Bella Italia Cambridge

I have visited all three restaurants, so will give a quick note about the other two before my full review which is on the Watermill Bella Italia. As they are all part of the same chain they share the same menu but the restaurants themselves are slightly different.

Cambridge Leisure Park – This venue is home to the Junction, a music venue, Cineworld Cinema and Tenpin Bowling. There is also a DVD shop. It is also the site of the Cambridge Central Travelodge. In addition to this there are several restaurants: Pizza Hut, Chiquito, Frankie and Benny’s, a Chinese Restaurant, Nando’s and Bella Italia. With all that choice, I would say the main reason to visit the Bella Italia is that on a Monday they do 50% student discount with a valid student discount card, which is a massive saving and makes it an affordable treat if you are a student (like me!). The restaurant itself is less cosy than the other two Bella Italia branches; it is still very pleasant but with a more open layout. There is also a section of the restaurant that can be sectioned off with red curtains for private parties. One time when I visited for a late breakfast (the Chocolate Twist is highly recommended!), there was a children’s party going on in that section, but the kids were quite contained in that area and other than a few balloons popping was not disturbing.

~~ The Location ~~

For tourists: This is convenient if you have been visiting Clare College/Kings College and have come out onto the Backs, especially as Queens Road is a popular coach pick up point. There is also a punting company right outside Bella Italia, great fun after your lunch!

~~ The Restaurant Itself ~~

The building is an extremely interesting one, with a square stone exterior, and a large chimney at the back. There is a board walk running round the back and side of part of the restaurant over the water. Upon entering the restaurant, you end up in the bar, which makes it a little bit confusing as to who to ask for a table, but when I visited last the bar staff seemed also to be the waiters/waitresses and I was seated straight away by a lady behind the bar. The disadvantage of the bar’s position is that it can be smoky and you can’t avoid it as you have to go through it to get to the restaurant. I assume this will no longer be a problem when the smoking ban comes in.

The Waterwheel Room: This is a unique place to enjoy a meal and the restaurant is worth visiting for this alone. The room has a rustic feel, with wooden flooring, chairs and tables, some nice gilded mirrors with quite fancy frames, and some palm-type plants, as well as some nice touches such as candle holders on the walls and windowsills – typical of that sort of restaurant… so what’s so special about this room?
It has an actual waterwheel in the middle of it!!!

The tables are another fab feature of this room. Apart from the 2 seater table where we were sat (which is a normal wooden table) the rest of the tables seat four, and are a sort of square box with a round wooden tabletop. I thought they looked quite weird, so being the only couple in this part of the restaurant, we went over to a nearby table to see why they were so ‘boxy’. I realised that the box base of the table is actually a sort of hollow chute, and the lid of the table is wooden around the edge but glass in the middle, so you can see down through the middle of the table to the river beneath the room! Although there isn’t much going on except flowing water it is rather cool!

As we visited at lunchtime we were given both the lunchtime set menu and the main menu. There was also a specials board. The full menu is available on their website (www.bellaitalia.co.uk under ‘Bella Taste’ and then ‘Main Menu’), and as it contains such a large choice I will only give an outline here. As you have probably guessed the food is Italian, and there is a wide range of Pizzas and Pastas (9 different pizzas, as well as a long list of extra toppings available and 16 pasta dishes including some ‘al forno’ (oven) dishes for example Lasagne). They also offer Chicken and Fish dishes, and a couple of different steaks, as well as salads, a tart, 2 different paninis and a burger to cater for those who want something other than the typical Pizza or Pasta. There is also a wide selection of starters and some delicious deserts, and they offer a good value children’s menu for £4.50.

The starters offered were:
 Soup
 Mushrooms with dolcelatte cheese and a cream sauce
 Stuffed Peppers

It came in a very hot terracotta dish on a dinner plate, and I was also given a plate so I could share. This starter was delicious. Unfortunately, there were only 3 mushrooms, each about 8cms x 5cms big, so we probably could have done with one of these each (and now I know how nice it is I won’t be sharing next time). They each had melted dolcelatte cheese melted on them, and were soaked in a creamy cheese sauce which was divine (but fiendish on calories no doubt)!

My spaghetti was cooked nicely, not too hard/soggy, and the pesto coated the spaghetti evenly and not too thickly but enough to give a rich flavour. The pizza was a typical Italian style thin crust pizza, but the base was nice and soft, which suited us as we prefer them not to be too crispy. There was plenty of the toppings on the pizza and ratio of cheese to tomato was good. The presentation was ok, quite simple, on white bowls/plates.

The waitress who served us was polite and attentive throughout our meal and our food arrived in a reasonable time and there were no problems. She offered us Parmesan and Black Pepper with our mains and remembered to bring us extra plates/spoons when we asked to share our starter and desert. She checked that we were enjoying our meal at one point.

~~ The Verdict! ~~

All in all, highly recommended. Thanks for reading, Lucy :)