Sunday for me is a day to lie in, realizing at about 11.30am that I had better get up if I want to make the lunch date I usually make with one friend or another. Dublin is thronged with restaurants open for Sunday lunch, and I have my fare share of favourites. Temple Bar has many buildings, predominantly eating establishments and pubs.

So with a nice Italian in mind (restaurant, not man unfortunately...), as well as their special lunch menu, I led my companion to Cibo, just across from Eamonn Doran's. I have been to Cibo twice before and enjoyed it on both occasions. It's a three storey restaurant, seating about 12-15 downstairs and lots more upstairs. The wooden tables and chairs lend an Italian feel to the place and the nouveau art on the walls gives you something to gaze at/scrutinize whilst waiting.

Unfortunately, downstairs was full so we joined one other couple upstairs. I wish we had opted to dine elsewhere no, as it was rather cold, though our waitress did point this out before we went up. She was also on her own to cope with 20 odd. I must say this now, as it affected the rest of our meal.

The menu is typically Italian with the usual starters - garlic bread, deep fried brie, garlic mushrooms, mixed salad, minestrone soup (2.50-5.00). Main courses include rather a nice selection of pastas, as well as pizzas, chicken, fish and other meat dishes (from 7.95). Plus a range of vegetarian options. A separate desert menu lists several items at 3.95. I ordered from the lunch special (choice of 4 starters, 4 main and tea or coffee). Choice is limited but nice for 7.95. I chose the vegetable soup and the warm honey mustard chicken salad. My buddy decided on the deep fried brie followed by a spaghetti dish with smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, capers and a dill butter sauce from the a la carte menu. Our starters were slow off the mark and quite cold, which I pointed out, and for which the waitress apologized, assuring the mains would prove better.

My salad, accompanied by the dressing on the side (as requested) was nice and the dressing was particularly tasty. The pasta was a great success, though totally lacking in capers. The portions were not overly big, neither were the starters. I finished my salad with gusto and his pasta!

My hot water and lemon, requested at the beginning of the meal came between courses, proving that the waitress' mind was kept well occupied by the clientele below us. A coffee and cappuccino (again, well made but on the cold side) were brought promptly afterwards. At this stage I asked for the dessert menu. It included whit chocolate tiramisu, apple pie, Tia Maria or Baileys cheesecake, banoffi (none that day), chocolate cake or a selection of ice creams. All homemade. I could have easily managed a dessert at this stage (the salad and soup did not quite hit the mark), but by the time the young lady came back, I was finished my coffee, and I always like my desert WITH my coffee!

So a slightly curt 'no thank you' made my feelings clear that we felt slightly abandoned upstairs. A modest £25 covered everything. Neither of us were in any fit state to order alcohol after a heavy weekend. I must admit my last visit had been a big success, but it was not as busy and the waitress seemed more mature and capable. A tasty meal all the same.

I think I'm going to leave my 'regular' haunts aside and try somewhere new every time I go to town, to avoid some disappointment. Or at least try a different cuisine, It's very easy to overdose on Italian food in the capital, and the palate soon tires with the same dishes. Yet it becomes more skeptical, being better able to assess the quality of traditional and popular dishes that can be as easily a flop as a success. Oh hell, I think I'll just move to Italy - I'd never get bored of pizza and pasta over there - the Italians never get it wrong!