Bella Italia is a chain of Italian restaurants, as a brand they've suffered a lot through the years, closing down many stores across the country, including all three locations in Manchester city centre, this makes this location at Media City, as part of the Quayside MediaCityUK outlet mall, the closest remaining restaurant to the city centre.
The location is good for those in and around Media City, being right at the front of the mall, I would say from the outside, it would be easy to presume the restaurant is actually closed down, it follows the very old Bella Italia style branding with the brown logo and doors to match, and it does look unattractive and does not follow the modern representation of the brand at all.
I would say the interior is much more pleasant, however, as this also hasn't changed with the brand's modern interpretation of a restaurant, the yellowy-themed decor with notes to Italy, made it feel more authentic and reminded me of venues I visited during my time in Milan last summer, could do with a little TLC to improve worn out tables, but still pleasant.
The staff seemed friendly and the service was reasonably fast, however, they did not seem busy at all, mainly consisting of a couple of small tables with children at the time of my visit.
I ordered the gluten-free garlic and mozzarella flatbread, it is designed to be shared, but I decided to just eat this as a main course, as it's what I felt like and I wasn't too hungry. The cheese and the garlic had good flavours, but being gluten-free, the bread it was actually on, wasn't good at all and really seemed to dry it out.
I did appreciate the allergy awareness with gluten-free options labelled on the menu, and flags for my table and the food, to identify myself as someone with an allergy. This is one of the big changes the new ownership of Bella has brought in for the better, I had been given gluten "by mistake" on more than one occasion at multiple other Bella locations, so I felt much more assured with this in place.
I do find promo codes have become much more difficult to get though of late, obviously with the restaurant industry struggling since COVID, this has become more common across the board.
The staff are nice, and there were obviously some parts I like, but in terms of the food quality and pricing, you know you're getting a basic chain Italian. 2* read more