When I walked into Luna Bella, I was like, how are we going to be able to move our shoulders at a table for four with an infant? The tables are very close and there is barely any room at the entrance to wait so people were hovering behind my husband who was right near the door all through dinner. This added to the wind blowing on him from the door opening every few minutes wasn't too fun! However, even with all of those negatives that would often discourage us from going back, we said that we would because the food was delicious! I had a pizza. I love cheese and it was even a bit cheesy for me, but had excellent flavor and crust. My mother had a lovely scallop linguini meal that she liked. My husband had a wonderful scallop dish with crab imperial on it. The waiter that we had was very attentive and helpful. I did feel bad for the wait staff as they had to squeeze through all of the people waiting. Overall, the food was great, the ambiance, not so much!

Looking for something unique, informal and not a chain, we selected Luna Bella since it had recently won the Best of Howard award (again). The place is a little difficult to find since it is tucked away within one of Columbia's (in)famous discreet shopping centers.

We went there on a Saturday night a bit after 7:30 PM so had to wait about 15 minutes. The atmosphere is cozy and the place is small. The waiting area is a wooden bench in the alcove (we decided to walk around a bit through the shopping area). After selected a nice Chardonnay, we picked the Shrimp Bruschetta as an appetizer. It was very good - rich and creamy with big chunks of shrimp. Next we had a little shared Caesar salad before our entrees of Veal Dominic and Gnocchi with Alfredo sauce. My veal was nicely pounded and topped with prosciutto and melted provolone. I couldn't really taste the prosciutto which I was hoping would compliment the veal. While it was good with the fettuccine and tomato sauce, it wasn't a standout dish. The Gnocchi was decent as all the pasta is homemade.

We skipped dessert for this trip but hoping to go back and maybe try one of their pizzas.

Pulled off I-95 when we were heading North after Thanksgiving to visit friends in Columbia. They took us to this fabulous place. New Jersey has a well-deserved reputation for its authentic Italian restaurants. Someone from NJ must have moved to Columbia because there is certainly a fine Italian cook behind this great restaurant. Our friends are regulars and they said it is always busy. We had the delicious lasagna and our friends had a cheese bread and a huge bowl of mussels. The mussels dish was a "Wow" dish filled with piles of mussels and the best Italian sauce (gravy) south of New Jersey. It is in a very non-descript shopping center. Everything we saw come out of the kitchen looked fabulous. If you live in that area, you have a gift from the Italian Food Gods waiting for you. Prices were great. Service was outstanding from a very friendly waiter.

Cozy but nice atmosphere. Better than the better-known chains. Helpful attentive staff, and really good food.