresso and coffee have always been good.
I'll continue to spread the word about Cucina Bella--it's a delightful little restaurant.
- Pros: The food! The Food! The food! Beautiful interior, reasonable prices, free valet
- Cons: Service is spotty, live music on Saturdays is cheesy.
