I think this was my first time trying Bella Italia, so was excited to see how this chain takes on Italian food.

I ordered the regular garlic bread as a side to my spaghetti carbonara main.

Some garlic bread slices were very tough to bite. I asked my server, Gregory, about this and he suggested that this is normal, that the bread would be softer if I had opted for the more expensive cheese option.

The spaghetti carbonara was... not good. First was the two pathetic strips of bacon that simply tasted "off". They weren't crispy - but a weird texture to bite into.

Next was what I had presumed were spring onions (but were actually leeks). These were unpleasantly tough to bite into, and the flavour just wasn't working with the rest of the dish. I've ordered carbonaras at a lot of Italian restaurants and I've never had leeks in any of them, probably because it doesn't work.

The spaghetti ribbons were fine but it's a shame the rest of the dish wasn't up to scratch.

In terms of staff and atmosphere, I could hear a lot of shouting from the kitchen area which was a bit disruptive. When I was finished, I requested the bill from a staff member who was cleaning cutlery. They said they'd bring it, but never did. In fact, I had to wait close to 10 minutes to request the bill again from my original waiter.

It's a shame, but based on my experience I can't recommend Bella Italia. There are other places to dine in Southwater Square, so it's worth checking those out instead.