La Bella Vita Restaurant in North Hertfordshire

Very comfortable room ,very clean , all the staff very helpful and a lovely breakfast

Unbearably cold (my room was opposite a door that’s open 24/7 in the middle of winter), room had a bathroom with no toilet. After all of that, I left and emailed the owner who is not offering a refund.See below response: Unfortunately, the room was still showing as available on our system, hence why you were able to book it.Our plumber has been trying to find the parts necessary to fix the problem, and although the tiles had to be removed to access the flush mechanism, the toilet does actually still function.Please accept our apologies, and we hope to see you again in the future, with a discount on your room.Not happy, will report to booking.com.They need to rethink both their heating and booking system.

Absolutely awful people ... Booked a room and paid but when I arrived (ten minutes later) the hotel was closed and noone to let me in. Cancelled immediately but no refund despite chasing ... Rude manager .. avoid like the plague. See note below - from owner (who apparently had sold but apparently not) - saying that they would refund - no surprise that no refund was received and when I followed up just more rudeness from the owner. Will now contact booking.com and my bank and keep chasing these awful people

This hotel should be renamed Fawlty towers.nobody about to book us in after calling out for a few minutes lady came and said as there was nobody about she had better book us in so made to feel we were an inconvenience. Our room was a family room at the top of three flights of stairs last one being steep and twisty ok if your a mountain goat 😂, the banisters had not seen a duster for months so dusty and dirty. The room was a good size with double bed and small single bed up stairs where the bathroom was situated. The ac/heating didn't seem to be working and the heated towel rail in bathroom was cold and no way to turn it on. The bathroom was clean but there was nowhere to put your toiletries so wash bag ended being stored on the floor. Window in main bedroom could not be opened due to secondary glazing covering the window catch. I realized when going to bed in the small bedroom that the light switch was the other end of the room from the bed so I had to use the torch on my phone as a light, there was nowhere to put my clothes as the only wardrobe was downstairs in the main bedroom. Our friends who were booked into a twin room had to change rooms as the curtain pole fell down on them when they tried to shut them and the room they were moved to had big cobwebs in we did ask for them to be cleaned but nobody did. The two stars were given for the clean bathroom and the breakfast which was well cooked and nice and hot but avoid the coffee it's horrible. If we were booked in for more than one night I would have moved hotels. It's such a shame as the building is a lovely old quirky place with a bit of TLC could be really stunning.

A true Italian escape to a gastronomic delight. 100% recommend.

Visited with a friend for lunch. Good choice on set menu and reasonably priced. The food was tasty and well presented. Couldn't fault the service. Would recommend.

In my opinion the best hotel and restaurant in Hitchin. A warm welcome guaranteed by first class service and incredible food from Georgio and Carole. Highly recommended

My husband and I stayed here a couple of weeks ago and we loved it. The room was large with wonderful antique furniture. The four poster bed had a very comfortable mattress and pillows. The television screen was the largest we've ever had in a hotel room... brilliant! There was also a fridge which always comes in handy. We enjoyed our stay so much that we are hoping to go again next month.

Had an extremely good value lunch there a few weeks ago and intend to go back next week. Love the fact that this establishment doesn't give a hoot for fashion or trendiness and has about 7 veal dishes on the menu. Some proper cooking goes on in the kitchen here. Timeless.

I fear there’s a lot of fake reviews of this venue, the proprietor is an elderly and unpleasant man, that double charged us for our stay whilst I was distracted with my two children. When told we had already paid via booking .com he still demanded we needed to pay.We’re still yet to recover our double payment and reading previous reviews he’s done this previous with other patrons.My Father also stayed at the venue for an additional night. But when he returned back from a day out there was no where to park. As an older man that requires disabled parking he was left with very little choice but to pack up his room that evening and cut his stay short.The TLDR: avoid this Bella Vita. It’s a quirky and unpleasant place to stay.