Bella Nonna

Bella Nonna serves New York style pizza and Italian favorites out of a spot on Silverado St, a stretch of Tavares that has quietly become home to several small, independently run food businesses operating close to one another. The restaurant offers dine-in, takeout, and delivery along with online ordering, positioning itself as a convenient neighborhood option for a pizza night or a full Italian dinner without needing to head into the more tourist facing downtown core near the lakefront.

Directory records also list the same phone number and address under the name Del Franco’s Pizza, which strongly suggests this is one business that has operated under more than one name over time, likely a rebrand rather than two separate restaurants sharing a building. Bella Nonna appears to be the current, active name based on its live website, and the New York style pizza focus lines up with what a pizza-forward predecessor name like Del Franco’s would suggest, so the pizza program here has some history behind it even under the newer branding.

Italian restaurants built around a genuine pizza program tend to do a few things well rather than trying to cover an enormous menu, and that focus, dine-in Italian favorites plus a serious New York style pizza, fits the profile of a small independent kitchen that knows its lane. The takeout and delivery options make it a practical choice for anyone staying near Tavares who wants a night in rather than a sit down meal, while the dine-in option is there for a more relaxed evening.

Silverado St sits a bit removed from the postcard version of downtown Tavares along Wooton Park and Lake Dora, in a more everyday commercial stretch of the city, which is exactly where a lot of the actual daily dining happens in any small Florida town. Bella Nonna is worth knowing about for exactly that reason: it is the kind of reliable, independently owned Italian spot that locals build into a weekly rotation, pizza on a Friday night, a red sauce dinner when the mood strikes, without needing to be a special occasion destination.

The Silverado St area has also become home to a handful of other small, independently run food businesses operating in close proximity, giving that part of Tavares a bit of its own low key food cluster distinct from the downtown waterfront scene. Anyone exploring beyond the postcard core of Tavares should treat Bella Nonna as a good reason to see that side of the city, particularly if a New York style slice or a full Italian dinner sounds better than another lakeside burger.