When we walked through the doors of the Bella Italia today I was instantly sent 15 years into the past. When Daddy and I started dating we used to go to the Bella Pasta (thats what it used to be called) all the time. Other than its name it hasn't changed really it was just how I remembered it, I even knew where the toilets where and I haven't been there for at least 13 years.
Our table was booked for 3:30pm but we were running fifteen minutes late due to the Grand National traffic. It didn't seem to bother our waiter and we were greeted with a huge hello, a smile and we were escorted to our table.
Big J and I had ran ahead to get to the restaurant so we were still waiting for Daddy and little J to catch up. We explained this to our waiter and he showed us the menus while we waited. The adults menu is self explanatory but there is a kids menu too which is suitable for children up to 11 years old.
Big J has ate off the kids menu before even though he is 12 and it has always been more than enough. Our waiter explained that there are two options on the menu, piccolo's and grande. In english this means the piccolo menu is suitable for small children while the grande is for the older kids. Each child gets a starter, a main and a dessert. There is so much to choose from, starters include slurpy soup, veggie dippers or cheesy garlic bread. He also explained that they also offer the children a smaller kids version of any of the main menu pizzas which is really good because sometimes the kids menu can be very plain and boring. This opens up a wide variety of pizzas and pastas for the little ones. Even after he explained the kids menu to us Daddy and little J still hadn't arrived so we ordered drinks. Now a big plus for me is the drinks on the children menu. They are refillable. I absolutely love refillable drinks because I often find the drinks to be so expensive especially if each of my monkeys order 2 drinks each thats 4 drinks and at an average price of say £3 each thats £12 on drinks just for them, so free refills always gets a thumbs up from me.
Once our drinks arrived I decided to order as we were still waiting for Daddy and little J. we had already looked at the menu and I knew what Daddy wanted.
Both monkeys got the garlic bread and the portion size was very generous. I also made the mistake of ordering two garlic breads for Daddy and I and I have to say they were huge. We could have easily shared one between us. It was cheesy garlic pizza bread and was cut into pieces. It was like a large pizza. When I ordered the 2 garlic breads our waiter didn't mention how big they were but to be honest I don't like it when waiters comment on the portion size because I often feel obliged then to order just one when I might want to pig out on one for myself.
I had it in my mind that I was going to have the Chicken Caesar Salad but once I got there and I saw the duck pizza I had to go for this. I used to have this when we used to go years ago so I decided to be nostalgic and go for that. So glad I did it was absolutely delicious. Daddy had the lasagne which looked amazing. Big J and little J both had pizza.
I didn't finish all my pizza because again the portion size is really generous. Daddy and big J however finished all theirs. Big and little J still had room for a dessert, but I'm not sure how. I was stuffed.
I have to say that this was probably my favourite meal for a long time. I cannot fault anything about the restaurant, the service or the food. Our waiter was so friendly and polite. He called big J by his first name which I think is a lovely touch. He introduced himself and was available whenever we needed anything. He was happy to offer free refills for the boys and was genuinely a nice person.
I felt really relaxed in the Bella Italia. Sometimes when you are dining with a toddler it can be stressful but little J was an angel and he enjoyed his food. I also have to say the choice of music was spot on although I think Daddy would disagree but for me it really did feel like I was dining in Italy. I think it may have helped that we had unusual hot weather for this time of year so the sun was shining and everyone was in a happy mood. We were sat in the window, I could have people watched all day.
Big J and I had ran ahead to get to the restaurant so we were still waiting for Daddy and little J to catch up. We explained this to our waiter and he showed us the menus while we waited. The adults menu is self explanatory but there is a kids menu too which is suitable for children up to 11 years old.
Big J has ate off the kids menu before even though he is 12 and it has always been more than enough. Our waiter explained that there are two options on the menu, piccolo's and grande. In english this means the piccolo menu is suitable for small children while the grande is for the older kids. Each child gets a starter, a main and a dessert. There is so much to choose from, starters include slurpy soup, veggie dippers or cheesy garlic bread. He also explained that they also offer the children a smaller kids version of any of the main menu pizzas which is really good because sometimes the kids menu can be very plain and boring. This opens up a wide variety of pizzas and pastas for the little ones. Even after he explained the kids menu to us Daddy and little J still hadn't arrived so we ordered drinks. Now a big plus for me is the drinks on the children menu. They are refillable. I absolutely love refillable drinks because I often find the drinks to be so expensive especially if each of my monkeys order 2 drinks each thats 4 drinks and at an average price of say £3 each thats £12 on drinks just for them, so free refills always gets a thumbs up from me.
Once our drinks arrived I decided to order as we were still waiting for Daddy and little J. we had already looked at the menu and I knew what Daddy wanted.
Both monkeys got the garlic bread and the portion size was very generous. I also made the mistake of ordering two garlic breads for Daddy and I and I have to say they were huge. We could have easily shared one between us. It was cheesy garlic pizza bread and was cut into pieces. It was like a large pizza. When I ordered the 2 garlic breads our waiter didn't mention how big they were but to be honest I don't like it when waiters comment on the portion size because I often feel obliged then to order just one when I might want to pig out on one for myself.
I had it in my mind that I was going to have the Chicken Caesar Salad but once I got there and I saw the duck pizza I had to go for this. I used to have this when we used to go years ago so I decided to be nostalgic and go for that. So glad I did it was absolutely delicious. Daddy had the lasagne which looked amazing. Big J and little J both had pizza.
I didn't finish all my pizza because again the portion size is really generous. Daddy and big J however finished all theirs. Big and little J still had room for a dessert, but I'm not sure how. I was stuffed.
I have to say that this was probably my favourite meal for a long time. I cannot fault anything about the restaurant, the service or the food. Our waiter was so friendly and polite. He called big J by his first name which I think is a lovely touch. He introduced himself and was available whenever we needed anything. He was happy to offer free refills for the boys and was genuinely a nice person.
I felt really relaxed in the Bella Italia. Sometimes when you are dining with a toddler it can be stressful but little J was an angel and he enjoyed his food. I also have to say the choice of music was spot on although I think Daddy would disagree but for me it really did feel like I was dining in Italy. I think it may have helped that we had unusual hot weather for this time of year so the sun was shining and everyone was in a happy mood. We were sat in the window, I could have people watched all day.
*we were invited to the Bella Italia. All thoughts, opinions and photographs above are our own*
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