Bella Via

You know those Italian restaurants that have been around forever? The ones in which every detail is effortlessly autentico? Well, Bella Via isn’t one of those. It feels more like a business plan than a neighborhood restaurant, with focus-group good looks (floor-to-ceiling windows, potted palms) and a distracted bartender in lieu of a host. Although the coal-fired brick oven’s thin-crust pizzas are delicious, you spin the roulette wheel when venturing beyond. Sliced sirloin with Gorgonzola sauce had been cooked past the requested rare. A pasta special featured flavorless sausage chunks and vapid vegetables, and the “that’s Italian!” music mix cycled through “Volare” more than once.