Casa Bella, Market St, North Scranton, PA

Casa Bella is in a local neighborhood of Scranton with an unprepossessing building and entrance. Once you get inside, that all changes. The place is owned by two Italian brothers, up from the restaurant business in New Jersey, and one of them is that maitre d’. He greets you with an Italian accent. They are putting a lot of effort into the restaurant, and it shows. There are six separate rooms (no bar), all broken up in different sizes – all tables, no booths. The tables are quality, with wooden chairs and double table cloths, white over red, with candles. All well done. The clientele is professional – the neighborhood banker, lawyer, accountant and priest all there, greeting all their friends and neighbors. The menu was all Italian, upper-end and definitely food-oriented (i.e., six different variations of veal on the menu). And they had a half-dozen specials of the day – appetizer, pasta, two versions of fish and another main course.
The spaghetti and meatballs were actually described as linguini and meatballs on the menu. In other words, no spaghetti. But the linguini worked and it was perfectly cooked. And to show you the class of the joint, one of the young waitresses arrived with the pasta and a bowl of Parmesan cheese, and asked if I would like some spread on my pasta – which I did, and it worked. The sauce was flavorful, not overpowering, and very good.
They overdid the meatballs – my bowl of pasta arrived with six (6 – count em!) meatballs. Actually there were three, each cut in half, and laid carefully all around the bowl. They were perfectly made and so firm so that you almost had to cut them with a knife, and evenly cooked and meaty.
The salad was a house salad, with three kinds of lettuce and diced tomatoes – a little hard (but it is winter) - and the house dressing was a vinaigrette with olive oil, and it was tasty.
And the bread. It was Italian, and sliced thick. It was heavy, but when I buttered it and started eating, it was wonderful. The heaviness worked for it. It wasn’t heavy because it was stale, but because it had body.
The Chianti was mellow and filling and it went right down.
The price for the lot was $13 for the pasta & $5 for the wine, for a total of $18 plus tip.
Style/ambience ****
Food ****