Bella Pais - Colchester

Three close friends went on our bi-monthly outing to Bella Pais for their excellent T-bone steak. We each received three perfectly cooked medium-rare steaks, served with sautéed potatoes, onion rings, mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes. All you need is a bit of English mustard and ketchup to enjoy the flawless meat. As always, top-notch experience!

For the starter my partner and I shared the Camembert wraps, they were incredible. I had the surf and turf with garlic prawns, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the prawns were delicious. The sides are generous portions, we had a side of chips and broccoli and they were lovely. Great value for money. We want to go back to try the Greek food.

Ate here prior to a show in Colchester. The food is very well cooked and the portions are huge. I opted for the Stifado while my partner had steak. We couldn’t finish either but we’re kindly offered a doggy bag if we wanted one, which was a nice touch. The staff were polite and attentive. The menu is small specialising in steak options supported by a selection of Cypriot/Greek staples, but I like that, in my mind it suggests they know what they are good at and stick to it. There was a definite buzz once it started filling up, I am guessing it has a good number of returning customers as people seemed to know each other. I was going to say the decor is a bit dated but since the place has been around since the 70s I am guessing that is how the locals like it and part of its character. Everything seemed very clean. So if you are in Colchester and feeling very hungry this is a great option. Price point at the time I ate here was around £25 a meal.

It has been a while since we had been to Bella Pais, but on a Sunday evening it was packed as usual but still a warm welcome was received. We opted for prawn cocktail, king prawns and halloumi for starters, which all went down extremely well. The starters are on the larger side of portions. Mains were the chicken kebab and t-bone steak. The steak was huge, cooked a perfect medium rare and was seasoned well. The sides of chips, salads and sauce simply served to fill us up even more. Great food, decent prices and the same friendly, personable service as always.

After reading all the great reviews, we thought we'd visit again after many years since our last visit. Restaurant decor: 2/10 very dated. Menu: 4/10 uninspiring. Restaurant: 2/10 tables are very close together, we had a table for 2, and both of us were seated, so we were looking at a wall with our backs to the room. Food: 6/10 arrived hot but disappointing lacking in flavour. Price: 3/10 more than we would usually pay for the quality of the food. Would we recommend it or return again soon? No, sorry we wouldn't.