Bella Italia - Norwich Riverside

6 members of my family and I decided to spend our Tesco Boost vouchers at Bella Italia Riverside, Norwich last Saturday rather than other restaurant options in our city. I should have perhaps known better but the venue was not my choice - it was near where my son needed to be to collect his fiancee from a Christmas celebration. The menu is not exactly inspiring and the food reflected this perfectly. I will not comment on every meal selected but will concentrate my comments mainly on my own. The selection of breads starter with waxed cardboard pots for balsamic/olive oil and another instantly forgettable dip was not a good beginning. The main that I chose was the lamb shank with potato mash and green beans and I also asked for the Mediterranean roasted vegetables as an additional side. The lamb shank was grey in colour with a watery 'jus' (tasteless), the potato looked as if it had been kept hot for and hour or so, the green beans were different shades of green indicating that they were probably a combination of today's and yesterday's vegetables re-heated and the extra side was not what I expected at all. They had never seen the inside of an oven, they were barely cooked or hot, let alone roasted and I struggled to make myself eat my meal.. (Anyone who knows me will realise it must have been bad, as I love my food). I had a sickly lemon cheesecake dessert but only two others joined me. My wife's pizza would barely cut and my son's choice of Marco Polo (pasta with duck) was sickly sweet, so our overall impression was extremely negative. The food bill was upwards of £150 and I will never repeat the experience under any circumstances. How such places survive, I don't know and if they continue to serve up this standard of meals, they surely won't.

We always enjoy our good at Bella, service good and staff very friendly

Good but AT £5 a pint ouch !

We used groupon 3 courses for £21.00. Good value all food was really hot,service was great really enjoy this restaurant

Restaurant quite busy. We were seated straight away. Waitress was excellent and food was very good apart from fries could have been a bit hotter. I had Calzone which was good.

Visited for a meet with friends at Riverside Norwich. Great service and patience as we were so busy talking,catching up. Not sure about the pizza base it seemed a bit weirdly cooked to me and a tad greasy but the topping on the sapori was fresh and delicious.

Friendly staff and great food.

Sadly not great! Food not brilliant one meal was forgotten and had to eat separately not a sorry! Waitress was more interested talking to her work buddy! My amount of food was terrible after asking for no potatoes and more veg!

Fab

Fantastic service, and food, could not be faulted. I understood from the staff on the night that they were short staffed, however having been to this restaurant a number of times I can honestly say that the staff excelled themselves, remaining polite and friendly. Great night.