Ciao Bella is a quaint Italian restaurant somewhat off the beaten path in Riverside, CA. The restaurant boosts a small open outdoor patio with an even larger covered patio in the back. The back patio entertains concerts on Saturday evenings once a month starting July 23 running through October 15 with two concerts in the month of August. Patrons may purchase a concert ticket or a combination ticket also including dinner.

Ciao Bella offers great weekly specials. Happy hour occurs from 5-7pm Monday through Saturday with specials on mojitos, martinis, and flights of wine as well as various appetizers. Wednesday is half-price on all bottles of wine from the Ciao Bella wine cellar.

Each day Ciao Bella offers a variety of lunch specials as well.

While at Ciao Bella, I tried the Chicken Farfalle pasta dish with gluten free penne noodles. Not only does Ciao Bella offer gluten free pasta, but also wheat, fat and sodium free pasta as well! The pasta is made by Heartland. Ordering the pasta from another company allows Ciao Bella to eliminate the possibility of cross contamination. The pasta dish was ample in size and had a wonderful presentation. The first thing I noticed in the dish was the amazing taste of the asiago cheese sauce covering the noodles. The light and smooth taste of the sauce is incredible. It wasn’t too heavy and didn’t cause me to reach for water immediately after tasting it. The sauce is very rich with an amazing garlic flavor but isn’t overpowering towards the other flavors in the dish such as mushroom and onion. The chicken has an amazing roasted flavor and is extremely moist and tender. The pasta itself exhibits an amazing texture and the noodles are extremely large in size…half the dish filled me up as the portions are quite large. The pasta dish also came with a salad. I recommend getting the salad without any dressing. I found that having the salad without the dressing complimented the asiago cheese sauce very well.

Other gluten free options Ciao Bella offers include a nine inch gluten free crust as well as fresh salads.

The average price of a dish is about  $13-14 dollars. This is quite reasonable considering not only the size of the dish, but also the quality of the food and the excellent service Ciao Bella provides.

Ciao Bella is constantly adding new menu items based on the season. It is obvious this restaurant personally caters to the desires of their customers. While the cliental of Ciao Bella is quite diverse, 85% are repeat customers. Ciao Bella has been in business for five and a half years and added gluten free to their menu simply because a customer requested it.

Ciao Bella offers something for every budget and every type of person. The elegant style, classy ambiance, and amazing food of Ciao Bella make this restaurant an excellent choice for a wonderful tasting gluten free meal at a very reasonable price.

Ciao Bella is located at 1630 Spruce Street in Riverside, CA. There is ample parking to accommodate all customers.