Bella Italia - Wellington Street — Restaurant in London

For a mid week evening, we were fortunate enough to not have to wait long, few minutes. But we were seated very near the front door which meant the food got cold very quickly.

We ordered a pizza, the carbonara and a kid's menu choice.

As it was my friend's daughter's birthday, staff were kind enough to put a candle on her dessert, a Strawberry ice cream.

Our mains were very mediocre. Nothing special, in fact the chicken in my carbonara really did not taste fresh and, you had to pay £2.79 to add a few pieces of chicken. The whole dish tasted of worn out pasta water, almost like a film taste. We were hungry, plus the wait was long so it was a case of grin and bear it. Don't bother sending anything back to the kitchen.

My friend ordered a spicy pizza, she was told that there would be meat on the topping but instead it was just dollops of spicy sauce from a jar.

The best thing was the staff serving, he was so polite and friendly and put in so much effort.

As the dessert arrive, my friend and I were started singing happy birthday to her daughter, it got so quiet that the whole restaurant joined in and helped us finish the birthday song, such a joy and so overwhelming, absolutely loved the camaraderie.

Definitely the highlight of the meal.... If I ever visit agsin, I'd order a...

Very disappointing. I've been to other branches of Bella Italia and the food has been much better. Very bland overpriced food, nothing special, yet they won't care as the place was packed with people who'll never return.

We had the mushroom starter that comes with two slices of garlic bread to share, which was ok, sauce was like mushroom soup. Then I had the vegetarian pizza which was fine, balsamic vinegar syrup had been added on top which was a surprise, not one I would have asked for. My guest had pasta, chicken cacciatore which was incredibly bland. A can of tomatoes poured over the pasta. I had to get up and find salt and pepper, not on the table, in order to try and add some flavour to it. Then had to ask two different waiters for some parmesan cheese, which had not been offered to us, which one did bring and grate it over the dish. Found that to be quite unhygienic as he had previously been clearing tables and then picked up the cheese to grate it. She ate the chicken and left the overcooked pasta uneaten. With a glass of wine each the bill came to nearly £70!!! They had sneakily added over £8 service charge on top which I didn't realise as we rushed out to the theatre. Poor service and bland food. There are lots of other places in the same vicinity that are...

Unfortunately, the pastas here are atrocious. We ordered the spaghetti & meatballs and gamberoni. The spaghetti in both dishes had the texture and taste of instant spaghetti you might receive out of a can - adhering to the cooking instructions on a pack of store-bought dried pasta would have rendered better results.

The gamberoni was advertised as offering “king prawns”. We received nothing of the sort, with the protein element in the pasta being of such unremarkable quality and so absent flavour as to evoke frozen shrimp. No plum tomatoes in sight or white wine on the palate either. More broadly, the sauce was entirely bland and seemed devoid of the very basics of Italian cooking - sliced garlic, half-decent olive oil, sautéed prawns and sea salt would surely not have been too much to ask for.

In a similarly abysmal fashion, the meatball pasta sauce suggested tin-to-plate tomatoes. And the meatballs themselves were dismal also - vaguely rank in smell and taste, and nothing more than a hint of heavily preserved and probably frozen mystery meat as its constituent. “I feel ill,” my dining partner and I agreed.

Prices will leave you feeling thoroughly fleeced.

Avoid.

Great service staff though. They deserve to be championing better...