Bella Calabria — Restaurant in Portsmouth

We waited only a few minutes for a table, which was a good start but it was all downhill from there.

After we were seated we waited for what seemed like a week to be asked what drinks we would like and then were told we couldn't order food until the drinks came even though we knew what we wanted by the time they had finally arrived to take the drinks order.

By the time the lady came back to ask for our food order we had all almost finished our drinks but we persevered and put in our food orders and waited for another lengthy amount of time for the food then to arrive - one of our party wanted to leave and go home the wait was so long but again we all got through the wait and the food finally arrived.

Half of our party ordered pizza and the other half pasta dishes and a lasagne. The lasagne was lovely and the pizzas were ok for what they were, too - good size but nothing special. The pasta dishes were both very bland and unappetising with no effort in presentation and looked as though they had just been sploshed onto the plate with no real effort with no order or consideration for how it might look. One of the pizza's had a half brownish basil leaf on it for garnish which was actually pretty laughable.

Given the cost of the food on the menu, which is not cheap in the slightest, I would have expected a good service and a bit of thought in the food and presentation of it. The waitresses/servers were a bit standoffish and didn't once check in to see if the food was ok and it took a few times to catch one of their attentions to get some water, to get the bill and then again to pay. It just didn't feel like a smooth service and there was just a lot of waiting.

The 2 ladies seemed to be running about like headless chickens and it felt like this place could easily use maybe 1 more member of staff as not only were our needs not really met very quickly, if at all, but the front desk wasn't manned and no one was being greeted or seated though there were quite a few people outside at one point that walked away from what looked like waiting.

Half of the reason we tried this place was that there was 50% off on the eat out to help out incentive. This would leave some still high prices but much more digestable that the full prices on the regular menu. Usually during the week there is a happy hour where pizza or pasta on the menu is onl;y £8 per dish. This is STILL listed in the menus and advertised. No one told us that this deal is not applicable while getting the 50% discount, which would be fine but no one mentioned this until after the bill was presented, which made us all feel a bit cheeted as the cost of full price on the menu, minus the 50% incentive is almost the same cost as buying a dish at happy hour anyway, so the restaurant is still getting their money and the customer isn't really benefitting from the government's incentive, which I think is a bit cheeky, really.

Overal, the food wasn't all that special, there seemed a lacluster effort to provide an experience and the kind of service I expect for the prices on the menu is way above the service that you get and the frosty waitresses.

Definitely has potential, but lets itself down in small ways where they really could make all the difference (a smile, a bit of a check in, better service and either lower prices or higher standard of presentation).

I won't be revisiting, especially at full price. But they tried and it wasn't the worst experience I've ever had, but not the most inviting one.

Worth a shot if you have a lot of time and money...

This restaurant had been recommended to me by my son and his in law family several times. The reviews looked amazing with lots of happy customers too. So today my partner took me for a spot of impromptu lunch, and i was very excited to see what all the fuss was about. Soooo, after being seated by a pleasant waiter and handed the menu, we hungrily chose our dishes. I chose chicken pasta with a creamy garlic mushroom sauce, whilst my partner opted for the 'special' of the day, meatballs. He actually wanted the same as me, but as he had work later that evening, opted for non- garlic. We didn't wait too long & on arrival everything looked ok. Offered parmasan & pepper, and then we dived in. Oh my god... i can honestly say i have never been so confused. I ate silently for a mo, with what was meant to be chicken, but tasted like tomatoey fishy pink sauce, soooooo bland, no flavour AT ALL, over cooked pasta, no garlic WHATSOVER. Looking at my partner eating, he offered a taster, which i was grateful. Well.. silly meeeee, his meatballs were like dog food and Bolognese sauce it was not. More like tinned spaghetti! I would say Heinz but i would be insulting Heinz. I cooked better meaty homemade meatballs on weds night! What was special? Another £2.50 for the privilege of saying its on the special board? I swear to you his pasta was shocking, vile, tasteless, no texture to meatballs. I plodded on with mine and he (who NEVER moans about food EVER) said, is yrs ok? I then asked him to taste mine. Whether the 'flakes' were chicken or tuna?! He said looks like chicken, tastes tuna pasta ish... defo no creamy garlic. Never seen this dish come in orange/ pinky colour. We left our meals shocked, disappointed and not even complaining, feeling really gutted! One thing i do know is my better half would have usually finished my leftovers, NOT THIS TIME. Such a shame. Sooo dissapointed. We ate at mid afternoon. So maybe, we had warm ups from night before? I have no idea. But it was shocking, and i wont be returning. Gordon Ramsay would have a field...

Went for a meal for our anniversary this evening. The food was delicious,� however the service was disappointing �. When we arrived we were greeted by a warm friendly waiter who seated us and gave us our menus. He returned promptly to take our order and bring our drinks. The starters arrived within minutes and when we were finished the plates were removed very quickly�. They returned with our mains again within minutes, however this is where the great service ended�. When we had finished our mains we were left with our dirty plates for over half an hour. Now this usually wouldn't bother me but the two tables of more than 2 people around us had been cleared.� We then asked for a dessert menu. 25 minutes later and we had to ask a second time. Unlike when we were first seated, this time no-one returned to take our order. Again the 2 group tables were tended too. After a further 20 minutes we thought forget it and decided to ask for the bill instead. When we finally got the attention of one of the waiters they had that bill with us within minutes. Whilst we were sorting out our payment another waiter that we had not previously seen arrived with two more dessert menus � I fully appreciate that they were busy, and even though they were busy the food was still top notch, but the service just spoilt the evening for us �. It almost felt as though if you weren't a group you...