This is a bit of an unfortunate review. My wife and I visited, without a reservation, on a Saturday lunchtime. The staff were friendly and efficient, but the speed of food coming from the kitchen was very very slow. It took 50 minutes for half a pizza and a salad to arrive. We weren't the only ones asking staff where their order was either. It wasn't that busy, there were loads of empty tables. The food tasted fine, but speed of delivery from the kitchen was far too slow.
Megan Mills
Food was awful, we have a small child and don't go out to eat very often so decided to treat ourselves and go out for a family meal new years eve, both myself and my partner couldn't finish our meal and we tried our daughters and it tasted like boiled pasta with tinned tomatoes no flavour at all, avoid the polo funghi tastes and looks like pasta water mixed with the tiniest amount of cream no seasoning extremely bland with very little chicken even with added Parmesan it couldn't be rescued! The chicken milanese was over cooked and dry and extremely oily, the chips were rock hard not to mention the garlic dough balls that were for our daughter that came with no garlic and were like bullets so we couldn't give them to her. The garlic bread tasted like margarine and no flavour of garlic at all! We all left hungry. Worst meal we've had out. Lots of complaints from a neighbouring table whilst we were there also which should of been a red flag! Avoid!!!
nakita saunders
Desserts inedibleCookie dough Rock hard you couldn't get a spoon through and ice cream almost all meltedTiramisu was like sweet wet foam not how it use to beStarters and mains were goodHowever both our mains (carbonara and calzone) weren't the same as we have had previous monthsDon't know if they've changed lots of recipes ????Service was also slow and seemed ignored at several pointsServer just grumbled and pointed at qr to pay as they'd started to turn away from the tableUse to come almost every month but not tempted to rush back
Becky
We had a really lovely family meal at Bella Italia Riverside.The food was delicious and the staff were wonderfully friendly, especially Reuben who went the extra mile to ensure we all had a great time. Thank you Reuben!
Hannah Stone
Food was untextured, not worth the money and bland. Service was friendly but the restaurant was understaffed. Pizzas were slightly underdone. I would not recommend.
Lei James
Such a lovely place, staff are so attentive. Food was delicious. Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening. Will be coming back soon!
Ruben
The few staff on FoH that were on were just bad at their jobs and it wasnt even busy.... I don't know what that girl jamie's issue was but all of them couldn't be bothered to take our orders after we had sat down we waited 20mins before we even got drinks, two of them just stood around and talked ignoring not only us but others as well, they seemed fed up talking with us when she did bother she absolutely stunk of smoke and i was super surprised at how dirty her clothes were for a server.The food was bland and arrived and was just tasteless and my girlfriends pizza was rubbery and cold by the time it eventually got to us!Wont be coming back.
Adam Larter
Massively overpriced guff. £15 for a bowl of pasta that isn’t even a kids portion.Came out cold. Not once were we asked how was everything.Rather slow as well. Wasn’t that busy.Won’t be going back again. Bella Italia has gone downhill massively
Mary Gameson
Although very busy at 7 pm, we were shown to a table by Ellie asap & she served us great grub, with a smile. The best sea bass ever - & my husband enjoyed his lasagne. Thank you Ellie for lovely service & chef for the amazing fish!
Donna Hughes
24/11 We decided upon dining at Bella italia for lunch as we've always had such delicious meals before now and there's always a lovely atmosphere. The lady at the front of house was the only staff member downstairs due to staff illness but she was attending to tables well, and was very friendly and approachable. Unfortunately we found that the new style of one of our favourites meals had a bland taste compared to before. We mentioned it to the staff member and she explained the new menu and the difference between the different pastas which they now use for the meal which could have contributed to the change in taste. She dealt with our comments in a professional way.
Usually have no complaints about them as excellent food and good service - something was different yesterday; for a party of 6, one starter that was provided was not the one ordered (that's fine - it was still nice), we had other tables food and drink delivered to us which we had to refuse, and the biggest thing was the long waiting time of nearly an hour for the mains. We had places to be so had to cancel the order and settle up. Another establishment got £60+ worth of trade instead. It is a shame - won't stop me from going again but disappointing experience nonetheless
George
So off the get go it does look amazing here.....BUTThe food itself was tasting like it was from a microwave and was really slow to even get to us, on top of that we had a really awful waitress who i wont name or shame but she stunk as did her attitude. It was obvious there is a personal hygiene problem, it was so bad we had to spray when she left....for a fancy restaurant i wasn't expecting ...that!All in all not good at all.
Hannah Barlow
Customer service was great and they took my garden salad off the bill as it was not pleasant even when remade. The cheeseburger was also overcooked. Food not good, customer service fine. Wouldn't recommend if you want an actually decent meal.
Thomas Mann
Great food, staff were very friendly and kind, atmosphere was very nice. Fast service
rhiannon dugdale
We were a table of 24 that pre booked and had done a pre order so receiving and ordering was made a lot more efficient and less confusing for us and the server.Food was lovely, she kept the drinks flowing and made sure we all had a wonderful time. Can’t remember her name but she had dark brown hair and our table was upstairs if that helps!!Deffo recommend!
This is a bit of an unfortunate review. My wife and I visited, without a reservation, on a Saturday lunchtime. The staff were friendly and efficient, but the speed of food coming from the kitchen was very very slow. It took 50 minutes for half a pizza and a salad to arrive. We weren't the only ones asking staff where their order was either. It wasn't that busy, there were loads of empty tables. The food tasted fine, but speed of delivery from the kitchen was far too slow.
Food was awful, we have a small child and don't go out to eat very often so decided to treat ourselves and go out for a family meal new years eve, both myself and my partner couldn't finish our meal and we tried our daughters and it tasted like boiled pasta with tinned tomatoes no flavour at all, avoid the polo funghi tastes and looks like pasta water mixed with the tiniest amount of cream no seasoning extremely bland with very little chicken even with added Parmesan it couldn't be rescued! The chicken milanese was over cooked and dry and extremely oily, the chips were rock hard not to mention the garlic dough balls that were for our daughter that came with no garlic and were like bullets so we couldn't give them to her. The garlic bread tasted like margarine and no flavour of garlic at all! We all left hungry. Worst meal we've had out. Lots of complaints from a neighbouring table whilst we were there also which should of been a red flag! Avoid!!!
Desserts inedibleCookie dough Rock hard you couldn't get a spoon through and ice cream almost all meltedTiramisu was like sweet wet foam not how it use to beStarters and mains were goodHowever both our mains (carbonara and calzone) weren't the same as we have had previous monthsDon't know if they've changed lots of recipes ????Service was also slow and seemed ignored at several pointsServer just grumbled and pointed at qr to pay as they'd started to turn away from the tableUse to come almost every month but not tempted to rush back
We had a really lovely family meal at Bella Italia Riverside.The food was delicious and the staff were wonderfully friendly, especially Reuben who went the extra mile to ensure we all had a great time. Thank you Reuben!
Food was untextured, not worth the money and bland. Service was friendly but the restaurant was understaffed. Pizzas were slightly underdone. I would not recommend.
Such a lovely place, staff are so attentive. Food was delicious. Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening. Will be coming back soon!
The few staff on FoH that were on were just bad at their jobs and it wasnt even busy.... I don't know what that girl jamie's issue was but all of them couldn't be bothered to take our orders after we had sat down we waited 20mins before we even got drinks, two of them just stood around and talked ignoring not only us but others as well, they seemed fed up talking with us when she did bother she absolutely stunk of smoke and i was super surprised at how dirty her clothes were for a server.The food was bland and arrived and was just tasteless and my girlfriends pizza was rubbery and cold by the time it eventually got to us!Wont be coming back.
Massively overpriced guff. £15 for a bowl of pasta that isn’t even a kids portion.Came out cold. Not once were we asked how was everything.Rather slow as well. Wasn’t that busy.Won’t be going back again. Bella Italia has gone downhill massively
Although very busy at 7 pm, we were shown to a table by Ellie asap & she served us great grub, with a smile. The best sea bass ever - & my husband enjoyed his lasagne. Thank you Ellie for lovely service & chef for the amazing fish!
24/11 We decided upon dining at Bella italia for lunch as we've always had such delicious meals before now and there's always a lovely atmosphere. The lady at the front of house was the only staff member downstairs due to staff illness but she was attending to tables well, and was very friendly and approachable. Unfortunately we found that the new style of one of our favourites meals had a bland taste compared to before. We mentioned it to the staff member and she explained the new menu and the difference between the different pastas which they now use for the meal which could have contributed to the change in taste. She dealt with our comments in a professional way.
Restaurantji Recommends
Usually have no complaints about them as excellent food and good service - something was different yesterday; for a party of 6, one starter that was provided was not the one ordered (that's fine - it was still nice), we had other tables food and drink delivered to us which we had to refuse, and the biggest thing was the long waiting time of nearly an hour for the mains. We had places to be so had to cancel the order and settle up. Another establishment got £60+ worth of trade instead. It is a shame - won't stop me from going again but disappointing experience nonetheless
So off the get go it does look amazing here.....BUTThe food itself was tasting like it was from a microwave and was really slow to even get to us, on top of that we had a really awful waitress who i wont name or shame but she stunk as did her attitude. It was obvious there is a personal hygiene problem, it was so bad we had to spray when she left....for a fancy restaurant i wasn't expecting ...that!All in all not good at all.
Customer service was great and they took my garden salad off the bill as it was not pleasant even when remade. The cheeseburger was also overcooked. Food not good, customer service fine. Wouldn't recommend if you want an actually decent meal.
Great food, staff were very friendly and kind, atmosphere was very nice. Fast service
We were a table of 24 that pre booked and had done a pre order so receiving and ordering was made a lot more efficient and less confusing for us and the server.Food was lovely, she kept the drinks flowing and made sure we all had a wonderful time. Can’t remember her name but she had dark brown hair and our table was upstairs if that helps!!Deffo recommend!