Bella Cosi Modern Italian Restaurant

We were bought a voucher for a joint birthday present to dine at Bella Cosi for $150. First impressions were very good. A nice atmosphere, good decor, perfectly lit environment ( not too bright but romantic) and clean. The staff were friendly and we had good food suggestions given to us by the waitress ,so we didn’t eat too much bread initially. Great. We ordered red wine which was excellent quality @$45 a bottle, but it was a special occasion. The menus were already on the table , we chose quickly and so our starter came after about 15 minutes. We were really enjoying being there. It was a very hot day and very warm evening, so the restaurant had on the air conditioning and some fans. However we couldn’t feel any cold air around us , even though I was sat right near to the air vent,so that made us get hotter and a bit more uncomfortable. Also the place was almost full to capacity so there were more hot people around and we were drinking red wine and eating hot food. The waitress came to us straight away with a cold jug of water and commented about the heat in the restaurant , that the aircon was on at 18 degrees, indicating that they knew something wasn’t quite right? Might I suggest that the air conditioning system be serviced or improved to avoid more discomfort in the future? It wasn’t anyone’s fault but needs attention I feel. We curiously asked if there was any music playing ( there was, but we couldn’t hear any ), no drama here but it would make the experience a little better we felt. Sadly, our biggest gripe was waiting over 1 hour for the main course, nothing unusual from the menu, but we could tell the kitchen was probably under staffed and overworked. The table next to us , (who came in around 1/2 hour after us) ,seemed to complain to the waiter and we could hear him apologise for the delay. In fact that couple were fed and left 1/2 hr or so before us, so we felt we were very patient and we didn’t complain , but this review is our honest first impressions. The food was good , tasty, ok, but not wow, sorry. We finished our main course and the plates were taken away quick enough. The waitress, although not over friendly but polite, asked if we would like the desert menu.... yes please, we said! However 10 minutes later we were still waiting and so asked another waiter if we could have the desert menu as the overworked waitress had forgotten about us. The menus were then delivered quickly from less than 3 metres away!! We were going to tip the waitress but felt the service wasn’t quite good enough, sorry. We understand it is a busy place, nice food etc.... but for the price we paid, we felt the restaurant should have more staff on a busy Saturday night. A few tricks were definitely missed on this occasion. Hopefully this review will address some of the things in question? Overall 6/10. Will we go back ? Maybe. Why did you ask us to email you when you didn’t reply to us?