General - Bella Italia is situated next to Derry’s Cross roundabout and is a lovely place to go for a lunchtime or evening meal. The staff are friendly and the whole ambience of the restaurant area is quite relaxing. There is a massive menu and the food is delicious, although a little bit on the expensive side, but from the starters to the mains to the dessert, it is full of flavour. The restaurant caters for the entire family with a specialised menu for children and goody bags which will keep them quiet between courses. The toilets are quite large but awkward for disabled visitors as you have to go up three flights of stairs to reach them, so this is not ideal, and there is no actual car park on the premises so you have to park in a nearby ‘pay and display’ car park.
Food and Drink - there is an extensive menu that caters for all tastes with it being very difficult to actually choose what to have as the descriptions of every item makes your mouth water. The cost is a little on the high side, but that is to be expected due to the location of the restaurant and the brand that Bella Italia is. There is also a good drinks menu from beers to ciders, to soft drinks and milkshakes, to wines and cocktails. You can also visit Bella Italia for just a drink as they have a large bar area just inside the main entrance.
Disabled - disabled visitors will have no problem getting to tables once inside the restaurant, but there may be difficulties getting to the toilets, especially those in wheelchairs as there are three flights of steps to get to the toilets. I did not see if there was a disabled toilet anywhere or if there was a lift up to the toilets though, so this may be available. The only other issue would be getting to the restaurant as it is situated on a roundabout with no car park, so disabled visitors would either have to be dropped off out the front, which would be quite dangerous during busy times of the day, or park in a nearby car park and negotiate the route to the restaurant from there.
Toilets - the toilets are quite large but, as I have mentioned previously, are up three flights of stairs, so not ideal. My youngest Son who is 2 struggled to walk up them without help, which is a bit of a shame.
Children - Bella Italia caters for children in a very good way! The restaurant provides a set menu of starters, mains and dessert for children to have with a very good choice of food. In fact, the main course is mix and match which was perfect for my two boys, with the food being plentiful and of excellent quality. On the back of the specific children’s menu is a picture to colour in and they are also provided with a goody bag on arrival which contains colouring pens and a couple of other little things to keep them quiet. I thought that this was really good and my boys loved it! The toilets are a bit awkward for younger children as the steps are quite large and daunting, but they will manage it with help.
Car Parks - the restaurant does not have its own car park unfortunately, so we parked across the road in the multi storey car park next to the Theatre Royal. As with all car parks in Plymouth now, the pricing is ridiculously expensive (£1.20 per hour!) and is 24 hours. It is a pay on departure car park which helps as you obviously don’t know how long you are going to be in the restaurant for. There are other car parks around though, if you would prefer to park elsewhere.
Review Date - 2014-02-17