If you are planning a romantic dinner, perhaps to mark a special occasion, don't bank on Plunkets.

Or, if you insist on visiting the High Petergate restaurant, especially at the weekend, have a backup plan in place.

For, frustratingly, it only takes bookings for large groups. And deciding between a lengthy wait and a trek to find another restaurant could certainly put a dampener on proceedings.

I rang early to reserve a table for two, but was told we simply had to try out luck. Sure enough, arriving at about 8pm on a Saturday night, Mary and I were told the wait was a little over an hour. The staff were friendly enough, but we were bewildered by their policy.

We chose instead to return on Monday, when there was plenty of room for arriving customers.

Plunkets is a restaurant seemingly determined to confound diners' expectations.

Situated close to the Minster in a 17th century timber-framed building, with an old oil painting portrait as its motif, you imagine authentic English cooking, or perhaps high-class French fare. But the interior has a decidedly American feel, with black and white photographs of stars of stage and screen - Monroe, Brando, Bowie - covering the walls.

And the menu is a feast of Mexican food, a real transatlantic mixture. It was fitting: Mary's from the US Midwest, while I was born and raised in Blighty.

We started with two appetisers to share. I chose potato skins and sour cream (£4.95), while Mary went for goat cheese and caramelised pear quesadilla.

The first weren't so much potato skins as wedges, with lots of beautifully-cooked potato and a crunchy, baked outer layer.

In comparison, our quesadilla was a riot of flavours: sweet and spicy, creamy, hot and floury. It had a spinach tortilla base (floury), topped with chilis (hot and spicy), caramelised pear (sweet) and chunks of goat's cheese (creamy).

Altogether, the texture was rather strange, but the combination of flavours worked a treat.

Some of the other tasty-sounding options included nachos (£5.45 for a small bowl, £8.75 for large), buffalo chicken wings (£4.95) and hot baked brie and wild mushroom dip (£5.25).

Plunkets offers an array of main courses. Salads include grilled courgette and goat's cheese (£9.95) and Gosminster "bloody" beef salad (£11.95) with blacked beef fillet, cheddar and raspberry vinaigrette.

For hardcore meat lovers, there is prime rib eye steak (£16.95) and grilled Colorado-style rump of lamb with red pepper mint jus (£15.95). The menu also offers seafood including Whitby scampi (£10.95), and traditional Mexican fare such as chimichanga (£11.85) and chili con carne (£9.95).

Mary plumped for Santa Fe fajitas (£13.25) with marinaded chicken. The meat arrived sizzling hot on a platter with peppers and onions, with fajitas in a warm covered dish.

She said the meat was perfectly done, obviously good quality, and the marinade gave the dish a kick.

In fact, Mary pondered whether they were the best fajitas she had tasted.

I selected my main course from the vegetarian menu, and went for southwest chimichanga (£10.75).

The dish was huge: a monster deep-fried wrap of chargrilled vegetables, jalapeno peppers and cheese. The filling was mouthwatering; the vegetables were succulent and complemented perfectly by sour cream and salsa.

However, the size was rather overwhelming; it was like a halfbrick. Plus, after a while the huge, deep-fried tortilla made me feel queasy. I barely touched a pile of Spanish rice that seemed overcooked and bland.

After two big portions, we weren't tempted by pudding, despite the tantalising descriptions of Moroccan drunken dried fruit sundae (£4.25) or baked almond and coconut cheesecake (£4.45).

We opted instead for coffee (£1.65) and a peppermint tea (£1.65).

All our orders arrived quickly and the staff were generally helpful and friendly. But I felt a little let down that our table wasn't cleared properly between courses - dirty forks cutlery and food remnants were left (although the blame partly rests on me for accidentally turning my fork into a trebuchet).

When at the end of the evening I came to pay the bill, which totalled £44.30, I felt like I was putting the staff out.

The food was also slightly overpriced. Perhaps this was due to the large portions, but many of the dishes were up to 25 per cent more than I would have expected to pay.

All in all, Plunkets provided a pleasant, if pricey, night out. But, with no option to book, if you face an hour's delay to get a table, it's probably not worth the wait.

Plunkets, 9 High Petergate, York, YO1 7EN. Tel: 01904 637722.

factfile

Food: AuthenticService: EfficientValue: PoorAmbience: TransatlanticDisabled loos: NO