Bellissimo Ristorante

105 Unit E & F Sct. Castor cor. Tomas Morato

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Philippines

If you are planning on trying Bellissimo Ristorante in Tomas Morato, I have one thing to say to you – DON’T. Based on my own personal opinion, taste and experience, there are other places where you will have your money’s worth and have also have a wonderful time. Now, let me begin this story from the top.

My friend and I bought this coupon from Buyanihan, the group buying site. We have bought several from different establishments and different stores and we regularly check it out if they have something good. If they do, we buy it, that simple. Anyway, the reason I started with that is because we had hard time trying to get reservation at Bellissimo which we did not experience elsewhere. At first they told us that it is not available that day. Then the following week, they said that as of the moment they are having problems with the coupons and cannot accept them yet. The third time, they finally said yes, we can use it.

So we went there around 6 pm. The place is nice and cozy, the exact opposite of the staff. The moment we entered Bellissimo and told the waiter that we will use the coupon, the people in the counter, which is about a meter or two from our table, started whispering and snickered behind our back. Mind you, there’s just the two of us and we had P1000 worth of food so not really cheap and we can always order more and pay for the additional. In fact, that was what we asked, if that is possible. The cashier, told us that yes, we can do that. But then, she and another girl turned away and laughed behind our back. It was so degrading and yet we did not leave because, hell, we paid for that and we will not be discouraged now after all the troubles we went through in getting a reservation.

I do not know why they signed up for Buyanihan when they really do not welcome people using them. Then we realized that maybe that was their strategy, that maybe they just want the advertising but are determined and will do everything in their power so that patrons will not use the coupons. We have the feeling that that is the case. Well, agreed that it is perfect for the Mafia theme of the restaurant. If we are right, REALLY IT IS A CONMAN’S PLACE! From our experience, pictures of the staff should be on the wall, along with some of the most notorious conmen in history like Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano. As for the management (I don’t really care who owns this place), they should enroll on management class and learn more about organizational culture and corporate social responsibility!

(On one of the walls, Al Capone and Meyer Lansky, I think, I did not bother to get a closer look)

As for the food, we have P1000, as I said before. For that we only got 1 pizza, 1 pasta, 2 soft drinks and 2 scoops of ice cream. The pizza is like that of Sbarro’s and the pasta, I grant, is really good. The ice cream, I think it is Selecta Ice Cream. Now, for the value of our money, let us just say that we could have used our P1000 on weekdays at Yakimix (or add P80 each on weekends). Needless to say, we ate again at Trinoma afterwards. And yes, we did not order additional at Bellissimo because we see no reason why they should profit more from us.

When we got our bill, again they were whispering and smiling behind our backs. We paid for the exact amount, no more, no less, down to the last cent. Of course we did not tip the waiter, not because we were pissed but just to show that we did not like the way they treat customers. On the way out, we talked about how the staff should have cared more for their customers. Hell, finding a job in the Philippines is hard enough. They should have done everything, regardless of what the management told them, so that the restaurant will have regular customers – especially since there are plenty of good restaurants at Timog and especially since they only had 2 sets of customers (us and the other, a Chinese family of 4) from 6 to 8 when the other restos in Timog are bursting with patrons.