Bellini's Italian Eatery

Despite all the pride I have from making our meals from scratch, despite all the joy I get from going out to really great dining experiences like at Good Luck, despite all the love I feel for local restaurants and the Farmer's Market... Sometimes you just need some cheap and fast Italian food for lunch. And a chain restaurant in a strip mall across from Eastview Mall will do surprisingly well.

I think it was in the first week that I moved here that I started craving just plain traditional Italian-American comfort food. Could not be found. Finally hit upon Mr. Dominic's, which does fit the bill, but it's all the way in Charlotte and tends to be unspeakably crowded during the summer beach-traffic months. Wanted something closer to town, a quiet, dark place to pop into on a Saturday for lunch. Benucci's in Pittsford Plaza appeared to meet my qualifications, but the food was never really up to par (and I'm not yet desperate enough to try Mario's down the street).

So this weekend the chicken parm craving struck the Boy. Without any idea of a new place to try we headed to Suburbia for some low-grade shopping and the notion in the back of my head that I could break him down to go to PF Chang's instead. But I spotted a sign for Bellini's Italian Eatery across from the mall. This seemed like the kind of place we were looking for, and indeed it was. Dark and quiet inside, with a somewhat fancy, wood-paneled interior that wasn't too stuffy. Kind of a cozy hotel bar type feel. Just a tinge of cheesiness with giant wine bottles and artificial grape leaves.

The food was simple, inexpensive, and pretty excellent. I had a Balsamic Panini (panino, but I'm done trying to explain to people that panini means two sandwiches in Italian). It had chicken, carmelized onions, and lots of mozzarella of course. Cooked perfectly. And with a side of sweet potato fries and garlic aioli. I didn't even know those little guys were coming, but any sauce is always effusively welcomed to my plate. As are sweet potato fries. The Boy had the chicken parmesan he so desired. The sauce seemed a bit thin to me, and penne is a strange choice for thin sauce and for chicken parm. But there were no leftovers. Definitely worth it to try this place again. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes we really love to "slum it" and spend a Saturday in the suburbs, going to big box stores and eating at chain restaurants. And this particular chain restaurant definitely wins out over the Olive Gardens of the world (yes, we even tried there once. Blech.)