Bellaccino's in St Albans

Service, food and atmosphere all spot on. Can’t recommend enough

We made a reservation but when we arrived it was obvious they didn't have a table for us. They were keeping a window table for a preferred customer I guess. We have been twice before and enjoyed food and fun atmosphere. This time after much debate we were taken upstairs to a dark solitary area! We left. There's plenty of restaurants in the area who take reservations seriously. Not this one.

I’ve come to Bellaccino’s around 4-5 times over the last year and a half and it’s been great every time. The portions for food are generous and simply delicious. The team are great and very welcoming. And the atmosphere / decor of the restaurants is beautiful. A perfect spot to come for some food, their lunch menu is also terrific! It’s my go to recommendation for a lunch date.

Kindly took a booking for 20 at short notice and delivered great food and service. Highly recommended and will be back.

Great venue and a chilled atmosphere with swift and attentive service. Very impressed. Nardi our waiter was superb and made sure we were very comfy!

An absolute shocking experience! Booked for my husband’s 50th birthday on a Tuesday night. Booked for 7.30pm realised we had got caught up with friends so were running late and rang the restaurant to explain we’d be 20-25 minutes late. I was told it wasn’t a problem and our table would be reserved for us until we arrived. When we arrived at the restaurant at 7.40 the waiter in front of us moved a couple from a different seat to our table. I said excuse me but I think that’s our table as they walk passed, he said bare with me, sat the couple then returned to me and said we couldn’t wait for you any longer so we’ve given your table away. The restaurant was far from full and I said I rang to explain and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. He replied we have a 15 minute graze so you no longer have a table. At this point my husband walked out embarrassed. I spoke to the manager who made excuses for his staff but ultimately told me he didn’t know how to put it right! Anyway, we went to the other Italian next door but one as a walk in and had a fantastic night and meal. How a so called family run business can turn away £300 on a Tuesday night when the restaurant is quiet is beyond me! Terrible customer service and we won’t be returning Good job St Albans has so many other restaurants to choose from.

Amazing food and atmosphere, I recommend this restaurant!!

Nardi was a brilliant waiter! Very attentive and gave great recommendations! Food was absolutely amazing with generous portions.

It is very nicely decorated restaurant. It used to be more of a bar but not anymore. We were served politely and quite swiftly. A good place to spend a time with a buch of friends or on a romantic 1:1.

Hard to describe how GOOD this place is , The flavours, the view , the staff and the ambience are just top notch If you want to fly to Italy without moving from St Albans this is the place !!!

Great quality pizza although adding ham cost £2.5, which is far more than most other restaurants.. the service was friendly but slow on the 2 occasions I've visited it (both lunch)

Lovely meal with my husband. Small blip having some unexpected grit and little pieces of walnut shell in my goats cheese and walnut salad. Not a big issue as it tasted fab. I mentioned it ,and we were given a complimentary shot of limoncello. Great customer service. Friendly atmosphere. We had a very nice evening,with good food and wine.Thank you.

Absolutely delicious and authentic experience. Lunch special is very affordable.

Not the Italian dish expected. Too much cheese added. The restaurant it was very cold inside with the door open, making wind. Service was good.

Excellent meal, quite lively for a Wed night. Tables a bit cramped, otherwise difficult to fault.

Staff (family) are super polite and the food is delicious. We don't go often but have never had anything but the best of food there.

Nice food, high quality. A little bit nosi. They missed my booking g, but finally we have got a table inside. Thanks!

It’s a good place to eat when you have a few options opened; as after 15.00 almost everything is closed on weekdays, or without lunch menu. The food was tasty, value for money is correct. However, the waiter looked a little bit tired, we repeated a few times every plate and the drinks. It really looked that they need more rest. Overall, £31 per person with service charge. Pricey, being objective. I ordered pasta with spinach and funghi, and I have almost nothing of spinach. Either way, I wish the best for the workers there.

Popped in late on a Wednesday. Quick service and great pasta dishes

Very underwhelmed by this place. The food wasn’t very Italian. The pricing was high for the quality and £3.50 for a small bottle of water. We had the chicken salad, a pasta dish and a pizza florentina. The pizza was not very authentic. We would not recommend or be going again.

Very cute little place, were seated upstairs and it’s really lovely. The host that seated us was very friendly and attentive. Got the burrata pizza and really enjoyed it. A bit on the pricey side but very lovely food

Food superb, really friendly staff and very fairly priced. We nearly didn’t go because one review said the food was tasteless- well ours wasn’t! Nice decor too. Thoroughly recommend.

Service is very good and people are very communicative.

Great Italian in the middle of St Albans, The decor of the place was beautiful with great music and a great atmosphere, the food was okay, we ordered the carbonara, which was quite plain tasting, the pancetta was a great flavour, the service could have been a little friendlier but we can’t complain as we were not waiting too long

I visited this restaurant that claims to be "Italian," my disappointment was in discovered that it is run by Albanian and Romanian owners and staff. I don't understand why they need to use the name of our cuisine. The food offered is a poor imitation of ours, with horrible flavors and recipes far from the originals. I am tired of seeing our food disrespected like this! For us Italians, food is not just food. In every dish, there is our tradition, our family, the pain of poverty, suffering, adaptation, and struggle. But what do they know about what it means to us? Why not name the restaurant after their own country? Perhaps they are ashamed, or they know that no one would come to eat there? We Italians are proud of our cuisine. You should also be proud of your country and change the restaurant's name! My rating: 0 out of 10.

Delicious food! I really recommend this place, as my food was superb. I say it's a little pricey but worth the money, since every business is affected by the cost of living crisis!

Absolutely stunning restaurant. As soon as you walk in you feel how great the vibe is, the food is the best in Hertfordshire without a doubt and the staff are so attentive and wonderful. Thank you, we will be coming again and again!

We visited as a family for dinner early Saturday evening. Drinks and wine were nice. Wine was 3.5x mark-up which I think is pretty rich but it was nice all the same. Portion sizes were plenty but overall the food was seriosuly lacking in taste at times. Pizza was average, meat ball starter was pretty good but calamari over cooked. Kids mac and cheese tasted of flour with no cheese so they wouldn't eat it. The mushroom and truffle risotto was abysmal - boiled rice (without stock and therefore without taste) with a few sliced mushrooms chucked in and truffle flavouring added - geneuinely appauling. Linguini was quite nice. Overall a real mix. My wife had eaten at Bellaccino's a few times with friends and had a good experience but this was overall a very disappointing meal. Made worse by the attitude of the staff to our complaint - basically implying we were visitors to St Albans trying to scam them of money. Enough to make sure we NEVER return - we would strongly recomment you visit Per Tutti instead.

Stopped at Bellaccinos today 22nd June for a coffee. Sat at one of the vacant tables. Asked the waiter for a coffee and a cup of tea but was told we had to order food as it was lunchtime. REALLY. Was actually speechless at the cheek of it. Definitely never using again.

Brilliant food, helpful people who got us a table. Drinks took a while!! Otherwise amazing!!

After walking around town I came across this restaurant. The atmosphere was great. I ordered the pasta and seafood option. It was okay. There were only 10 pieces of seafood. Almost half of the clam shells were emtpy. The flavor was okay. I thought it was a bit overpriced at 17.50 GBP. The waiters were very friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, the seafood shells weren't washed well enough to avoid the gritty shell pieces or sand blended in with the sauce and/or inside the shells. They need to do a better job with this. I gave a 4 star-ratIng for the seafood dish as I thInk the flavor could have been better and could have had more seafood, and zero sand or broken shells.

Great place with good ambiance and reasonably priced food. I will be definitely coming back

Had my 50th birthday meal here on Saturday,there were 21 of us and what a great experience it was...the staff were amazing and so helpful and the food was AMAZING....they literally couldn't do enough for us and considering there was so many of us didn't phase them.at all..Thank you to all the staff at Bellacino's for making my birthday celebrations memorable.

We went into Bellacino’s today for lunch after browsing the market and it was our first time in here. The food was delicious - my fiancé said it was probably the best meal he’s ever had at a restaurant (he had the king prawns). The atmosphere and decor were gorgeous and the toilets felt very luxe and very clean. Overall service was great and would definitely return - highly recommend!

Food was delicious, lovely staff, who were also very efficient. Friendly and fun atmosphere. Seafood dishes were so tasty and a beautiful setting. Also great for outdoor dining. The cocktails were lovely, especially espresso martinis. A well enjoyed evening with good food. Thank you! Will deffinatley return. 🙂

Nice food but was charged more for the lunchtime menu that was advertised.

Delicious food, decent price, cozy atmosphere

I recently visited Bellaccino's and was utterly disappointed with my experience. Having dined here before and enjoyed it, I was shocked by the drastic decline in quality. My partner ordered the pollo e funghi penne and I ordered the penne arrabbiata. The chicken and mushroom pasta was the first disappointment. The chicken looked like it came out of a pre-sliced/pre-cooked package from the shop. It was bland, rubbery, and colourless, the mushrooms were only just cooked, and the sauce was thin and tasteless. The arrabbiata wasn't any better. The dish was overwhelmed by thick slices of uncooked garlic, not integrated into the dish. The sauce was watery and devoid of any flavour or heat that you'd expect from an arrabbiata. The whole dish felt hastily thrown together without any attention to proper preparation or seasoning. The only redeeming part of the meal was the waitstaff, who were polite and courteous despite the poor quality of the food. However, good service can't compensate for the disappointing meals we received. Given the contrast to my previous visit, where the same dishes were well-seasoned and tasty, I'm not sure what to say.

Outside tables are a bit uneven, but food and service was good

Just had lunch sitting outside at Bellaccino’s- delicious pizza’s and homemade desserts. Great service and atmosphere- would thoroughly recommend

Food OK, but to me, nothing special. We are a bit fussy. A little expensive for what we had.

Nice cosy place. We ordered 4 pizzas which were big and filling. We had Quattro formaggi (4 cheeses), diavola (spicy), calabrese (spicy) and Napoli (anchovies). We also ordered dessert tiramisu, casata and orange chocolate cake.

Pizza was delicious and portion really decent, I couldn't finish it! Large and varied drinks menu, tried the limoncello spritz. Sat outside on a lovely warm evening. Service was quick and friendly, would definitely go back.

Always good... try the aubergine pasta and the shrimp is really good ...

Went for lunch. Quite busy, probably best to book. Good food and service.

Came here as a walk in the lovely gentleman said he would need the table back at a certain time which we was fine with! The service was amazing we did not feel rushed yet felt like we was looked after no looking into space always someone to take a request! The food was out of this world we had the pollo and seafood linguini both tasted fresh and was beautiful combined with garlic bread! Our son had pizza which he demolished (with slight help. And my god was it good) thank you so so much for the service and amazing foood!

Very friendly service - we shared the chicken salad and a gambas pizza. Both dishes were generous with quality ingredients. Very nice local restaurant.

Great atmosphere. The waiter was in a bit of a hurry. We ordered the pizza, the flavour was good enough but the pizza was thin, and slightly not cooked well.

Food , people and atmosphere all top quality , Always an absolute pleasure to visit .

Lovely place, popped in for wine & pasta…not disappointed. Warm friendly service, drinks & food arrived quickly & were great.

Absolutely amazing first class food every time highly recommended ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wasn't the usual happy laughing place but might be cause we were put upstairs ? .

Food: 2/10 Atmosphere: 10/10 Service & staff: 10/10 Starters: Gamberi Busara (garlic prawns): flavourless Burrata con Pesto: lovely Main: Pollo Penne al Forno: flavourless, dry chicken Fiorentina pizza: soggy flavourless Dessert: Avoided The food really let the place down, the staff and atmosphere is brilliant but sadly the food was not very impressive at all.

All round excellent. I was recommended to go there now I highly recommend this restaurant.

I like this little Italian, there is certainly room for improvement but it's chilled and better than many

Four old friends met up for lunch. Wow!! We were not disappointed. The food and service was faultless. There was not one course that was less than superbly cooked and with a robust portion. Certainly a family run Italian restaurant and I can honestly say the best that I have had in St Albans ( and I have been to all the others many of which are excellent) We normally meet up for lunch at a different restaurant every two months but we agreed the experience was so good that we booked another lunch in June before we left. Ten out of ten.

An amazing thank you to the staff for making my son’s 7th birthday special. With a complete surprise of lights down, candle in the ice cream and music of Happy Birthday to you, with all the restaurant customers making it a special day for my son!!! Thank you

Stumbled across this most amazing gem today in St Albans Bellaccinos what a find Food Amazing served on nice Hot plates service friendly and professional. Hence 5stars thank you Lewis and Team Well definitely be back Especially as so reasonably priced Thanks again Jane and John

Excellent meal Monday evening. The ambience was good with decent space between tables and heating and lighting just right. Pretty much everything seems to have been made in house and to a high standard. The three of us shared starters of Caprese e Avocado, Arancini and Calamari - all delicious. Mains were equally as good ; we had Calzone, Penne Alla Norma (although we swapped the penne for spaghetti) and Pollo Penne. I can also recommend the Sicilian Gelato Cassata. Waiter service all great. Looking forward to coming back.

Always the best from these guys. The staff are amazing and their service is a forever unwavering commitment to excellence. My most sincere compliments to the chef - so glad to have found this place. Seriously look forward to everytime we visit. I would recommend the risotto arancini and the pollo pesto pasta.

Really disappointing. Arrived to be told my table wasn’t ready and had to wait outside in the cold. The manager said money would be taken off our bill, but it wasn’t. Two of our main courses were rendered inedible by the waiter pouring Parmesan over them. We told the waiter but he just walked off. The salmon salad was average; the lemon wedge still had its fruit sticker on it which smacked of the lack of care and attention we experienced on our visit. Expensive and completely underwhelming.

The quickest evening out ever!!!!! Firstly no guidance of where to hang coats, having to place them on the backs of chairs to keep falling off. Within minutes of ordering our starters they came out. The results were that the food had all been pre-prepared and over cooked due to reheating. Made the food rubbery and just not the best. Once we had finished with the starters again within minutes our main dishes had come out. The main dishes were either tasteless or so much salt that we couldn’t eat our food. In all we had finished having eaten our starter and mains within 1 hour. Unfortunately will not go back! I had looked forward to this restaurant as the reviews were mostly good but the let down is the food isn’t fresh and is reheated.

food good it was very lively had a continental atmosphere

Really nice service with attention to our meal orders. Enjoy every time I've been here

The food was good, but it wasn't wow. I ordered a risotto that didn't seem to be freshly made. But I received great service from the super polite and helpful staff.

We came here for lunch on Monday. Attracted by their lunch offer on the blackboard outside. Nice looking restaurant with friendly staff. I had a starter of bruschetta my partner had fried Brie. We both had rigatoni chicken with pesto. All the food was very good as was the service. Good value at £14.95 for 2 courses. This was our first visit but I’d be happy to come back.

First time visit, staff very friendly and helpful, food was delicious and not too much or too little. Cosy atmosphere, with everyone enjoying themselves. Would definitely recommend and will be going back

Cosy, friendly atmosphere with good service, fresh tasty food and a short list of appealing wines. The pasta dishes were very good.

The squid rings are not that delicious. The other pasta pizzas are just as delicious.

We had dinner on a busy Saturday evening. The food was delicious; the service was excellent 👌 5 stars well deserved

Delicious pasta with great, friendly service and atmosphere. Would highly recommend!

Good menu, traditional Italian rather than British-Italian. Pleasant and effecfive tream working there, reasonably priced, wholesome and filling quality

Fantastic, buzzy Italian in St Albans! Stunning food, service and atmosphere. We came without a reservation on a busy Friday night but they managed to find us a table without rushing us at any point. Will recommend to all local friends.

Visited for the first time. Wonderful food and great service. Hope to return soon.

This is how restaurants should be, I will be returning in the near future. Keep up the great work. The seafood was cooked really well and flavours amazing, cozze, frutti di mare, Branzino…..

Managed to fit us in a short notice... family of 5 for Sunday lunch,nice food.....good service with lovely staff...kids loved the cheesecake,will return at some point.

We were attracted into this restaurant by the lunch offer on the board outside. My partner was happy with his tagliatelle bolognese. I was less happy with my tagliatelle salmon dish, which attracted a £4 supplement. It was very lacking in salmon and flavour. The restaurant was well decorated. The staff were pleasant, we would visit again, but choose a different dish.

A buzzing mid-week lunch, great service and atmosphere with good food. We were sat next to a very draughty door which needs attention.

Do not go if disabled/old or infirm, my wife and went on the 4/1/24 at lunchtime and was told we had to use the upstairs seating area as the free tables (there were at least 3 free tables at the time) they had downstairs were for groups of 3 or more, to put it in perspective my wife and I are disabled and use sticks to get around and find stairs very difficult, we explained our situation and it made no difference and was turned away, so they lost a sale of over £50ish for the sake of an extra £25ish, also what makes this a joke is the in the past we have been as a group of 3 and had to use a 2 seat table. Also I have emailed the restaurant with my complaint on their contact us page and they have declined to reply which show how much they value their customer's

Do not go if disabled/old or infirm, my wife and went on the 4/1/24 at lunchtime and was told we had to use the upstairs seating area as the free tables (there were at least 3 free tables at the time) they had downstairs were for groups of 3 or more, to put it in perspective my wife and I are disabled and use sticks to get around and find stairs very difficult, we explained our situation and it made no difference and was turned away, so they lost a sale of over £50ish for the sake of an extra £25ish, also what makes this a joke is the in the past we have been as a group of 3 and had to use a 2 seat table. Also I have emailed the restaurant with my complaint on their contact us page and they have declined to reply which show how much they value their customer's

Wonderful experience. Food, servi e, we'll everything was amazing. Can't thank you enough for catering for my coeliac problems.

Had a delicious seafood plate with a fantastic afogato for dessert. Every time I pass by I think of going in for another one. The staff was friendly and attentive.

This is a difficult review to leave because the experience here was wonderful but they were very neglectful with allergies which could have been catastrophic and people need to be aware as it is a serious matter. We went for a meal here and informed the host who sat us we had a nut allergy at the table. We also informed our waitress when we were ordering about the nut allergy. We ordered our starters and main courses which were delicious and the service was wonderful. Friendly staff and very attentive. However, after our mains we ordered some coffees which came with a biscuit. We queried if the biscuit was nut safe and we were told that it was. We were still dubious so we didn't touch the biscuits but drank the coffees. After that we ordered our desserts and reminded the waitress about the nut allergy who reassured us our choices were nut free. This is where it went a bit wrong. Despite previously asking three members of staff if the coffee biscuit was safe we were finally told that it was an almond biscuit so thank goodness we didn't eat them! When our desserts came we were understandably cautious as we had been reassured erroneously so we asked a few times if the cheesecake we ordered had any nuts in it. My husband ate part of the top of the cheesecake but not the base and instead cut into the slice only for some loose pieces of nuts to fall out of the base. We brought it to the attention of the waitress and the host who both reassured us it was made from scratch and definitively nut free. Unconvinced, we pushed for them to triple check with the chefs. When they came back to the table they were as white as sheets as the cheesecake base had peanuts in it. The host came over to loosely apologise but instead made excuses that " we serve those coffee biscuits to everyone" and they removed the desserts from the final bill but the response seemed muted and casual considering how serious this could be. It's a lovely restaurant but all I'd say is if you have allergies or dietary requirements I would think twice before booking and management need to look into training their staff better about nut allergies before they seriously harm someone.

I ordered salad which I couldn't eat as it was covered in salt!

Top hospitality… hosts….food… menu… and service….A thoroughly enjoyable evening! A warm authentic Italian in the heart of St Albans 💖

Had a lovely meal here in the summer (2023) but coming again in December it was slightly disappointing, not as friendly and food not quite as good.

Starters, mains and deserts were all delicious. The dough on the pizza was perfect and the fishy pasta dish was full of crab and prawns. Wine good too. Calamari was so good and the homemade dipping sauce had so much flavour. Thank you!

Booked in October for family Xmas meal for 14. Proof of phone call was given! Phoned to check booking week before to find out booking was not recorded. Absolute awful service! Bad impressions before even got foot in the door. Wouldn't recommend to anyone but will tell everyone my bad experience!

We went with a group. Great service, great atmosphere, great food. I may bring my family for occasions in the future

My family regularly eat here for good reason , great overall experience, food , service , people and atmosphere, best Italian in St Albans .

Ordered calamari, surf and turf with roast potatoes. I’d avoid the roast potatoes and go with the fries as they tasted like plastic and weren’t fully cooked. The steak and prawns were good. The server memorised the order and got it wrong, annoying when they can’t use a pen and paper!

A bit crowded at on the Saturday lunchtime. Small table for two & we felt rushed. The food was good.

This must have been one of the busiest restaurants in St Albans but they still managed to find us a table for lunch, they even turned away covers afterwards. What a great place. Excellent service from friendly and attentive staff and two of the nicest pizzas we’ve eaten in ages.

Really great experience. Came across the place while out with family for lunch. 2 courses for 12.50. Great price and the food was excellent. Creative and tasty food with a twist. Lovely seafood. The service was great as well. All round fantastic experience. Ask them for some home made lemonade. Really good. Will definitely be back.

Food ok, but portions small for price....this could be because I've just returned from Crete who are the exact opposite. Very noisy as we were sat next to a table of 8 young ladies, why girls have to be so screechy and shout over each other, I don't know, but not too bad once they'd left. Service was ok, but a lot of banging and clattering, especially when throwing bottles in the bin.

came here for my birthday meal and was not disappointed! staff are so friendly and attentive, service in general is amazing. the restaurant is so so pretty (especially after the recent renovations!) and make for amazing instagram/social media pics. the food was absolutely delicious and served fresh - definitely will be returning to this charming restaurant! 🫶🏽

I went there for the 2 course lunch. I had bruschetta followed by tagliatelle with ragu sauce. I have tasted much better examples of both those dishes in other places, so I can't rate the food highly. Service and atmosphere were both fine but I am more interested in the food.

Lovely, cosy, welcoming experience. We really loved the interior and found the food to be excellent and reasonably priced. Superb.

Great ambience, the staff are knowledgeable and efficient. The food was really fresh and delicious, we are already looking forward to returning.

This place is one of our favourite and we go there often for a meal. However, when we were there couple of days ago (Saturday) we were very disappointed. We had been waiting for a food order for some time. People from other table who came after us was served first. We were not happy at all with this service, we asked for a bill for our drinks and left to another restaurant. Very disapponting behaviour from the management as they were ignoring us.