Cha Bella, Italy in Savannah
Cha Bella
By: Ana Vila and Inés Arimany
We decided to choose this site for our Urban Tomography fieldwork due to its location and unique taste. Cha Bella is located in 102 East Liberty Street, at the end of one of the most important and popular street of Savannah, which is Broughton; being surrounded by SCAD buildings gives this restaurant a plus and it also made our experience safer. Cha Bella was opened in 2006 and since then it has given people great things to say.
Since it was a restaurant and clients will be different every time we went, we decided to search for comments on “Trip Advisor” and other sources. This would give us a broader idea of the experience of various clients at different times. “This restaurant was one of the first Savannah restaurants to “go local” in food sourcing. They maintain that tradition today. We had Shrimp and Risotto, which was tasty and well-prepared. The shrimp in the dish were Georgia shrimp — probably caught earlier that day or the day before. HIGHLY recommended”! — Visited September 2014.
One of the characteristics that makes Cha Bella stand out is their constant change in the menu and the ingredients they work with. On the other hand, it was one of the first farm-to-table restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. This means they work with dishes made with the finest local ingredients also being organic. The reason why the menu changes constantly is because its based on what’s fresh and available.
The ambiance is very unique and comfortable and resembles Savannah’s style in an elegant way. There is indoor and outdoor experience and this makes it more friendly for the clients to go despite of the weather conditions. One of the things that caught our attention was that being such a high-end restaurant, they are pet friendly.
OUR EXPERIENCE
We found good reviews as excellent comments when we visited the restaurant. In addition, us as clients also had the “Cha Bella” experience. At first we encounter with some struggles due to the site being a restaurant meaning having constant movement, there was lack of staff since it was a week day this made it difficult for the workers to answer our questions while eating. First, we tried interviewing our waiter but he couldn’t answer our questions, we think that either he had no idea of the restaurant’s background or he was not allowed to answer questions. He told us he would call the correct person for the topic, so the manager came in, Michael Lacy. We thought he was going to answer everything we had in mind but as soon as we started asking the questions he immediately stopped us and told us “oh no no no, here, let me try something else. Let me get you my card, email me…” and he started walking away.
Recording link:
file:///Users/inesarimany/Downloads/New%20Recording-2.m4a
Few moments later, Lacy sent his business card with the waiter since he was very busy. After handing us the card, very kindly, the waiter told us we could visit the restaurant another day, not that crowded, not at dinner, so that he could answer all our questions. Later that day, we sent Lacy an email asking the most simple questions starting with the restaurants history, he responded immediately but we thought it was not enough material. Five days later, we both went to Cha Bella for our second time; the restaurant was less packed with clients and this made it possible for us to make more detailed questions.
We were going to interview some clients about their experience but we were not allowed to disturb them. We decided to wait outside so that we could talk to them after they ate. In this way we wouldn’t intervene with the restaurant policy and we would not bother the clients while eating.
After speaking to some clients, we figured out that most of them were local. The location may affect tourist popularity since its not as near as any other restaurant or apart from the stores.
TRAVELING WITHOUT REALLY LEAVING
Overall, our experience in this unique site was interesting, we got to meet people who went there frequently from long time ago and some others who knew it due to internet sources such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, etc. We got to talk to employees as well as clients so this made a different impact in the interviews. This is because they had different roles and percieve the restaurant in a different perspective.
Food-wise, it was very good and we would recommend it to anyone, us as international clients were astounded that the portions were so little compared to American. It is interesting how as soon as you go to a themed restaurant they sell you the idea that you are in a particular place, and for this case, being in Italy; not only food-wise but the whole experience and environment.
