RioBella, 6 St. Mary's Street, Bedford, MK42 0AS
To be frank I find it a little hard to be objective with Riobella, I’ve eaten at quite a few Italian restaurants in Bedford and for Italian food this place is my absolute favourite (which is surprising as it’s owned and run by Peruvians)!
Now I’ve got that out the way I need to stress that Riobella is in no way perfect, I do love their food and I ...do have a lot of praise for the staff in general including the owner who always (and I must stress ALWAYS) makes you feel welcome. There are only two things that let Riobella down in my opinion and they are parking and premises.
1) Parking – There is small car park between The Park Inn Hotel and Riobella that contains about a dozen spaces the problem is that the car park itself is quite small & tight.
2) Premises – The actual premises isn’t awful, it’s just a bit small and when the restaurant is full you really feel closed in. The background chatter can become almost unbearable and you will struggle to hear someone sat directly opposite you at a small 4 seater table. The room will also get very hot VERY quickly but that as soon as the front door opens you will be hit by a freezing breeze chilling you to the bone. It does go from one extreme to the other.
And that’s it. That’s the worst of it, the food as I’ve mentioned is fantastic. Most of the time I tend to be a creature of habit and order the same thing each time I visit. Garlic Mushrooms with Cheese and the spicy peperoni Calzone. Both are great dishes, the tomato sauce with eth mushrooms is rich and zesty. Since it is served in a red hot clay dish the cheese melts, swirling in to the sauce, becoming nice and stringy as the dish cools.
To be frank I find it a little hard to be objective with Riobella, I’ve eaten at quite a few Italian restaurants in Bedford and for Italian food this place is my absolute favourite (which is surprising as it’s owned and run by Peruvians)!
Now I’ve got that out the way I need to stress that Riobella is in no way perfect, I do love their food and I ...do have a lot of praise for the staff in general including the owner who always (and I must stress ALWAYS) makes you feel welcome. There are only two things that let Riobella down in my opinion and they are parking and premises.
1) Parking – There is small car park between The Park Inn Hotel and Riobella that contains about a dozen spaces the problem is that the car park itself is quite small & tight.
2) Premises – The actual premises isn’t awful, it’s just a bit small and when the restaurant is full you really feel closed in. The background chatter can become almost unbearable and you will struggle to hear someone sat directly opposite you at a small 4 seater table. The room will also get very hot VERY quickly but that as soon as the front door opens you will be hit by a freezing breeze chilling you to the bone. It does go from one extreme to the other.
And that’s it. That’s the worst of it, the food as I’ve mentioned is fantastic. Most of the time I tend to be a creature of habit and order the same thing each time I visit. Garlic Mushrooms with Cheese and the spicy peperoni Calzone. Both are great dishes, the tomato sauce with eth mushrooms is rich and zesty. Since it is served in a red hot clay dish the cheese melts, swirling in to the sauce, becoming nice and stringy as the dish cools.
The calzone is plump with a beautiful crisp dough, a delicious thick cut pepperoni sausage, vegetables and chilli which pour from the crust when you cut in to it.
I really do have to try hard to be objective about this place as I have been told by a couple of friends that they have had a couple of bad meals there but speaking from my experiences I’ve never had a duff meal.A few months ago they changed the menu slightly but I think this has actually been an improvement on the previous menu.
A minor niggle might be that it can be a little pricey and service time can lapse slightly when the place is really full but most of the time food is served in a prompt manner and all of the waiting staff are exceptionally friendly.
If you fancy a visit make sure you book in advance as it can be quite difficult to get a seat if you just come in off the street.
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