Bella's Italian Cafe

Bella’s Cafe is an Intimate family run restaurant, with freshly made Italian food only 10 minutes from downtown. It’s Where Savannah Eats Italian and you can Enjoy our extensive Italian menu (from pizza to scampi) in a casual, family-run setting with a long wine list. Bella was Joyce’s grandmother, a small woman, barely 4’11” tall, who read tea leaves during the Depression to help support the family.

Bella also cooked! In fact, she was hailed, along with her husband William, as the neighborhood’s best cook. Their Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta Fagiola) was famous on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. She and William cooked up a storm. Our Manicotti is as close to Bella’s as Joyce could make it, and we found it to be one of our most popular items.

“I can still hear Grandma Bella calling out from the kitchen in her heavy voice to all of us at the dinner table, ‘Mangia! Mangia!’ It was the signal to put to my lips the best thing I had ever tasted — and eat! As I got a bit older, I was permitted in the kitchen to learn from the master.

She always spoke especially loudly in her accented English when explaining a recipe — very important matters demand full attention! I only hope I have done her recipes some justice here, and that our customers will enjoy this food as much as I do.” ~ Joyce Shanks / Bella’s Italian Cafe .

Enjoy a nice Pinot Noir from the Italian country side or a robust Sangovese from the groves of the Napa Valley in Northern California. Regardless of your taste in wine, you will find that our wine menu is as robust as our lunch and dinner menu.