What Happened to Bella Luna Cafe After Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 29, Episode 1 Aired September 21, 2018

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stopped at Bella Luna Cafe in Chicago for the September 21, 2018 episode "From Pork to Pasta" (S29E1), which paired the cafe's dine-in food with several other Midwest stops. Bella Luna Cafe operated as a neighborhood cafe on South Pulaski Road in Chicago. The same address now operates under the name "Bella Luna," described on its own website as a Chicago event venue rather than a cafe, according to the site checked 2026-09-08. That site advertises "newly renovated banquet spaces" for private events and lists hours for tours and bookings rather than walk-in dining, and its copyright line reads 2023. Google Places still lists a business called "Bella Luna" as operational at the address, consistent with the venue's continued use for events rather than as the featured cafe.

Mystery Diners, Season 4, Episode 9 Aired September 11, 2013

Mystery Diners' Sept. 11, 2013 episode "Deliver Us from Evil" (Season 4, Episode 9) featured Bella Luna Café in Chicago. According to an episode overview on TheTVDB, the owner contacted Charles Stiles after hearing customer complaints about the restaurant's delivery service; the sources reviewed for this entry did not include a full recap of the undercover investigation or its outcome. Separately, according to a CBS Chicago report on crime concerns in River North and a Yelp listing, the restaurant — doing business since 1988 on North Dearborn Street, later as Bella Luna Bar & Pizza — lost its lease and closed in September 2022, a closure the CBS report ties in part to safety concerns in the neighborhood.

Bella Luna's own "Our Story" page describes the business's history at that address going back to 1988. Wikipedia's article on the series, citing its sources, notes that the show carries a credits disclaimer stating that events may be re-enacted for dramatic purposes, and cites a television critic who described the show's scenarios as implausible and its resolutions as staged. This appearance is tracked here as an additional TV credit for the business already profiled on this site as Bella Luna; that existing profile carries this site's current status and address determination for the location.