Bella Italia - Salford Quays — Restaurant in Salford

What an awful experience from start to finish!

Came here with my husband and 2 year old son after visiting the theatre. Firstly we tried to order a drink and were told we couldn't have a coke as the gas had stopped working so were given a list of other options however when other people came in they were subsequently offered a can of a coke which we then had to ask for. Food was then ordered and we were waiting for an hour for the kids portion of dough bites so our 2 year old was becoming very restless and upset. What added fuel to the fire was all the tables around us who arrived and ordered after us received their starters prior to our son's which I highlighted to the waiter and he gave excuses that it was christmas, short staffing and a match on which I stated I could understand but we didn't want to pay for his meal due to the ridiculous wait (which the waiter said I was rude about later as he had been on shift for 7hrs). The dough bites starter then arrived by said waiter which was put on the table within 1 minute of us asking without any words or eye contact and then our mains then all arrived 2-3 minutes after.

The food itself was nice (except the kid's food which despite being mushroom pasta had never seen a mushroom and the dough bites were bland however my son did enjoy them in the end). The waiter did seem to redeem himself at this point and was asking how the meal was etc. And went round to other tables to apologise for the wait, something that would have been appreciated and have made the experience more enjoyable for us.

At the end of the meal we were not offered to have anything to be taken off the bill so after using tesco vouchers we said we did not want to pay the remainder and were told by the female manager that we had to pay as we had only been waiting for food for less than half an hour according to their computer and "already had a discount" as we used tesco vouchers (!) and if we left would be reported to the police. She didn't even try to speak to anyone else or check any other details just went on to say they would refer us to the police over 15 pound if we left as the computer only said 30mins. The waiter attended and went on to be rude and both made us feel that we were lying despite still being in a restaurant 1hr 45 mins after our booking with a 2 year old boy which is not done unless you have to! Especially near bed time!

The male manager had better communication skills and was able to offer up more of a compromise rather than the female manager's approach of looking at us blankly and calling us liars as of course their computer system is always right! It was a shame that he didn't come to discuss this with us first as the female manager would definitely benefit from some customer service/communication skills training.

We weren't trying to get a free meal and always will pay and not complain unless there is something valid to complain about and unfortunately being made out to be liars made the experience even worse! As stated earlier a simple apology whilst we were waiting or even afterwards would have diffused the situation!

We definitely won't be returning and can understand why we haven't been to a Bella Italia in a long time and will be referring this on to...

We booked a table for 4 people for 5pm on 17th September 2023. This was to enable us to have a leisurely evening meal prior to going to a show at the Lowry Theatre. We were greeted by a very stressed looking waiter, possibly head waiter or manager. We asked for wine list and was told “ we only have one white wine”, thought this was a bit strange but ordered it. We then looked at the menu and made our choice. The waiter came back to us some time later and we ordered. The waiter returned to the table probably about 10 minutes later, 3 of my party had ordered chicken ( can’t remember exact name of dish) with sweet potato fries. He told us there was only 2 portions of this chicken left and no sweet potatoes fries, only spaghetti left. Reluctantly 2 of the party agreed to have this chicken with spaghetti, the third person had an alternate chicken dish. I ordered sea food pizza. There was another considerable wait before our starters arrived, mushrooms with a slice of garlic bread. The mushrooms were ok but the “garlic bread” was just a slice of stale bread. We asked the waiter for another bottle of white wine ( by this time it was probably about 6.20pm). The waiter said “I told you we only have one bottle of white wine”, amazed we realised that he had literally meant just ONE bottle of wine and not just no choice of white wine. He said we have some Rose’ wine so we ordered a bottle of that. The food eventually arrived. The 3 chicken dishes looked very unappetising and appeared to have been “ thrown” on the plate, they were also not very hot. My sea food pizza, well, it had 3 prawns, 3 mussels and one piece of calamari about the size of a ten pence piece and was also cold! We discussed sending the food back but it was too late to go elsewhere prior to going to the theatre so we ate some of it and by this time it was nearly 7pm and time for us to make our way to the theatre. I really don’t know what was happening in this restaurant, it was not particularly crowded and people were arriving at various, staggered times. The outside eating area was not being used. The service was very slow and the food was appalling, needless to say it was not a “ good dining experience”. We have been to this restaurant on many occasions prior to going to the theatre, however, it will definitely not be our first choice...

What an absolute disaster!.

We had booked an early sitting for our party of 6 knowing that we had tickets to a show later in the evening. Our party arrived earlier than expected but as there were few diners we were seated. We ordered a round of drinks shortly after arrival which took an age to arrive despite there being few occupied tables at this point.

Our food order was taken just after 5pm. We received our starters, which I cannot complain about in terms of quality, at around 5.20. Here is where the good ends.

Nearly an hour after our starters were cleared we still had not received our main meals, despite chasing waiting staff multiple times. Customers who had arrived after us were being served yet we were still waiting. At 6.35 we received our mains, which were largely undercooked and had clearly been thrown together in a hurry after our third or fourth complaint. One of our party didn’t receive their order at all. No staff came to offer pepper or Parmesan which they did with all other guests, nor did anyone check if our meals were ok after they were put down, despite us telling staff part of our order was still missing. We also had empty glasses on the table yet no one asked if we needed a top up.

This was probably one of the worst dining experience I have been party too.

Whilst the staff were polite enough, they were clearly understaffed for the number of parties that were booked and were also seating walk ins adding to the chaos.

The saving grace is that the manager removed all the food from our bill due to the comedy of errors we experienced during our visit.

Safe to say this is not an establishment I would recommend or return too...