Didn't like food steak Diane tasted horrible and told them so! And doesn't seem very Greek the food here

Again another great evening with fine food , a terrific atmosphere and excellent service. My favourite restaurant for steaks. their quality is only matched by their generous portion sizes.. The staff are professional, friendly and attentive. no better place to visit for a guaranteed good night's dining! Well done everyone! read more

Only open in the evenings, this Colchester classic has been providing great food for those in the know for many years. Ostensibly a Greek restaurant, the food is plentiful, well prepared and well served. It is inexpensive, great fun and Andy will cook the best styeaks in the town to your precise order. Forget "steak houses", the Bella Pais is the only place to go if you want a brilliant steak. The Greek dishes are also authentic and really good, but I defy anybody to eat much more after a starter of garlic pitta bread. Prepare to eat well and leave full! read more

Nice, quaint and elegant, but certainly not one of the best steaks I've had. This place was recommended by several local people after they found out that I was born and raised in Texas. Being from Texas, I know the difference between a good steak and a great steak (and the difference between great and gourmet). I've only been to Bella's this one time, so hopefully you take this review with a grain of salt -- no pun intended, as you will see below. First, the people at Bella's are so nice. I arrived, by myself, over an hour into the dinner rush without a reservation. The place was completely full, but they spared one small table for me. It was perfect! I watched them whip out starters, and entrées, and drinks, and everything else to each customer with cool efficiency and many pleasantries. They were very busy, but remained attentive and speedy. Unfortunately, it can get a little noisy with a packed house so make sure the wait-staff hear what you order. I had the tenderloin and tiger prawns, preceded by sautéed mushrooms in garlic cream sauce. The mushrooms came first, and it was kinda watery and lacked flavor. Maybe the chef didn't have time to fully reduce the sauce. The surf & turf came afterwards accompanied by a little sauce on the plate. I didn't order it with a sauce so this was a surprise, as was the side dish of mushrooms. I also didn't order this side dish, so I didn't eat any of it and they didn't charge me for it. The tiger prawns were a little over-cooked but had a naturally sweet and subtly, succulent flavor that fared well with the sauce on the plate. The tenderloin was perfectly cooked (medium-rare, instead of my usual medium) and juicy, but lacked any depth of flavor. It just wasn't seasoned enough, if at all. A tad more salt (or something!) during preparation would have gone a long way. Both the sautéed mushrooms in garlic cream sauce and the tenderloin were begging for more season. Truthfully, dumping salt on already prepared food that lacks flavor is just a quick fix, and I expected a little more from Bella's given the hype. Maybe Bella's can get away with this because customers don't really know steaks (like I do) and the other "steak houses" are not as good as Bella's. A couple next to me (evidently on a date) each ordered a 22 oz. T-bone steak, ate less than half, and told me that Bella's is the best in Colchester. You know what, I believe them. I think Bella's is indeed the best in this town. Will I give Bella's another try? Of course, but I'll wait a little while so they can read my review and (hopefully) tweak a few things. read more

Absolutely loved this place!! Portions were HUGE and the service great. I got the Garlic Chicken with butter sauce and it was soooo flavorful. Also got a steak and the steak was soooo big. Definitely recommend this place. read more

I had dined at Bella Pais once before (December 2011) and found the steaks to be good, accompaniment average and the service mediocre. Therefore when invited there for a friends birthday celebration I tried to keep an open mind (everywhere deserves a second chance right?) only to be sorely disappointed as opposed to just mildly so. The restaurant had already placed a set menu out on the tables which was restrictive to say the least. I politely asked the waiter for the A La Carte menu and received an extremely rude reply to the effect that they would not allow any group of more than 8 people to order from the A La Carte menu as it would effect their stock levels and what would they do if everyone decided they wanted fillet steaks? I had asked politely, and this response was barked at me. I pointed out I wasn't asking to buy fillet steak at the price of the 'party menu' but that as I couldn't eat any of the high carb dishes on that menu for dietary reasons, I wanted to make an order off the main menu; for which I was happy to pay full price. The waiter then said "We don't allow that". I politely pointed out that I would therefore only be ordering a drink and would not be joining the others eating, as I wanted a salad and a steak, it would hardly be an inconvenience for a restaurants specialising in such to allow me to order that, and anyway everyone else was happy with the set menu so it would be one small change. The response was one of rudeness, not specifically the words used but the extremely sarcastic and condescending tone, "Yes, whatever, you cannot expect us to cater for 20 people, all of them demanding separate items, you're crazy if you think the chef would do that, we're just not set up to cater for that many separate orders, hence why we have a party menu'. Rather than await a response or offer any sort of compromise, he turned and walked off. When he returned a moment later to ask people want they wanted to drink, he wilfully ignored asking me. Suffice to say I apologised to the party host and left, joining them later for a drink at an alternative venue. I eat out 2 -3 evenings a week and most lunchtimes and other than extremely poor service once about 10 years ago in a weatherspoons pub I've not encountered such rudeness anywhere else. No other restaurant has refused a very simple menu change to accommodate diet, so I was startled Bella Pais did so. There are a great many restaurants in Colchester and the surrounding villages, I would strongly advice anyone considering dining out to frequent one of those rather than Bella Pais. read more