Ciao Bella Italian Restaurant Loses Lease, Will Close on Baltimore Drive

Ciao Bella is saying goodbye, closing its doors in a month, its owner said Tuesday, and is looking for another location.

Daniel Escobedo, the chief executive and owner, confirmed reports on Facebook that the Italian “caffe e ristorante” and pizzeria is shutting. He wrote: “Yes, we are closing at the end of July. Our lease was not renewed.”

Escobedo added via email:  “We are looking for a place to relocate” from the current address of 5263 Baltimore Drive between Parkway and Aztec drives.

According to its website, the dinner-serving restaurant hosted “Lounge Music Night” the first and third Saturdays of the month and announced in March that Sunday music nights would be starting as well.   

According to a La Mesa Patch event posting in late April, “The restaurant hosts dancing most nights: Monday, Wednesday, tango; Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, swing; Friday, blues or DJ; Saturday, varies.”

The 16-table restaurant is open 5:30-9:30 p.m. and a Patch directory listing called Ciao Bella an “eclectic mix of restaurant, coffee bar and dinner theater.  ... Outside is lined with plants, while the inside is darkly lit, with small tables and homemade booths.  Live performances include performances of tango and swing music.”

In Italian, ciao bella translates as “Hello, Beautiful.” But ciao also means goodbye.