Bella Italia - Lancaster — Restaurant in Lancaster

It is the first time we have ordered food from Bella Italia in Lancaster. We ordered the triple chicken pizza deal (buy a triple chicken pizza and get another dish free) via Uber Eats. However when we got the receipt it only had the bolognaise (the free dish) on it so the order had not gone through properly - it is possible that we made an error at the ordering stage because we are new to Uber Eats. We immediately tried to cancel or amend the order on the Uber Eats app and it said to contact the restaurant directly.

We called Bella Italia three times to be met with the same response from the general manager, that there is nothing that they could do from their end. We asked him if he could just add the pizza on to the order, as it was buy the pizza and get the bolognaise free and the pizza was cheaper than the bolognaise anyway. The general manager suggested that he couldn't do this as he would have "stock missing" that wouldn't be accounted for (i.e. 1 pizza base and a handful of ingredients). We read the instructions verbatim from the Uber Eats app (see screenshots) and the general manager continued to say that he couldn't help and that the order would just be collected by Uber Eats unless there is a way we could find to cancel it. There wasn't a way as the instruction was to contact the restaurant! We were left paying more for one meal that we would have done for two and with a lot of frustration after dealing with the Uber Eats app and a rude general manager at Bella Italia.

Needless to say we would not recommend. We will not be ordering food from Bella Italia in Lancaster or any of its other chain restaurants because the food was pretty bland and, as a company, they are clearly not selective enough with who they allow to manage their restaurants. We will likely go back to using Just Eat too as it is much simpler to cancel or amend any orders. An overall unnecessarily...

We visited Bella Italia for lunch while on a visit to Lancaster. When we visited it was a very wet and windy day and most of the restaurants looked really busy. Having never been to Bella Italia (or Lancaster) before, and needing somewhere to get out of the rain, we decided to give them a go.

Despite it being very busy, we got seated fairly quickly and got taken to a rather small table. Our drinks orders were taken and brought to us shortly after. However, it was frustrating that it took 25 minutes for our food order to be taken and this gave us the impression that we had been forgotten. Despite the restaurant being busy, I really don't feel that we should have been made to wait this long to simply have our orders taken. Once they were taken, our food arrived within about 15 minutes.

The portions were about the right size, with them not being too small while still filling you up and we all enjoyed our food.

When it came to paying, there was another long delay in attracting the attention of the waiter in order to have our bill. When he did come, there was a further delay between him giving it to us and taking payment. These delays really affected our experience of the restaurant.

Overall, while our first experience of Bella Italia may have been tainted by the multiple delays and slow service, when the staff did serve us they were enthusiastic and friendly and the food that we all had was very nice. That said it was a fairly small restaurant and the tables could have done with being a bit larger, but it was nicely decorated which helped to create a good atmosphere. This wasn't our best experience, but we'd be happy to give them another go at some point in the future should we stumble...

First time in Bella Italia, and it will most definitely be the last. The bolongnese at Garstang High School cantine was better 25 years ago when I used to eat there. For the price of around £16 for this dish, it is outstandingly overpriced, and even after grinding a tablespoon of salt over it, it still tasted of nothing. The only reason I haven't put 1 star was because of the music they had playing and the friendly waitress. We paid £70 for 2 set menus of 3 dishes, including the tips, and I would say the only nice thing was the one red wine at almost £10 per glass I had. The chicken dish wasn't too inedible and i really think what helped me not be so ungrateful and disappointed at the time was that we had gone for a guided tour of Lancaster Castle and were told that 150 years ago people were killed by hanging for stealing food of a value of 10 pence. However, reading other reviews after visiting, I can't understand how on earth people write reviews of this place saying the food is excellent. I feel for them if this is their idea of excellent food because on a more regular basis, they must be eating food that I wouldn't even serve to a stray dog. It's fair to say I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. I can't imagine what it is like when the place has more than three tables occupied if this is what we were served on a...