Bella Italia - Ashton Under Lyne — Restaurant in Tameside

I don't even know where to start with this place. Bella Italia was recommended by a friend after they had found out there was an offer, so we decided to try it out for the first time. We got there and the staff were very friendly and welcomed us nicely, we sat down and ordered some drinks. My daughter had ordered a lemonade and when it had arrived it was very disappointing. It was basically 2/3 ice 1/3 lemonade.We told the waitress and she got us a new one. The mains arrived after we had waited for around 40 mins. My daughter had ordered pasta ( the carbonara ) and it was stone cold not even Luke warm. We had told the same waitress and she handled the issue well, apologised and got us a warmer meal. My daughter tasted it and unfortunately she said it want even close to mediocre, my food was also extremely disappointing. I ordered steak with a Pepper corn sauce, I asked for a well done steak but not over done however I got the complete opposite. It was extremely tough and hard to even swallow. We thought about not ordering dessert but my daughter was still feeling hungry after not being able to eat her main course so we ordered her a brownie with mint chocolate ice cream ( as there was no vanilla ), as for my other 2 daughters, I got one a rocky road sundae with chocolate ice cream and the other a kids brownie with chocolate ice cream. After waiting for around 15 minuets the waiter had come back and apologised saying they had ran out of brownies. So I instead ordered my eldest cookie dough and mint ice cream, and then my youngest a mint and chocolate ice cream. About 2 minuets later she comes back apologising again for not having chocolate ice cream, I was getting quite frustrated at this point and just ordered a tiramisu and some bubble gum ice cream. We had finally gotten our desserts and they were much better then any of the previous food we had ordered. The manager had come to us and deeply apologised. She was extremely helpful and explained that the next delivery was tomorrow and that the last products were being used on this night. Unfortunate I cannot say I will be rushing back any time soon, and my heart goes out to Bella Italia as they were extremely kind and helpful, I just hope they get back on track and...

Probably the worst meal I have had in a long time. We came on Bank Holiday Monday and was told as we hadn’t booked there was a 30 minute wait for a table. Fair enough if it was a busy bank holiday but there was approximately 10% of tables occupied. We chose to wait and were seated in around 30 minutes (on one of the empty tables that was there when we arrived) nobody that arrived before we were seated were seated before us, so they mustn’t have booked either. We got our table and asked to order food. We felt like an inconvenience and for 3 courses it took 2 hours from being seated to finishing. Never, ever have I been bored in a restaurant until today. There was no ambiance. Staff were not friendly - they had a job to do and they did it when requested but nothing more. Now let’s come to cost for this ‘experience’ £111 - for 4 people and 2 drinks each. Seems reasonable initially until we take the kids eat for £1 deal into account. £110 for 3 people of average food. No big portions. No mind blowing food. 2 starters (meatballs and a garlic bread) a pizza, a pasta dish and a chicken and chips. (My pasta dish came out a good 5 minutes after the other mains too!) Then a cookie dough and a very unauthentic slice of tiramisu for desert which we waited a good 30 minutes for. 2 glasses of orange juice 3 cocktails and a G&T. I’d happily pay double what we did if the food and service was worth it, but today it really fell short of offering any value for money.

The disappointing thing is we’ve been multiple times before. When it’s been busy and when it’s been quiet. Food is nice, not amazing but nice and the service and ambiance is always good. Not today. We were seated next to the bar and the glasses were stacking up from the tables. They didn’t appear short staffed, especially not for the number of tables that were occupied.

It was supposed to round of a lovely bank holiday and just left us feeling bored...

There was water on the floor with a warning sign over it yet we were directed to sit at the nearest to this (the restaurant was virtually empty as early). Within minutes I found water was dripping from the ceiling on to me. I explained to the waiter/manager who did not apologise and acted as though it was our fault for sitting in the 2 seats on the wrong side of the table for 4 & that the other side would have been ok. I asked to move and he said all the other tables were for order on the app only (but we had already ordered with a waitress). We moved to the other side of the table only to find we still were getting dropped on. He finally moved us but then sat the next people to arrive at the table with the water problem! The food took ages to arrive, our drinks came after the food, not before, and only half the drinks we ordered arrived. The waiter/manager never once apologised and had an appalling attitude and bad customer service ability. We have been in on previous occasions and had a good experience - so I felt this change to slow service and an inefficiently run restaurant was due to this member of staff - he should not be in an customer service role due to his bad attitude. Considering how empty the restaurant was yet how long it took to wait for food and drinks to be served, I dread to think how long the wait would have been had we gone later in the evening or on a busier day. Another thing that I felt was inappropriate was the way one of the waitresses dished up the ice-cream - I watched as a customer chose which toppings she wanted from various sweet jars. The waitress lifted a handful out of rack with her bare hands! I felt gloves or a scoop would have been more hygienic. As a result we avoided ordering toppings. She hadn't even washed her hands first. Not the enjoyable or relaxing experience we...