The first time I went to Bella Ciao to review a crab fest, the food was awesome. Recently, a group of about ten of us went there for dinner. Being a rooftop restaurant, the setting is very pleasant and we went right up to this cosy little terrace with low cushions strewn around ? very private and lovely. Downstairs, while the ambience is good, the music can be a bit annoying; on top we were spared that! You could look up and see the stars and it was peaceful and the weather was lovely
However, in spite of the wonderful ambience, the meal was very disappointing. For one, the service was excruciatingly slow ? maybe that night they were short of staff but we had to even ask for basic stuff like forks, spoons, napkins etc, - this after the food was served! A couple of us had ordered steaks ? with a pepper sauce and a blue cheese sauce. The sauces were yummy but the steaks?well, there were generous helpings ? two healthy-looking portions of steak on each plate. Of my steaks, one was fine ? done to perfection. The other was so tough that my fingers started hurting as I tried to cut into it; finally I gave up because the effort for each mouthful was too exhausting! The other person who had ordered steak wasn?t as lucky as me ? both his steak pieces were tough as leather! As we checked with the rest of the gang, except for two people, the rest were sorely disappointed with what they ordered. In fact, once we?d finished the starters and were waiting for the main course, our host, who got tired of waiting, lay down to take a nap, and one of the gang fell asleep sitting!
Considering that Bella Ciao isn?t exactly economical (they charge fairly hefty prices for a non-5-star establishment), one would expect efficient service and good food. We decided that waiting for dessert would entail another long wait so we asked for the bill and said ciao! Disappointing, that?s the only word!
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