Bellini's — Restaurant in England

First of all we have been going to this restaurant for many years and have taken lots of our friends to it, so after it reopened after the lockdown we were really looking forward to going. We again took another couple with us and prior to going we had told them what a great place it was and how good the steaks were. They had a really lovely mushroom starter on the menu which came with a sauce which we all ordered. Unfortunately the sauce seemed to have split so didn’t coat the mushrooms and it just sat in the bottom of the dish, but it tasted ok so we asked for some bread (which they charged us £1.60 for) to soak it up. We didn’t mention the sauce as at least it tasted ok. More issues were just around the corner, three of us ordered the ribeye steak. Two rare and one medium the plates arrived, but immediately on cutting the steak it was obvious that mine was not medium but was well done. I asked the others and the rare ones were well done as well, not even a hint of pink in them. I got up and went and found a waitress. I explained quietly and politely the problems with the food. She came to look,apologised and took the three plates away leaving one of our party to eat alone while we waited for our new steaks to arrive. When they arrived amazingly half of our chips had disappeared. If the restaurant had been rammed it may have been excusable to had over cooked the first steaks but this restaurant is never busy and on this particular evening there were only two other tables eating. Even now the steaks were not great, they were cooked slightly better but two of them were really tough. We didn’t complain this time and made the best of it. When you pay £23 for a ribeye steak you don’t expect it to be full of gristle and to be cooked badly. We finished our meal which came to almost £200. The bill arrived and on looking at it I noticed that no allowance had been made for our meal and evening being spoilt. When the waitress arrived to take the payment, I explained that I would pay the bill but was disappointed that no allowance had been made for this. This is when it started to get unbelievable. She said well these things happen and then she blamed the butcher for it !!!! Then to make matters worse tried to make us feel better by saying that they had been to Miller and Carter and also had a badly cooked steak. She said she would go and speak to the management, on her return she offered us a drink on the house !!! When I explained that as two of us were driving it would be pointless she said well what do you want. After explaining that it was not up to me to decide on compensation it was up to the restaurant she offered nothing additional so we paid the bill and left. We will never be returning to this restaurant not just because of the problems with the food but more because of the way it...

Food was extremely disappointing. We went and pre-ordered from their party menu as there were a fair few of us. I have Italian family so was really looking forward to some different Italian food. Starter: Mozzarella in Carrozza. Bland, no taste. There was nothing tomato about the sauce, well there wasn't anything about the sauce. No flavour at all. Felt like it was out of a packet or a tub ready made.

Main Course: Pollo Cacciatore. Chicken was way overcooked leading to the chicken being chewed for a good period of time and then having to wash it down. The tomato sauce was EXACTLY the same bland stuff we were served with the Starter. Only saving grace for this meal was the potatoes.

Dessert: Tiramisu. The ultimate disappointment. My all time favourite Italian Dessert. Homemade, it's absolutely gorgeous. This one, not so much. Didn't taste like anything but cream and water. Just overly watery. Shop bought maybe?

Overall: Overly disappointing food. Good atmosphere, nice...

Just ordered a take-away from Bellini's on a Sunday night! First things first, the gentleman on the phone was so efficient and polite - which is so refreshing! Cannot praise him enough! Unfortunately don't know his name! Secondly the food may seem expensive in comparison to the normal chinese take away menu but the portion size they serve you is huge like you would receive in the restaurant itself. (Which I have also been to and it is lovely). The pizza's were lovely and tasted fresh, and despite them not having spaghetti carbonara on the delivery menu they were more than happy to make it for us. Again of a very large size and was delicious! We don't live in Bedford we live more towards Woburn Sands and Ampthill direction and they were happy to deliver and it arrived within the hour - also delivery guy was professional and managed to find the house which is impressive as many can't! Would DEFINITELY...