Bella Bella's Family Restaurant

I will be hiring them for every family function now--better food, great service, great price for catering for 30 people!
My family and I first went to Bella Bella's in the winter, and were actually not very impressed with the decor or the bread or the salad bar. We were about 5 minutes from leaving, I'm sorry to say, though the waitresses were nice. But, when our meals came, we thought we were in a different restaurant in a different city. I have never had food like that in Midland.  My husband had the lasagna--homemade sauce and everything that is secret-recipe quality. The kids were ecstatic that the chef cut the crusts off their grilled cheese. My baked ravioli/alfredo and something else trio was so good, I would never order another entree. Exactly what I wanted. We decided that we would come back and just do entree takeout. 
About a week ago, I realized my plans to do-it-myself for our first-communion party were overly ambitious. I called Bella Bella's, thinking the tiny little family meal takeout listed on their "to-go" menu was the extent of their catering. But, in 10 minutes, Nick put together a whole customized menu for me over the phone (they can do anything--BBQ, American, the sky's the limit). yesterday, Nick called, but I missed it, because he wanted to see if there was anything else I wanted to do to customize the garden salad veggie-wise or last minute menu considerations.  Today, even though it was Mother's Day and they were really busy, we were wowed by Bella Bella's again--this time from start to finish. 
We picked up the food ourselves, and they timed it to the last minute so the hot things would be hot--leave about 10 minutes for pick-up--my husband saw them taking the chicken out of the oven. We found ourselves with much more than we bargained for. Everyone raved about the surprise vegetarian entree, eggplant parmegiana (and I normally can't stand the stuff--but even I had 2 helpings). Even though I thought I had just ordered a simple pasta salad, they threw in a bonus tray of creamy pasta salad as well. Both actually made up the bulk of everyone's meal, they were that good. This is the best Italian I have had in years, and if word gets out about Bella Bella's catering, the other Midland catering establishments are going to have a run for their money. 
Oh my gosh, I sound like I am a family friend who just signed up to leave a good review. But, ask them to whip up a sample of the eggplant parmegiana before you hire them, and you'll see what I mean. The only thing I would recommend is that if you order the large party sub for the kids, like I did, you request they put the oil and vinegar on the side. The kids thought it was too sour, and ate the Lemon chicken up instead. For this giant feast for 30, I paid about $9 a person. I can't even imagine our bill if we had gone to a restaurant, even with limited entrees. We will be hiring them to do our wedding anniversary next year. The food was better quality than what you'd expect to have at a nice wedding. This was "ritzy, small Italian restaurant where the owner is your Grandpa's old war buddy" good. Even better than our first night there.   Everything was perfectly cooked, stayed hot and fresh for over an hour without warmers, and the cold stuff was cold (my husband said he had never had pasta salad at a catered function before today where the salad wasn't room temperature...that's pretty gross, actually). They kept the hot and cold packaged in separate boxes. 
Everyone took at least a family dinner's worth of leftovers home. Hope they continue with this great service, and stay open for many years. 
 (sorry--I put this review on Google, but hated to leave them high and dry on Angie's list when I pay for the service, right?--I just don't want them to go under before our next family event, because it would be a great loss!)
--Jaime