A trip to the midlands to see an older sibling and co. involved a late Saturday night and copious amounts of alcohol. A lack of sleep and noisy kids in a smoky house, when I am more used to lots of fresh air and a day alone after a heavy night, meant a tired, cold and rather cranky young lady returned back to the capital. At least I had a dinner date with an old college friend to look forward to. My intentions were to introduce her to a lovely Italian caf‚ on South Anne Street and I presumed that 6pm on a Sunday would prove to be a good time to get a table on spec. However, we were greeted with a half hour wait. So we opted for another modern Italian/Mediterranean venue a few doors down, Spacos.

What attracted me to this restaurant was the pre-theatre dinner for £10.95 (soup, any main pasta dish, a glass of wine and tea or coffee). Seeing as I had well imbibed over the weekend and spent well over my limit, this suited me fine. Besides, it wasn't that busy and there were four prompt and friendly young waitresses (predominantly English!) ensuring good service.

The dinner menu is typically Italian. Starters range from £3.95 and include crostini (Italian bread, olive oil, basil and tomato pesto, goat's cheese), bruschetta (pesto, tomato, Parma ham, summer leaves, Parmesan shavings) and Dublin crust (button mushrooms stuffed with mozzarella and tarragon, with lemon and chive mayo), among others. Mains start at £6.95 and include choice of pasta with several sauces (Spacos Al Verde - chicken and creamy basil pesto; Palermo - tomato, garlic, peppers, red wine, spices), salads (chicken Caesar or smoked salmon), an 8oz fillet steak (served on a potato cake with a wild mushroom jus, roast vegetables or straw potatoes), or a grilled salmon steak (on a potato gratin in garlic butter sauce). Deserts start at £2.95 and include tiramisu, NY cheesecake, Banoffi, strawberry gateau and chocolate cake. A nice coffee and modest wine menu round it off, with a few 'special wines of the week'.

A daily lunchtime salad and gourmet sandwich menu is available and from passing this restaurant a few times, I feel it does most of its business during the busy lunch hour. So we settled at a nice wooden table, facing a lit candle and contemporary cutlery. Modern and simple but stylish. Quite romantic really, as the lighting was dim and the music quite mellow. We started with cream of pumpkin soup and some Vienna roll. The soup was thick and tasty but my waitress was a little heavy handed with the black pepper. We were actually quite full after this, but we gladly accepted our taglatellie Al Verde - a nice portioned bowl with strips of char-grilled chicken strips and a tasty creamy pesto sauce, though one did need to give the dish a good mix, as all the sauce resided at the bottom. A glass of house white did not go down too well - "petrol" was my friend's choice of adjective, but she did finish her glass, and mine. Neither of us could finish it, but then neither of us was particularly ravenous.

I would have been quite contented with a decaf cappuccino but it was not to be so I defied all bodily instincts and ordered the banoffi (£3.45). Malheuresement, I was not permitted to substitute my coffee for a desert and pay a little extra. So I paid full price for a tasty but rather small round banoffi which rather lacked in banana. Increasingly I find many restaurants are charging high prices for very small-portioned deserts. Small is fine, but please charge accordingly!

We split a modest bill of £25, adding a tip, so £14 each was not bad at all for what we had eaten. The service was good, although one of the girls had a slight attitude. I'm a big believer in pre-theatre menus, even if they are limited in choice. I've sampled a few around the city and they prove quite satisfactory if you are not in a position to ignore menu prices. I might pop by for lunch there some day.