Bella Italia - Ashton Under Lyne

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 and deflated.

Luke and Gustavo really looked after us today, despite being short staffed and run off their feet. They made our visit really pleasant, they were super helpful and attentive, even after having to deal with some rather rude patrons. We will definitely be back, thanks so much guys

Lovely lunch date at Bella Italia today. Charlie and Annie looked after us really well (alongside their robot waitress!) Food was tasty and atmosphere was great.

Lovely meal out. Kids ate for £1. Staff were lovely. So we're the robots delivering food. Only 4* as two of our chairs were practically falling apart. No idea why. Even asked for a new one and it got forgot about. That's just a one off hough. Can't fault the food or drink. Two of our large party are gluten free too and they always do lovely food here for them.

I visit Ashton Moss quite a bit and have walked past this fine establishment many times. I am gutted I didn't visit here sooner. Instantly, we were welcomed inside by the staff, who were absolutely joyous and a pleasure to chat with. They were very understanding, talkative, and made great efforts to ensure that we were satisfied with our experience here. The overall atmosphere was gorgeous, to say the least. The place was filled with joy and well-thought-out decoration and excellent cleanliness. However, the absolute best part of our experience was the food. The taste, texture, and presentation of the food made me ascend to a whole other realm. In fact, the food was so good that I just had to meet and thank the chef that made it. I asked if this was possible and the waiter was super enthusiastic, understanding, and quickly brought the chef out to our table. The chef was a bright, joyous young man who had the most beautiful smile and is certainly going places in life. His name was Connor, and if you see this, I thank you so much for the incredible experience here and for making my entire year. I will definitely be returning more often, and I also want to thank the other staff, who were equally amazing!