Covent Garden diners don’t appear to be too picky when it comes to choosing a place to eat judging from the huge number of lacklustre chains that pepper the streets. Bella Italia is just one face in the crowd.

The Venue
From the typical Bella Italia brown sign to the garish red canopy that hangs from the front of the restaurant, you can immediately tell that this is a chain restaurant by numbers. Inside, the neutrally coloured cream walls, a few prints, blackboard and mirrors are all inoffensive decorative touches that do little to inspire. The packed in wooden tables aren’t so close that you end up elbowing your neighbour but there’s definitely a sense of getting in as many customers as possible…

The Atmosphere
Tourists make up the far majority of the clientele at this branch of Bella Italia and they do good business from it with the restaurant regularly busy. The staff are pretty good at keeping on top of things and do offer reliable menu recommendations if you’re feeling indecisive. It’s nice that they do make the effort, especially as repeat customers aren’t their lifeblood.

The Food
Pasta isn’t the hardest thing to get right and Bella Italia does offer some decent dishes. Their large menu is well priced with most dishes coming in at below £10. Antipasti and pizzas make up a large part of the menu but it’s the pasta that offers the safest bet. The fusilli pollo spinaci (£9.25) comprises pieces of torn moist chicken breast, with a generous helping of mushrooms and spinach in a rich, creamy gorgonzola sauce. Sinfully bad for you it’s a pretty good dish. Alternatively, the lasagne (£9.25) comes with layers of slightly too stodgy egg lasagne, filled with a decent portion of minced beef in a well seasoned tomato ragu and bechamel sauce. It may not be authentic Italian cooking at its best but it’s not bad Central London grub.

The Drink
A lacklustre wine list is well priced with the cheapest house wine coming in at just £13.75. They do have a decent choice of bottled beer with Moretti and Peroni complementing the more common Stella. Soft drinks are priced at around £2, which doesn’t push the expense of your meal up too much if you are going teetotal.

The Last Word
Although it doesn’t do anything particularly exciting, Bella Italia does offer tourists and visitors to Covent Garden a quick and easy option of filling pasta.

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