Bella Italia

I love Italian food, and I've been to the Bella Italia on New Street (in Birmingham) a couple of times. It's nice there. They have candles (some tea-lights, some the drippy kind in wine bottles).

It was a fairly busy Saturday night this weekend, although the wait time was still under ten minutes (maybe under five, I didn't time). That was handy, since the weather outside was frightful. The rain was pelting down, and most of the stores that were still open had taken in their plants and things, for fear of them being blown over. Most of the signs had been, even the one that some forward-thinking person had chained to a fence.

So, Bella Italia. A few minutes wait for menus, drinks orders taken promptly. In fact, very little waiting in general. Starter came out quickly (unlike in the Pizza Hut down the road, where it was completely forgotten, and then, after reminding, was non-cheesy garlic bread, instead of as requested. Fortunately, that was only one waitress, who I wouldn't recognise, since we saw her for less than thirty seconds), and was yummy. Garlic grossini with cheese, for one. The three pieces were quite generous enough to share, considering the size of the actual meals. A margherita pizza was £6.10, and was about the size of a Pizza Hut medium, so pretty good value. My spaghetti napoli was good, as always. Deserts were yummy, although they were out of cheesecake, which the nice Polish waitress informed us of as she handed over the menus. Although this meant I missed the chance to persuade the boy to try the banoffi cheesecake (heaven), we did get to try the chocolate mousse thing (I forget the name, unfortunately, but, luckily, remember the taste) and The Godfather, which was, basically, hot fudge brownies, chopped up in a giant wineglass with ice cream on top, cream on top of that, chocolate bits and amaretto sticks. Calorie hell, taste heaven. The boy insisted on ordering the version for two, despite me reminding him that the garlic grossini was for one, and was quite enough for both of us. I was right - we couldn't finish it, and I wish I had the rest now. Anyway, we made up for the calories by walking six miles today. It was so worth it.

The total bill came to something like £38, and we left around a 12% tip (please remember, Americans, that in England, waiters and waitresses are paid the same minimum wage as everyone else, so that is quite generous). We weren't entirely sure which member of staff would get it - while they were busy, various other workers helped, although it was always clear who our waitress was - but we didn't really mind. They all deserved it.