Bella Italia

Very nice building but the interior watermill didn´t work. There are some tables in the evening sun outside. The pizza was a bit better done here than in other UK places. Great view onto the Cam and the opposite river pub. Our waitress was very understanding for our asking to switch tables when it became too cool outside. In Germany 'Bella Italia' is a well established chain, not sure if that´s the case here.

My enduring memory of Bella Italia (formerly Bella Pasta) is stepping out of it with my parents and nearly being run over by Stephen Hawking in his wheelchair. But this of course is not part of the restaurant itself - so it doesn't change my opinions about it.

I love this chain of restaurants merely because they serve good Italian(-ish) food at decent prices. This branch is no exception - their service is good and the food is prepared well. Where they really score is the ambience - the restaurant is in a converted mill, with loads of space but a fair amount of privacy. There are tables made of glass which look down straight onto the river - a bit of a gimmick but really very nice. I just love going!

Had a meal here about a year ago and it was ok, nothing special as would be expected with a restaurant like this.

Went to the cinema tonight and they handed out a buy one get one free ticked for Bella Italia so we decided to make use fo the offer.

Arrived at the door and the waitress just ignored us. The waiter didn't want to speak to us then we asked if a table was available. The reply was go inside and someone will help you. Stepped inside but rather than being greeted politely we were told go to the entrance and wait. Is it that hard to find a table for two?

At that point we decided not to wait in this restaurant but go to another one for dinner.

Extremely impolite. Wont be returning!

Very good food but poor service and far from the usual high standards on a visit today (the branch at the old Cattle Market generally has a higher standard of service I think).

Amongst the issues encountered today were:

- wrong drink brought for child
- wrong accompaniment to child’s meal
- wrong type of pasta on adult meal
- impossible to attract attention of waiters - they just dashed past
- a huge wait to attract attention to order a coffee and our dirty dinner plates were left on the table throughout the child’s dessert and our coffee
- when the bill came it had an additional £6.60 for expressos on it that we hadn’t ordered. The manager went to sort it out but we had to ask again to get it back as it was forgotten about

It took over 2 hours to just have a starter and main + coffee. So although the food quality was good (as usual), the service was very disappointing.

Great venue, overlooking the river,especially nice in the Summer outside al-fresco! The pasta selections are great! Great for parties, they are good at catering for small groups. Good value for money, a great girls night out!

A great and quirky place to have a taste of Italy… The restaurant sits on the river and has a lovely oldy worldy feel about it. The food is varied and you may have difficulty in choosing what to go for, so a couple of visits may be called for!!! Their is a water wheel and a glass peep window to see the river below…

i really like the location of it. its very close to the river. we went there to celebrate my father in laws 50th birthday. he really liked it. he had never been to bella italia before, he head about it from us, so he had high expectations of his food. he enjoyed the night and the staff brought out a cake which we had already provided. As a bonus, they brought it out decorated on a trolley with balloons, and they played a happy birthday tune loudly and everybody in the restaurant sang happy birthday to him. his spicy chichen wrapped in bacon was very nice. we went their in october 08, and it will be fab to go in the summer when the atmosphere will be heaven.

We decided to take the mother in law out for her birthday and on her recommendation we went to Bella Italia.
The location is excellent as its right by the river and even though we went in November I could picture sitting outside with a pasta salad and glass of wine next Summer.
I wouldnt say the waiter was particually friendly but then again we did manage to knock over one of the glass vases there so I couldn't really blame them.
There were four of us and for two courses each plus wine it was about 8- pounds which is not too bad at all.
The menu is vast with so many dishes to try whether you want to have a mixture or go for a big plate of pasta no one on our table was disappointed far from it. Good portions and tasty food and good for the children it was a great place to go on a sunday afternoon.