Bella Mia, Dinnington (Sheffield)
By DWT

I'm really looking forward to writing a review of a properly horrible restaurant, where the food and service are as awful as our summer weather, and I can get my teeth into employing some currently under-used adjectives.

I'll have to wait though, as the Bella Mia Italian and Mediterranean Restaurant on the main street in Dinnington has completely and utterly robbed me of that opportunity.

My wife's 60 th birthday brought me here for the first time, attracted to the establishment by a couple of recommendations and a desire to go somewhere we'd not visited before.

I booked fairly early, though I was told that Wednesdays, for some reason, were not particularly busy, and that proved to be the case. After a warm welcome from, I believe, the owner/chef we plonked ourselves down to give the menu a good going over whilst being distracted by the specials boards around the room. And there was a lot to give a going-over to.

We chose whitebait (between two of us), king prawns and chicken goujons as starters and did the usual trick of sharing them around so we all got a taste. We were all jolly glad we did that! Mains were a mix chosen from the main menu and the specials board: venison, fillet steak with dolcelate cheese came from the walls, whilst the menu provided two of us with Pollo Seville (chicken in honey and tarragon) and Pollo y Gambas (chicken with king prawns) in a cream sauce. All were served up with a wonderful mix of fresh roasted vegetables and sauté potatoes.

Amazingly we all went for a pudding - normally we're too full, but it wouldn't have mattered how full we'd been that night, the food was of such superb quality that we didn't want to miss out on "afters." Banoffee pie, warm chocolate brownie, coffee and amaretto broulee and chocolate mousse were shared around, though mostly protected by he (or she) who ordered it.

Service was attentive and efficient. We weren't hurried and were made to feel very welcome all evening; there was no hurry to get rid of us.

There were four of us in that evening, and with two bottles of house white and a couple of soft drinks the bill came to less than £120, which, for the quality of the food, was excellent. Get the right waitress and the bill can come to quite a bit less than that, but I won't go into that!

Highly recommended!

Comments on this review:

Name: jat
Comments : I was the birthday girl, well almost a girl, and I agree we had a lovely evening with superb food and service. So good in fact that we have booked again with some friends for our retirement bash. I bet you are all jealous. Surprised it was so quiet. Perhaps not many people know about it and you don't really expect to get restaurants like that in Dinnington that have
such lovely decor, food and service.