Bella Luna — Restaurant in England

UPDATE: Friday 18.09.2020. The day after posting the below review I received a telephone call from the owner of the Bella Luna. He was most apologetic for my experience at his restaurant. He explained he was not in attendance that evening, of which he is normally there over each weekend. He stated if he had been there the steaks we were served would not have reached our table. He said he knows exactly what happened as regards the over cooked black stripes and this is not how they would normally serve their steaks. He has fully reimbursed me and I have accepted his explanation of why our meals were under par to his normal high standard. I hope to revisit his restaurant in about eight weeks time. Hopefully my next review will be more positive.

The Most Disappointing "ITALIAN" Meal I Have Ever Had - Absolutely AWFUL. Date/Time of visit: 8.00pm Saturday 12.09.2020. This is about the eighth time I have visited this restaurant with various friends over the last three years. I have always rated this restaurant as middle of the road, it is not a high class Italian restaurant, but the food & service have always been acceptable. But on this occasion it hit rock bottom.

We where a table of four and each ordered a different starter. Three starters were acceptable were as mine was not. I ordered the Calamari Fritti (Deep Fried Squid). It looked disappointing as soon as it was placed in front of me. It was very anemic looking and looked very doubtful of being squid. In all the years I have been eating restaurant squid it has always shown a brown coloring from being deep fried, plus it turns itself inside out during cooking. This was stone cold, did not look like squid and certainly did not taste like squid. I kept this to myself so as to not dampen our evening out.

The main courses; 1off, Spa Bolognese. 2off, Bistecca Tri Funghi, Rib eye steak cooked with onions, three kinds of mushrooms & served in a rich creamy sauce. 1off, Bistecca Boscalola, Rib eye steak cooked with brandy, shallots, wild mushrooms & red wine sauce.

My meal was the 1off Bistecca Boscalola. Yuck & triple yuck. The rib eye steak had been flattened out to a thickness of about 7mm and had very black stripes down it. My wife commented that her steak was char grilled which she was not expecting. From the first piece of steak I cut I could taste the burnt “charcoal” lines. I also noticed there was a lot of fat in each mouthful, to the extent after about six pieces I had to remove it from my mouth. I then tried removing the fat from each piece I cut prior to placing it in my mouth, but it was still fatty. After cutting three more pieces, each being very fatty, I handed my plate to the waitress.

After my wife had finished her steak I noticed a pile of cut fat pieces on the edge of her plate. My male friend said his steak was not that bad, but he could tell it was quite fatty.

I have to say that if a restaurant is going to charge top price for its food then it should serve top quality food. These steaks looked as though they were just 6oz steaks flattened out to make them appear bigger. They should not be flame char grilled of which there is no mention on the menu that they are.

I must also mention that the vegetables, including the “roast potatoes” that were served with each steak were about the cheapest frozen type I have ever seen. Obviously supplied from a large catering firm in large plastic bags.

Would I recommend the Bella Luna to any one, No I am afraid not. But, I would highly recommend the Valle’doro in Newbury. A high quality friendly family Italian Restaurant serving fresh food & vegetables at very reasonable prices. With no compulsory 10% service charge, but a concessionary tip can be left if...

Two years ago we were here and wanted to try again. It was a busy Saturday night and the restaurant was completely full. We got our dishes and they were delicious and nicely presented. But we had to wait ten minutes for the vegetables that came with the main dish, and by that time the dish was getting cold. And a separate salad never arrived at all. We ordered deserts, a cake based on berries. But when it came, it was frozen, so we were unable to eat it. We had to ask for them to take it away and they agreed not to charge us for those deserts. Lovely food, but some shortfalls with the service.

Previous comment: It was busy on the Friday night we came to Bella Luna, but they found us a table which we could have for 1 hour 45 min before it had to be vacated. That was plenty of time for us to enjoy a delicious fish dish and a pasta. The tiramisu topped it up nicely. Staff were effective and friendly, and the prices were acceptable although not particularly cheap. Especially a glass of house red wine for £7.50 felt a bit excessive. Nevertheless, not a bad...

Please ignore any bad reviews on this amazing restaurant and team. My family and I have been coming here since it has been open. And the owner and team have always been accommodating and treat my family amazingly. Everyone I introduce to this place always comes back even if they are not from Thatcham or Newbury they still manage to travel to taste their food. Their cooking is amazing, I eat in a lot of restaurants and will always have this as my favourite. The Staff there are busy which is why they may not have to much time to stop and chat but we always get smiles and first class service. The food is amazing and we have never , I repeat never had a bad meal. My advice to anyone reading this is try it out for yourself and once you do you will be back for more and more. A massive thank you to all that work here and I will be in for my lunch next Friday . RIch, Jess...