It is a benefit of the Celtic Tiger that both my boyfriend and myself have sufficient disposable income to treat ourselves at least once a week to a really good meal. As he lives in Cavan and I in Dublin, we have exhausted the restaurants aorund those localties, and have taken to venturing further afield. As we continue to try different restaurants and styles, not only have our waistbands become tighter, but our palates and expectations have become more exacting. Happily I am finding it rarer and rarer that restaurants serve a bad meal. However I have found that restauranteurs, no doubt a sign of the times, are adopting more of a 'take it or leave it' approach.

Last weekend, on the advice of a review we, together with my boyfriend's sister and her fiance, visited Silks restaurant in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny (telephone 056 54430). I booked a table on Wednesday for 9pm Saturday night (24th February), and the first element of surprise was when I was telephoned twice to confirm my reservation. The only other restaurant which I am aware does this is Halo in The Morrison, and I must say I find it a little intrusive.

On arrival, a pleasant waitress showed us to a table which was the only unoccupied one in a large dining room - first impressions were good eventhough I didn't like that our table was right beside a swing door into the kitchen. Our waitress disappeared leaving us to place our coats over the back of chairs. Nevertheless the atmosphere seemed good, and we progressed to order our food. Our orders were taken after 20 minutes, and we were surprised that 2 of our first choices - chicken and lamb - were not available. However we sat back to wait for our starters. And wait. And wait. At 10pm I asked the passing maitre d' (on one of his many trips through the swing doors!) who informed me that they were 'just ready' and they arrived 10 minutes later (I should point out that these were 2 soups and a risotto - hardly time consuming dishes).

Some 45 minutes later main courses arrived. All were delicious but I didn't finish my beef - simply a case of the hunger having diappeared (it was now 11pm). My plate was removed with no comment on the fact that I had eaten only a couple of mouthfuls. Two had dessert - icecream - again a wait of some 45 minutes - and a wait of 25 minutes (again we asked a passing waitress to try to hurry up these) was experienced for one cappucino and a brandy.

At no stage did any of the passing staff (by the way we had a different waitress for each course) check if we were enjoying our meal, which is commonplace in most restaurants. Strangely enough there was no delay on the bill which arrived at 12.15am and which was œ103.60 (3 starters, 4 main courses, 2 desserts, 1 bottle of house wine, I coke, 1 brandy and 1 cappucino). Service was not included.

None of these things by themselves would have made me complain, but the conglomeration of them - and the apparently indifferent service as well at the 3 1/4 hour dinner - led me to again talk to the maitre d'. I explained quietly to him that even though the food was delicious, we were disappointed by the service. He replied that he was sorry but they'd had no other complaints and 3 and a half hours was actually normal for dinner. When I queried the starters he said that there was a bit of a wait alright and then walked off. At no stage did I look for any reduction in the bill but I was surprised that a gesture was not made. We paid the bill, and left - feeling not that we'd had a good meal, but rather that our custom was not appreciated.