Bella Mia Pizzeria & Italian Grill By Stefano
24050 Front AvenueI feel like I’ve been slacking quite a bit on blogs on restaurants actually in Southwest Michigan. We’ve been traveling quite a bit and lunch has consisted of “what do you want?” “I don’t care.” and it turns in to scrounging up something already int he house.
J did all of the grocery shopping yesterday, but we had to run to Walmart to pick something up we couldn’t find at Meijer. As we were walking in the door, J asked if I had any ideas for dinner. I said if pizza was ok, there are a couple new places I would like to get to eventually. She said it was alright with her.
I chose Bella Mia Pizzeria & Italian Grill by Stefano in Mattawan. The restaurant is fairly new opening this summer, but it takes over in the building that previously housed Kazoopy’s on Front Street in Mattawan.
We pulled up a menu online and J was actually happy to see there was much more than just pizza. I don’t think she was totally sold on the idea of pizza, but pasta did actually sound good.
She called in the order while I got L ready for a little road trip. The reason I wanted to get pizza tonight was so I could give J a little break….which is also why I chose the pizza place in Mattawan.
It took me about 25 minutes to get to the little brick building in the middle of town and my pizza was waiting for me when I got there. I didn’t plan on getting anything to drink, but there was a cooler with 20 oz bottles of Pepsi right next to the cash register, so I grabbed one out while the clerk was grabbing my pizza.
The total was just a hair over $22 which I paid for with credit. The clerk noticed my hands were full with a baby in one arm and a pizza and pasta in the other.
It didn’t take L long once I got home to start asking for pizza. I ordered a 16″ with pepperoni and bacon. The pizza was cut in to eight huge slices and that isn’t even their biggest size pizza. The pizza had a firm, but chewy crust and a red sauce that had a little bit of spice to it. The toppings were plentiful and for this kind of pizza, it was actually pretty good. J said she would have liked the crust a little crunchier, but I actually kind of liked it the way it was. It was frim, had a little bit of color and bite to it, but it was still chewy.
J ordered the Penne with a marinara sauce. Typically, the pastas in red sauce come with a meat sauce, but J’s not a meat sauce fan. It looked like they just baked the penne with the same sauce the use on the pizza. It was a pretty bright red and that sort of turned J off at first, but after taking a few bites, she said it was pretty tasty. What she did love about the pasta was the garlic bread that came with it. It looked like the typical garlic bread made from a sub roll, but this one was very buttery and very garlicy.
Bella Mia is another solid small town pizza joint. I enjoyed the pizza. J enjoyed the pasta and L enjoyed everything we put on her plate.
16″ Pepperoni and Bacon Pizza
Pepperoni and Bacon Pizza
Penne Pasta in Marinara Sauce
Garlic Bread
SW Michigan Dining 