Mia Bella Trattoria

The husband and I took my dad out to dinner for his birthday last night before we caught the Rush concert and we went to a cute little Italian Bistro, Mia Bella Trattoria.

The food is very reasonably priced for a gourmet Italian restaurant, prices ranging from $15 to $30 a plate, depending on what you are looking for to wet your appetite.  It is quite a small restaurant, and with it being a concert night I don't think they were expecting to be as busy as they were on a Sunday night, so it was a bit loud inside, but much more tolerable than the House of Blues located next door.

We went in and were seated right away, which is always nice.  Our server took our drink order and upon delivery he informed us of their specials, and also what he recommends off of the menu.  For starters we ordered Torta di Granchio, a jumbo lump crab cake served with a sweet potato balsamic chutney and saffron wine reduction. Once it was served I was quite surprised at the size of the crab cake, most restaurants serve a tiny cake that it is mostly breading, but it was quite a different story at Mia Bella.  The crab cake was about the size of my Husbands palm, which is pretty large, and the presentation was stunning.  It sat in the middle of the wine reduction with the balsamic sweet potato chutney on top and finished off with a beautiful basil leaf.  The chutney was by itself was amazing, the sweet potato was basically caramelized by the balsamic vinegar and added a deliciously sweet aspect to the crab cake.  The saffron wine reduction held well on its own as well and added tangy notes.  The crab cake itself was all fresh crab with hints of herbs and spices and very little breading and just melted in your mouth.  Combine all the individual aspects of the appetizer it was almost sinful.  I can honestly say that was the best crab cake I have ever eaten.

For dinner I ordered Pollo all Mia Bella, sauteed Chicken breast layered with a medley of sauteed vegetables, spinach, roasted red peppers and portobella mushrooms, in a jalapeno cilantro pesto broth topped with goat cheese and roasted leeks.  My dad ordered Parmigiana di Pollo, Oven roasted and breaded chicken breast stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese; served on a bed of angel hair pasta with spinach and roasted red peppers and topped with a tomato basil cream sauce.  Finally my Husband ordered Capelleni di Mare, angel hair pasta tossed with shrimp, sea scallops, mussels and clams tossed with fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil and hint of crushed red pepper. It all sounds delicious right?

Every bit of our meal was delicious.  The amount of time and care the staff puts into laying out each plate and the serving to each table is wonderful, and it makes the experience that much more enjoyable.  They have really made great use out of different ingredients and their flavors all compliment one another. Even though the restaurant was busy, the staff remained calm and picked up their efforts to ensure that each patron had an enjoyable experience.  While our waiter was behind the bar helping with drinks we were visited by several other servers to ensure we were doing well.

I really enjoyed myself and the food and plan on making more trips to Mia Bella in the future.  There are four locations in and around the Houston area; Downtown Main, Downtown Pavilions (Off of San Jacinto St and the location we went to), Vintage Park and Sugarland.

Click here to view the menu