When people ask me, “What’s your favourite Italian restaurant in Winnipeg?” I probably say Bellissimo.
It is easily the one spot that my family and I visit, order take-out from, or get catering from the most.
Known officially as Bellissimo Restaurant & Lounge, this family-owned gem has been holding down the local food scene for almost three decades. They first opened their doors back in 1999, serving traditional Italian comfort food with a nice modern spin.
They renovated the interior a couple of years ago. The new look is wide open and modern, but it still manages to feel incredibly warm and cozy when you’re sitting inside.
This place can absolutely fill up right at 5:00 PM, so it’s a good idea to book ahead. You can call them directly or easily secure a table on their website using Tock.
The Food
Ok, first of all, I LOVE their dinner roll 😂.
So warm, and soft, and fluffy. I have to literally control myself every single time so I don’t completely stuff myself with bread and leave no room for the main dish.
Appetizers
Calamari (CAD$20): Baby squid breaded and deep-fried, served with a basil pesto aioli. It’s lightly breaded, the squid is tender, and the basil pesto aioli pairs perfectly with it.
Cozzè (CAD$20): Fresh Salt Spring mussels tossed in your choice of sauce. The options are Spicy Marinara ($23) or Tequila Cream ($24). I usually choose the spicy marinara sauce, and oh, it’s delicious.
Bordo Misto (CAD$26): House-cured Italian meats, imported cheese, marinated vegetables, and taralli. If you like cured Italian meats, this is an excellent choice. The dish is essentially like a small charcuterie board.
Crostini Formaggio (CAD$12): Sourdough broiled with three cheeses and garlic oil. You can order this with the Bordo Misto. Honestly, that combination alone could be your dinner. 😊
Salads
My absolute favourite is the Insalata Con Fichi (CAD$24). It features mixed greens, tomato, candied pecans, onions, dry figs, and blue cheese, all drizzled with their red wine vinaigrette and topped with tiger prawns. Plus, the portion size is quite substantive.
Casalinga (CAD$16): Mixed greens, cucumber, calamata olives, tomatoes, carrot, and red onions tossed in their own roasted garlic vinaigrette.
We usually order this one without olives. The picture shown below is only half of the full portion.
Their Caesar Salad (CAD$18) also goes incredibly well with the pasta. Though I don’t have a standalone photo of it, you can catch a glimpse of it (as a side, not the full portion) in the short video below. For context, the side order is like a regular-sized salad in other restaurants.
Pasta
Bellissimo makes all their sauces from scratch daily.
Aragosta (CAD$41): Lobster meat, tiger prawns, house bacon, tomatoes, sherry wine cream sauce, green onions, jumbo butter basted scallops, spaghetti
As a seafood lover, this has been my go-to dish for years.
Scampi Al Vino Bianco (CAD$29): Tiger prawns, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, white wine sauce, green onions, linguini
This is a great alternative. But since I’m not a fan of onions and feta cheese, I always ask to hold them 😂. It probably doesn’t taste like the usual version because of that.
Salsicce (CAD$28): One of my dad’s favourites. It features house-made spicy crumbled Italian sausage, red peppers, red onion, basil, garlic, olive oil, and penne.
Mac & Cheese (CAD$30): They used to have the lobster mac & cheese, which was not only a dinner favourite but also a great catering item. Now it’s served with black tiger prawns instead. I haven’t had this new version yet.
Note: They do have a house-made pasta section on the menu. But I’ve never tried any of them because my attention automatically goes to the seafood pastas.
Entrees
I don’t normally order entrees here.
But I have tried Pollo Parmigiana (CAD$30). It is a breaded chicken cutlet fried and topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It’s oven baked and served with spaghetti with nonna’s sauce.
This can easily feed two people; it was too much and too heavy for me. But if you want a lot of protein, this dish would do.
Agnello (CAD$38): This is the only lamb dish on the menu. It features slow roasted lamb shank on top of their hand made gnocchi with a wild mushroom and lamb au jus.
I have a friend who craved lamb and the first restaurant he thought of was Bellissimo. It hit the spot for him. I will take his word for it as I do not eat lamb.
Pizzas
All of their pizzas are made with homemade hand tossed pizza dough.
My mom’s favourite is Spinachi di Crema (SM CAD$22 / LG CAD$35). It has garlic cream sauce, spinach, bacon, chicken, white onion, roasted tomato, mozzarella, and parmesan.
She always gets the gluten free version. She enjoys it so much and sometimes she may make hmm and ohh noises 😂
Oh, you can also order this at lunch.
Speaking of lunch, Bellissimo has a lunch and dinner menu. Some of the lunch items are also on the dinner menu.
The dish I always order is the Chicken club (CAD$22). It comes with grilled chicken breast, beef streak tomato, bacon, fontina cheese, avocado, spicy mayo, and arugula, on grilled sour dough.
I love the sour dough. It has a beautiful texture. The club sandwich has a well-balanced flavour. Not to mention, it serves with hot house-made fries.
Dessert
Both the Tiramisu (CAD$12) and Creme Brulee (CAD$9.5) are fantastic.
The Tiramisu comes with dark rum soaked lady fingers, mascarpone mousse, whipped cream, and cocoa powder. So moist and scrumptious.
The Creme Brulee features vanilla bean and torched sugar. Can’t never go wrong with this choice.
I do want to try the Death by Chocolate (CAD$12.5) next time.
📍 877 Waverley St, Winnipeg, MB (Google Map)
🏘️ Linden Woods, South-Central Winnipeg
🌐 https://www.bellissimo-restaurant.com/
🚗 Free parking lot
You can catch a quick look at the food and atmosphere in the YouTube Short video below:
Looking for more italian restaurants in the city, browse the italian restaurant categories on my blog: https://theposhfoodie.com/category/italian-restaurants-in-winnipeg/