Bella Italia Newcastle Upon Tyne Silverlink

Good delicious food for a chain restaurant, something about price.

The food was lovely as normal but the service was slower, 2 members of staff walked past us without speaking as we waited to be seated and we saw 2 plates waiting at the servery for almost 10 minutes. If there is a staff problem it would be good to be told so that we could make allowances, it's unusual here. Very drafty sitting at the kitchen end of the middle seats.

I ate here at around 6:30pm last Thursday. It was fairly busy but plenty of tables free. Shown to table promptly, staff were pleasant and helpful and I didn't have to wait long for my order to be taken or for the food to arrive. Pork and beef meatballs in tomatoes sauce and melted cheese (polpette) was ok but if it had not been for the sauce/cheese the meatballs would have been a bit bland. Carne mista pizza was also ok but VERY salty. A pint of Italian draught beer was nice but very expensive at £4.60. Total cost was £22 which I thought was a tad expensive for what I got. Score 3/5 because staff were very pleasant/helpful and prompt. Not sure I'd visit again.

It was quite full when we got there service was slow. I had lasagne and the pasta was rubbery. We asked for the drinks menu but by the time our 4 year old had ordered and eaten her desert we got it so was too late the bill came very fast though. By this time they had people waiting to dine

We tried this place a few months ago and the food was really nice but the last couple of times we have visited from ordering our food to it arriving takes far too long it took over an hour for our starters to arrive and they were not hot. Then from where I was sitting I could see food sitting in the window for nearly 15min and as I suspected our food was only warm. Don't get me wrong the food presentation and flavours are spot on but they need to speed up on service and cooking. Overall it took 2hrs 40 to have a starter and a main course. When we have two young kids it's not ideal waiting that long.