I didn’t realize how far away North Andover was until I drove to Bella’s. I’m willing to travel far for good food, but this was a hike. If I lived closer, I’d go here more often, but for now the distance puts it on the infrequent list. One of the most memorable things about the restaurant was how heavy and thus noisy their chairs were. It was a clean dining room, but sparse and loud when you needed to adjust a chair even a bit. Besides the roast beef, I tried the chicken fingers, fries, and a pizza roll. The pizza roll was good, but the chicken fingers were too pale. Stick with the beef.
The Big Beef is priced at $12.95. Their ratio between beef, sauce, mayo, and cheese is excellent. The cheese slice is thicker than most places which helps this beef out. The beef is sliced perfectly and nicely rare. The sesame seed bun was the only thing about this beef that I didn’t love. It wasn’t bad, but it was almost too artisanal.
The Verdict: ✧✧
Maybe I’m being stingy, but I’m holding off on awarding the third star until I find a perfect beef. This one was very close. In fact, the only thing that could have been improved was the bun. The beef was excellent: rare, perfectly sliced, well seasoned. The sauce, cheese, and mayo ratios were very good. I just didn’t love the bun, so a two point five or a two point eight even. This was a great roast beef, but it is too far away from me to go back with any regularly.
Bella’s Roast Beef
1211 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA
Concord Culinary Lyceum 
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