We weren’t quite expecting Italian food in Ireland, but hey, who’s to say that it can’t be good anyway?

Jack and I dropped in mainly because their set menu included a starter, main and a glass of wine, all for the lovely price of €12.50 per person. The house wines were alright, but nothing to write home about. Jack’s starter, a crostino al prosciutto, was colourful and neat and mine was a surprise. I had ordered zuppa di cozze thinking that zuppa meant soup (which is actually correct) but what I didn’t realize was that this was a mussel soup. In fact, the dish that came did have some broth at the bottom but the dish was filled to the brim with piping hot mussels. My favourite! Needless to say we had a good time enjoying both starters.

Our main dishes came shortly after then, with Jack ordering spaghetti carbonara (egg, bacon, parmesan and black pepper) and my dish being rigatoni alla siciliana (garlic, tomato sauce, parmesan and aubergines – the aubergines were why I ordered the dish). Both of our plates were tasty and so well done that in the seven minutes they arrived you could only hear us eating. The carbonara was creamy and flavourful and the siciliana slow cooked, sweet and tangy all at once.

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Ciao Bella Roma
24/25 Parliament Street
Dublin 2
+353 1 677 0004

Pros: Great food at a great price. Yum. Service wasn’t bad either.

Cons: Lacklustre house wine is probably the only thing that could take away from this set menu.

Jack says that he’d actually go there again and I have to say I wholeheartedly agree.