Reviews for JoeBella's Italian Kitchen in Toms River, NJ

We never tried this place before so wanted to check it out for my wife?s birthday. We walked in and the first thing that hits... you is the noise level and club/dance music. My wife was not happy about entering an Italian restaurant and hearing club musicinstead of Frank Sinatra or something similar. It put a bad taste in our mouth to start off but we proceeded and asked for aquieter spot where might be able to hear each other. We sat in the way back and although not as loud since it wasn?t by thebar, the music was bumping like the place was turning into a club at a certain time. My wife complained to the waitress aboutthe music and was told that the owner just puts mixes on. My wife suggested he get better mixes. My wife is only 41 by theway. We ordered drinks and calamari, which both were very good. I got the bacon wrapped fillet. It was cooked the way Irequested and all was delicious. My wife got the lobster pasta dish, which she thoroughly enjoyed. More drinks! Dessert-pumpkin pecan bread pudding- yum! So overall, the restaurant food was delicious and the decor we loved! The only thing thatprobably would deter us from returning is the noise and that awful music!! We want to dine at an Italian restaurant, not club. Read more

The whole experience was a OK. The cocktails were pretty and tasted fine. The real problem was with the food and I immediately... notice when I got my calamari and it came out very dry and salty. The porkchop was OK, something I could have made at home notsomething you seek out and pay top dollar for. My girlfriend's pasta was just so overpriced for what she got. The wait staff wasnice but I felt like we were waiting around for simple stuff, bread, plates, etc and the restaurant was not busy what so ever.Bill was outrageous for 4 dishes in this area. Place won't survive if they don't get a new chief and a more realisticperspective on how food is priced in this area. Read more

My wife and I are regulars. But it?s been declining the past six months. We are most disappointed. When I saw his other... restaurant ?four seasons Diner? decline drastically - I was expecting this restaurant to do the same sadly. We still go intohappy hour, and also try and have dinner there once a month. but the food is over priced and they were times we had problemswith certain dishes and didn?t even touch them due to various reasons and the waitresses do not address. They do not take it offthe table nor discount the bill. We had one dish, for example, swimming and liquid and they put it on the table and spilled itall over. Saw it but Never cleaned it up . We reported an undercooked dish to the waitress and she just smiled and left it onthe table. We had another salad that was loaded with vinegar taste we couldn?t even eat it. And again nothing was done about it.We paid full for everything. Very poor business practice. Also not all the waitresses are friendly. One in particular is veryrude. Not a pleasant place to go any longer. We are locals and like to support local but no longer ! Read more

The food was sub-par at best. You can taste the tin can in the tomato sauce. Short ribs were chewy and dry. The old fashioned... had no orange peel and bitters. No stemware for a glass of wine. Basically, found very little flavor in their food. I wishthem well but they definitely need to up to improve, if they want a more returning clientele. The waitress was friendly andhelpful but the price of the food did not warranted the high cost. Read more

First time there and it exceeded all expectations. Celebrated Dad and Ann's 30th Anniversary with a delicious meal with... excellent service from Nicole and her colleague. We will all be back. Be forewarned that the Veal Milanese is enormous (andworth every calorie) Read more

Don't do it!!! The waitress was AMAZING! LOVE HER! It's not her fault the food sucks! First the bread... hard and stale ! The... salad came after the spaghetti, both gross! The salad tasted like dirt.... The garlic bread was awful. Burnt and the garlicstuck to your teeth with every bite. I wouldn't review if EVERY single thing I ate wasn't disgusting. Read more

Overall, my experience for the most part was really good, but my husband and I were a little bit disappointed with our food... though. However, our friends were very happy with theirs! I was disappointed by the menu description and what my food came outlike, because it really didn't seem to match; I wouldn't have ordered it had I know. I got the Lobster Aragosta it said "creamsauce," but it was all tomato and chunky, so I was missing the cream part and white; I usually avoid tomato based sauce. Myhusband got chicken Parm and he said his tomatoes had a metallic taste, I told him my dish too, so that was unfortunate. Aside,from our meals not being great, we enjoyed our appetizers, cocktails, and our servers. If you like to drink cocktails, be surenot to drink too many, they are a bit pricey. Even though we were slightly disappointed I will be coming back to try again! Read more

First time there. Fast and friendly staff and service. Food was pretty good. Pork chop was moist and tender, came with broccoli... that has a smoky roasted flavor, very good. The chicken parm was good and was not overloaded with pasta. Both meals were justthe right amount. Rustic interior looks really nice. Only criticism is the music. It was a techno type and you could only hearthe beat in a loop. Like when your next to a car and all you can hear is the speaker beating and thumping. Now it wasn't tooloud, but it was hard to talk between the music and others talking. Acoustics were not great. Maybe if seated in the back areait might not be so bad. Read more