Walking up to Bellanca’s, I expected to be disappointed. Do you ever feel that vibe walking up to a place? I mean, it’s in Charlotte, on the beach and the average dinner is more than you’ll spend at the Char pit across the way. I’m expecting overpriced beach food. What you will actually get is so much more.
My dining partner and I decided to forgo the wait and eat at the bar. We often do that and find that depending on the restaurant, the service is even better. And rarely do you have to wait very long for your drinks! The atmosphere was nice and casually elegant. There was live guitarist playing and instead of being overbearing and loud, made the perfect backdrop to an enjoyable dinner.
We started with drink; mine was a tall gin and tonic ($4.50), my dining partner a Sam Adams Summer Ale ($3.50). Instead of ordering an appetizer, our meals came with sides. I chose a salad with bleu cheese ($.75). I was dismayed when the salad arrived complete with a plastic cup with the cover still on containing my dressing. It just seemed a little out of place with the cloth napkins and items on the menu. My dining partner ordered seafood bisque (2.00 extra charge) and it was amazingly creamy with just the right amount of seafood.
For dinner, I ordered the Chicken Picatta Lemone ($16.00) with a one of my sides being pasta. Coming from a restaurant that used to serve Picatta on a bed of angel hair pasta, I did not think that the side would come out with a red sauce. It did. Other than that, the sauce was a perfect lemon and wine sauce with capers and artichokes. The chicken was moist and delicious. My dining partner ordered the Asiago Crusted Salmon ($16.00) with a red pepper sauce. The salmon was done to perfection, not dry or too moist and the sauce and crust was an excellent compliment.
Our service from the bartender and server (it was odd, but we actually had a server that took care of use because that bartender wasn’t familiar with the menu) was great. The bartender was even nice enough to fill up my glass with “just tonic” for me at no charge.
If only we could find restaurants this good by accident more often.
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