• Food and drink
• Restaurant

Reviews

Bella Italia doesn't have the celebrity appeal or faux-rustic props of a newcomer like Jamie's, or the modernist sheen of Fire and Stone (both also on George St). In fact, it looks old-fashioned - but in my experience, it has the best pizza. We went there for a weekend lunch with our toddler. A pizza for me - unusual creamy base, delicious caramelised onions, goats cheese, very intense flavours. Mrs O had a simple carbonara but couldn't praise it enough, which is almost unheard of. Baby O was diverted by the children's entertainment pack, which was easily the best we've seen, and the children's meal was OK (though the dessert was a bit lacklustre). Waitress service was brisk and they got the bill to us prompto even though the place was crammed. I didn't know it's a chain and wouldn't have realised. Maybe we were lucky -- though I have enjoyed visits in years past too.

Paul O 20 Nov 2012

I went to the Bella Italia for lunch on Friday. It was busy but the service was good and I was not kept waiting. I liked the fact that I was offered free chilled tap water with a lemon slice, instead of the expensive bottled mineral water. The main course was spaghetti with courgettes in a creamy sauce with chargrilled salmon. It was plentiful and very good with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan and pepper. The bill came to £10.95 which I thought fair. Next time I shall try a pizza.

Highfits 3 Dec 2010

The general consensus on this page seems to be that Bella Italia isn't actually that good. On past experience and tonight's visit, I'd have to disagree.

Firstly: Bella Italia is not the cheapest restaurant you will ever visit. However, the food is normally good quality, the service, in my experience, is always good, and the atmosphere is really nice. Yes, it's a chain restaurant, but it's clearly a chain restaurant. I don't understand why so many people have such prejudice against chain restaurants, anyhow, especially not ones like this where it's eminently possible to have a very nice meal. It's not really very fair to eat somewhere and criticise it on the basis of its having been a chain restaurant - surely you knew this before you ate there?

A friendly waitress seated us and took our drink order. The wine list is really pretty good for a chain restaurant. After we'd had time to decide on food, we ordered garlic batons with cheese and a prawn dish to start. The garlic batons were very nice if nothing special, and the prawn dish, consisting of skewers of king-prawns on bruschetta-topped ciabatta, was very well received. Onto the main course, and both of us opted for the Pollo Crema, a baked pasta dish consisting of chicken breast, penne, pancetta, caramelised red onion and red and yellow peppers baked in a wine and cream sauce. This was, frankly, the best pasta dish I've had anywhere in a long time. Even the peppers, of which I'm not normally the world's biggest fan, were perfect - tender and sweet, full of flavour and with a nice bite to them. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the chicken and pancetta were of excellent quality.

We rounded off the meal with 'The Godfather' dessert to share - a massive sundae consisting of a nutty fudge brownie with chocolate, vanilla and toffee ice creams, with cream and wafers. This was the perfect end to a very enjoyable meal. The bill, for two starters, two pasta main courses, a sharing dessert, a diet Coke and a large glass of Montepulchiano came to £43. Not extortionate, but not massively cheap either. However, worth noting is that Bella Italia offers 20% student discount during, I think, the week, though it would be worth checking this before you go (the price quoted above is before application of any discount).

Overall: food - very good; service - good; atmosphere - good; value for money - fair.

WTD 25 May 2010

Hi, we visited the Bella Italia, just this week, whilst the UK was in its snow week. Well, considering that there were obviously no staff apart from a (possible) manager on duty, I have got to say that she coped amazingly well with the amount of people there, as there was no one to help her and we enjoyed our visit. We have been before and have never had a complaint yet. Love that as students we are very welcome, food and wine great and also get to buy the big bottles of beer too.

Jasper 10 Jan 2010

The last time we will eat here. We visited Bella Italia on a rainy bank holiday Monday for lunch because we felt like some Italian food and did not mind eating at a chain restaurant because we felt we knew what we were getting.

All was well initially, and we could see that the restaurant was packed. We were seated quickly and drinks orders came quickly, but we were in no way warned that the wait on food being served had reached an hour - a waitress continually told us it would 'not be long' every ten minutes after half an hour had gone by.

When food arrived it was hot but sloppy and looked like it had been thrown onto the plates in an effort to get it out quicker. We were so hungry by this point that we ate what we were given but we were very disappointed and the food was actually much poorer than we were expecting. My lasagne had been thrust into its dish in such a way that all of the meat was on one side of the dish and the bechamel on the other. My other half had a penne, cream and ham dish that was watery and thin - almost as if the sauce had been watered down.

When we left we informed the manager about the fact that we would prefer to be warned when food was going to take such a long time to come, particuarly as we could see other diners (including people with hungry children) having to wait as long as us. We were offered a discount on our bill but had already paid, though this was not something we were asking for; rather we just wanted them to improve their levels of service. Other chain restaurants in Oxford tell you when you will be there a while, why can't Bella Italia?

Oxford is a city with plenty of choice in terms of places to eat, and this was the last time that we will eat at BI - though we hope that they change some of their ways for other customers.

ALS 17 May 2009

I visited this particular branch of Bella Italia on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised. Often people are wanting to write bad reviews or comments and are too quick to complain. Too often people do not give credit where credit is due. We had a wonderful meal, served in a timely manner, in a nice relaxed atmosphere, especially over lunch time. Well done, I will be going back again very soon.

Tess 16 Mar 2009

Good tasty food, service was good. Will be going back.

ted 9 Feb 2009

Not that good...Would advise you to go somewhere else from my experience.

Service was pretty poor, had to wait ages when the restaurant wasn't even busy & when the food did come it wasn't all what we asked for.

The food itself was OK, but I wasn't impressed, I had the cannelloni & my girlfriend had a pizza, Mine was a rather small portion and was only OK, but the pizza was quite poor, only about the quality of a supermarket one, but for £8.

Overall I wasn't impressed and although this could have just been a one off, I don't think I'll be going back because there are so many good restaurants in Oxford that I have been to many times and not let down once.

J 31 Jan 2009

Great, great, great....this was our first visit and we really enjoyed it, will definitely return.

bob 18 Jan 2009

Excellent, prices are reasonable and the service is of high quality. I particularly recommend the Linguine and the Bannofee Italiano... unforgettable! The only negative point would be the service, waiters seem to be pushing you to eat quickly, and this is sometimes annoying. Enjoy!

kikoo79 12 Sep 2008

Nice, tasty, friendly service, down to earth and not pompous and pretentious like some of the other restaurants in Oxford. So I am very surprised at the bad comments below. A big thumbs up.

Helen 21 Aug 2008

This restaurant has possibly the worst service in Oxford. My partners and I went here one night for a meal before going to the cinema. Our table had been booked and we were still made to wait 15 minutes to be seated. It was an agonising wait for the menus and then the wrong food arrived. It was near impossible to get the attention of someone for the bill, so in the end we paid on the way out the door.

We gave the restaurant a second try a week later, as a last resort, but having worked in this industry we know there are bad days. Again the service was awful and this time, with three of us there, one meal did not arrive at our table until two of us had finished.

I would certainly not suggest this restaurant.

restaurant experience 22 Jul 2008

We visited Bella Italia on Sunday 22 June 2008 at about 7:30pm. There were four adults and two children. While it was very busy, we had quick, friendly and efficient service. I would classify this as a child-friendly restaurant. The food was good and enjoyed by all of us. I would like to thank the chef for the best pizza I've had in Oxford: the crust was just right and the topping matched that. The wine we had was smooth. Clearly the wine buyer knows his/her business. We certainly will return to this restaurant with every expectation of another pleasant visit.

d.a.d. 23 Jun 2008

Again, fantastic, I have eaten here many a time and will always go back, time and time again. Great.

nick 1 Jun 2008

I had a fantastic time at Bella Italia - great service and food. It gave me a real taste of being back in Italy. Keep up the great work. The waiter and the manager were lovely and helpful and they run a great restaurant. Well done.

elle 11 May 2008

I can definitely agree with the comments below about service. Top class despite being obviously busy with theatre goers. Godfather Pt 2 is a must. The waitress I had was very efficient, friendly and happy to advise on the food options. Didn't get name but worth a visit just for the service. Well done, keep it up.

Rupert 24 Apr 2008

Ate at this place Saturday before last and wouldn't recommend it. Strangely I also saw somewhat youthful chefs who seemed to have little idea on how to organize a kitchen and from my table could witness them getting increasingly in a flap, trying to serve meals on time.

Waiting staff tried but failed to get food served in a timely manner and whilst our pizzas were very nice they were late and our starters were very overpriced and in meagre portions.

Bless 'em they tried to make up for the delays by offering free coffees but they even messed those up (i.e. they took ages and then tasted grim - how on earth can you cock up coffees?).

A change of management needed methinx!

B Cooper 14 Apr 2008

My wife and I have to agree with the negative reviews below. Having tried a substantial number of restaurants in town, Bella Italia scored the absolutely lowest for us so far.

We came in for a late lunch, with very few other customers. Menus came quickly, but then it took us 20 minutes to get our drinks and starter olives. We had ordered garlic bread as well, but for some strange reason, this took another 10-15 minutes. And this despite the fact that we could see what we suspected might (and in fact did turn out to) be our garlic bread waiting for a waitress to pick up. Mmmm, soggy, lukewarm garlic bread! But I suppose that is understandable, considering the fact that for some reason, our waitress disappeared for 20 minutes. Where to? Who knows. She popped out of the kitchen briefly to dry some silverware, and then disappeared again!

After waiting another 30 minutes for the food, watching some of the waitresses wandering about seeming to have no clear idea of how to serve, watching the admittedly very young-looking chefs playing around in the kitchen and - for the first time in our lives - preparing to walk out of a restaurant because of the lack of food, attention and apologies, our main courses finally arrived. But only after we complained.

I had cannelloni, which tasted almost exactly like the sort you buy frozen in the store and heat up in the microwave - which is decent enough, but not in a restaurant. It was also small and quite unsatisfying. My wife had "grilled" chicken with potatoes and a sauce. Apart from parts of the chicken being severely burned, the dish was bland and uninspired. Not horrible, but hardly worth the money. Needless to say, we skipped dessert.

Upon paying our bills (not a word of apology from the staff, despite our earlier complaints), we crossed the street and filled up at another eatery - which, paradoxically enough, turned out to be much quicker, cheaper and nicer, despite being presented as a semi-fastfood joint.

Despite our poor experience with the Bella Italia, we suspect (and some reviews suggest) it might be decent enough sometimes. Perhaps it's an issue of who's working at the time? As for us, it was our first and last experience at Beautiful Italy!

awdawd2qdq2wd 12 Mar 2008

After reading the above reviews, I feal that I must write my views on the Bella Italia Restaurant in George Street, Oxford. I have visited the restaurant on numerous occasions and have always found the staff to be attentive and wanting to please. This has been at different times of the day, both busy and quiet. I think that people are always too quick to complain and not quick enough to praise. Whilst I agree that there are some nicer dishes on the menu, I have always found the food tasty, well presented and well priced. My kids adore it here, it is very child friendly and the staff go out of their way to welcome us. For anyone who has not tried this restaurant, may I suggest that you do, to put the above reviews to sleep.

alice 4 May 2007

I have eaten twice at Bella Italia. The first time was back in the summer 2006, and our time there was perfectly pleasant though we did think it was rather pricey for what we were getting (they weren't exactly generous with the meatballs in my spaghetti).

The second time I went in May, was a completely different story. We went for a late lunch, so was expecting a reasonable service as the restaurant was practically empty at this time. We waited about 20 minutes for menus, and even then we had to ask loudly. A man on the other table was having trouble getting his bill, and he commented to us how talking to the waitress was like "driving a chauffeur". This pretty much set the tone for the rest of our meal. Firstly, they got our order wrong. When they finally brought us out second set of dishes, they got the names wrong so we thought they had got our order wrong again. One of the pasta dishes was seriously undercooked, the waitress asked what was wrong and then explained how all pasta is cooked for the same amount of time. However, our friend's pasta did not taste as cooked as ours. Maybe it was because this was the dish they got wrong first time round and didn't have time to cook it properly.

I have no plans to go to Bella Italia again. I generally think the chain is good, but this particular branch is disorganised, and not worth the money considering the service and food you're receiving.

Oxford Student 31 Mar 2007

I went to Bella Italia earlier this week for a friend's birthday. I didn't have very high expectations of the restaurant but I was admittedly surprised! There was a large group of us which I expected to cause some delays, but it didn't. We were served very quickly and efficiently. We shared some mixed sharers for starters which weren't great personally, but my friends were happy. Then for mains I had the Penne Mariana which was lovely. It included king prawns, smoked salmon and salmon. I did think that maybe it was a little pricey (£8.95) in comparison to other Italian chains on George Street, but the service was better. Overall I think this is an average Italian chain, but the food is surprisingly good!

Lou 16 Mar 2007

If delicious, fresh and tasty Italian food in pleasant and relaxing surroundings is what you are after then give Bella Italia a very wide berth indeed.

The food is bland and uninspiring and tastes of very little apart from salt. Once again though, as with ASK, it is probably handy for people wanting the "PARTY ZONE" and maybe after a few alcoholic beverages the human tastebuds are so unable to distinguish between gastronomic heaven and unsavoury rubbish that it serves the purpose of mopping excess alcohol out of the body.

Avoid unless absolutely necessary, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer meals will offer far better taste, choice and value for money.

Pamplemousse 11 Jan 2007

I have been to several Bella Italias all around Britain, including most recently the one in Oxford. Without fail, 100% of the time, the cutlery and crockery are filthy! Fingermarked, smeared with grease and dried old food - even lipstick prints on glasses. It puts me off so much that I can't even begin to concentrate on the food! I am never going to one again.

Rosie 7 Jan 2007

One of the worst Italian restaurants I have ever been to. I went with my boyfriend on a Friday night. We ordered garlic bread as the starter and both ordered lasagne and the main course and a bottle of white wine. The wine was warm. The garlic bread was tasteless. When the main course came mine was not exactly hot, more like luke warm. But my boyfriend's was frozen in the middle. We complained about the inedible food. It was taken away and the same lasagnes with our knife marks in them were brought back, obviously having been put in the microwave. This lasagne was bland to say the least. We were offered a free cup of coffee each as compensation.

Cheryl 29 Dec 2006

I have had a number of enjoyable romantic meals with my boyfriend at Bella Italia. The food, particularly the pasta, has always been delicious and served swiftly and hot. The wine list is excellent, the serving staff have been attentive and overall it is very good value. The 'Godfather' is especially not to be missed. I feel sorry for the above poster, she must have been very unlucky to visit on the wrong day, or perhaps had too high expectations of the meal (it is not, and does not pretend to be, a high-class restaurant!)

All in all I'd say visit Bella Italia in Oxford at any time, particularly if you like Italian cuisine and culture.

Sus 27 Oct 2006

Having arrived after a ridiculously long journey from somewhere in Bedfordshire, (the traffic was horrific!) we eventually decided to eat at Bella Italia. We had only eaten a light breakfast at about 8 a.m. and it was now after 3.30 p.m. (Oxford is not particularly wheelchair-friendly and we had taken an age to find an accessible toilet for my use once we arrived there!)

All the members of our adult family of five were really hungry by now. The restaurant was not full. The waitresses were padding around, seemingly in aimless patterns. Eventually we were given menus and although we indicated that we were not ready to order our dishes immediately, we did try to tell the waitress that we wished to order garlic-bread and something soft to drink while perusing the menu. This seemed like an inordinately difficult concept for the waitress to comprehend. Eventually she did and insisted that one serving of garlic bread would be sufficient for all of us. She did not suggest anti-pasta, olives or any such-like accompaniment. The bread and drinks arrived pretty quickly after that. Not really much garlic bread for a hugry family of five, but just as well; the garlic-bread was doughy and tasteless.

I ordered a minestrone, looking forward to a rich, vegetable-filled, well-seasoned dish of soup. I received a plateful of tinned peas, beans and pasta, in a tastelss goo of reddish-brown hue. Perhaps there was some basil or oregano there; I could not identify it. It was accompanied by another piece of gooey bread. I divided it amongst my hungry family and even then, recived an uneaten piece back, as no-one could abide the sticky mass! My husband ate at least half of my minestrone as he was starving - I could not finish it and no amount of black pepper redeemed it!

My youngest daughter and I each had a half portion of linguini with what was supposed to be a mucshroom, chicken and tomato-based sauce. My middle daughter had ordered a full portion. The dish turned out to be a mass of linguini (which was 'al-a-dente', I admit) in a tastelss sauce, with strips of chicken which seemed to be torn off a leftover chicken dish and some large lumps of mushroom, which tasted like mushroom and nothing else. Once again, the sauce was bland, tasteless, gooey and looked and tasted like tomato-paste which had just been poured out of a tin, heated with a bit of green herb (couldn't tell you what)and . . . Well, I fished out the bits of shredded chicken, as by now I was protein-starved and ate the bits of mushroom. I simply could not bring myself to finish the half-portion of mush! My daughters were starving and ate their dishes without much enjoyment, merely for sustenance.

Our eldest daughter had reckoned that she could not go wrong with a vegetarian pizza with roasted peppers and all that. How wrong she was. None of the vegetables were roasted and they were all far and few between on the pizza. The cheese was mild and weak and the pizza base was of the same doughy consistency as the rest of the bread we had attempted to eat!

My husband ate a goat's cheese tart, with a promised side-salad. The salad is still promised!

Our youngest daughter had also ordered a caesar salad without the chicken. She received a minute side plate of bits of tired lettuce with a glob of some white dressing on top and asked for some mozzarella, which was cranked onto the wilted lettuce. Not a crouton in sight!

When I complained on behalf of us all to one of the waitresses, she gave a small snigger of agreement at the menu and said that she would talk to the manager. The manageress came to the table after a long while; we really wanted to get away as soon as possible. She did not receive my criticism kindly and began shouting at me and making excuses for the food! She insisted that no-one else had ever complained about the food. Then, when confronted with the ridiculous 'caesar-salad' she claimed that the restaurant chain had been given directives as to what it should comprise: lettuce, dressing, cheese and croutons. The chicken was optional. My daughter innocently informed her that there had not been a crouton in sight! £3.95 for such a salad was ridiculous!

An unpleasant, worthless meal, in an unpleasant restaurant.

Daffodil 27 May 2006

Reviewed in its previous incarnation, Bella Pasta.

One of three pasta chains located in George Street, Bella Pasta is undoubtedly the best value for money; our two main courses and puddings with drinks was under £30, which makes this a very good choice for eating Italian on a budget - and being well-located next door to the New Theatre, it's perfect for a pre-show supper. However, be warned that many other people will have the same idea; this restaurant can be crowded at peak pre-theatre time, and although the food still arrives quickly, it can be difficult to attract the attention of the waiters.

The menu has few surprises, offering standard Italian fare. This means that even the most conservative diners-out can find a spaghetti bolognese or margherita pizza to satisfy them. Given his counter-suggestibility it was not surprising that despite the fact that we had come specifically to Bella PASTA, my father chose a Quattro Stagione Pizza. From many years of Four Season Pizza eating, this was pronounced one of the best; the crust was not too thin and contained plenty of toppings (peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and smoked ham). I chose the Gnocchi Alla Romano, three colours of gnocchi in a cheese, cream, garlic and spinach sauce. This was piping hot and very garlicky, but made a change for a vegetarian usually condemned to pasta and tomato sauce. There are however a number of vegetarian pasta and pizza dishes providing vegetarians with a reasonable choice. We didn't have any side orders, but there were a number of tempting-sounding anti pasti dishes such as bruschetta, marinated olives, and the obligatory garlic bread (which can also come with cheese). Next table had some rosemary potatoes which smelled wonderful and came with a mayonnaise style dip. Food was accompanied by a glass of the pleasant house red.

"The Godfather" is a compulsory Bella Pasta pudding and comes "for one" or "for two". I was glad to see the first since it meant I was not obliged to agree to share in order to fulfil my father's desires for ice cream! I decided to opt for the Torta Pera Mandorla, or pear and almond tart. This was served warm with mascarpone and rounded off the meal nicely. He chose the Godfather for one, described on the menu as "nutty chocolate fudge brownies, vanilla, toffee and chocolate ice cream with chocolate crunch, chocolate sauce, cream and waffle biscuits". This was sufficiently indulgent and left him satisfied. It appeared from observing the other diners that this is a popular choice for groups.

Having not gone at a peak time we were in and out very quickly; whilst this is perhaps not the place for a luxury and leisured evening out, it does provide a good, speedy meal that will not break the bank.

9 May 2004