I usually like to book a table in advance when I'm going out to eat - especially at the weekend when you can guarantee that, at the more popular restaurants, tables will be hard to come by. Fellini's, the popular Italian eatery in Fossgate, was having none of it. "We don't take bookings for two," a cheerful waitress told me over the phone. "If you just come along a bit earlier than you planned, you can get a drink and then we will sit you down."

So that was what we did: rolling up at about 7.45pm on a Saturday evening. By that time, Fellini's was in full flow. The great, cavernous interior, with its salmon-pink, faux-marble walls and fans rotating in the ceiling high above, was packed to the rafters. Each one of the trestle-like tables was crammed, and the place was filled with a happy din.

The great thing about Fellini's is that it's a place anybody can go. Students rubbed shoulders with office workers and with families - parents, grandparents and children - out for a Saturday night treat. None of them were out of place.

Despite not having been able to book, we didn't have long to wait before we were led through the heaving restaurant to a tiny table for two in a far corner. There, we were left to ponder the large, plastic-coated menu while the teams of waiters continued to supply the tables around us.

Over our drinks - a pint of Becks for me, an apple juice for Lili - we chatted happily. Fellini's is not a place you can go to and not feel cheerful: the laughter and enthusiasm of the people around you soon becomes infectious. We felt the stresses and strains of the week fading away. The joyous din somehow just makes conversation even more intimate - so what if you occasionally have to ask someone to repeat what they've just said?

After a brief lull while we pondered the menus, a friendly waiter with a distinctively Italian accent arrived, and we ordered. Starters were calamari fritti (deep fried squid at £5.60) for Lili and peperone ripieno (pepper stuffed with mincemeat and rice and topped with tomato and mozzarella at £4.50) for me. We also asked for a side order of garlic bread.

When it came to main courses, we weren't short of choice. In addition to all the standard pizza and pasta dishes, there were main courses of veal, lamb, chicken, pork and beef to choose from, plus fish dishes and even grills.

In the end, being hungry and in the mood for something cheap and cheerful, we both opted for pizzas; a fantasia for Lili (tomato, mozzarella, pineapple and baked ham; £6.60) and a quattro stagioni for me (tomato, mozzarella, ham, artichokes, mushrooms and black olives; £6.95).

The starters, when they arrived, were promising. Lili's calamari - deep-fried rings of squid accompanied by lashings of tasty tartare sauce - she pronounced 'good'.

My own pepper was equally satisfying; a whole, succulent green pepper so tender it melted in the mouth, piping hot and stuffed to bursting with rice and mincemeat. The whole was topped with melted cheese and smothered with tangy tomato sauce. Not the most subtle of starters, perhaps, but a treat for someone as hungry as I was.

The garlic bread was good, too - more like a large, freshly-cooked pizza base than the traditional bread stick, steeped in garlic and once again smothered in tomato juice. We polished it off with relish.

It was only then we began to realise what a mistake we'd made. Nearly full already, and the main courses hadn't even arrived.

The pizzas, when they came, were good if nothing really out of the ordinary. Piping hot, freshly-baked, the bases crisp on the outside, light and soft inside, each was generously smothered in the topping of our choice.

As we had feared, we couldn't anywhere near finish. But our friendly waiter, when we asked him if he would mind packing up the considerable remains of our two pizzas, was happy to oblige; returning promptly with them securely packed in a neat Fellini's box with the words 'carry this way up' on the side. Now that's what I call service.

I loved Fellini's. It's a happy, noisy, unpretentious place to eat, where you'll feel equally at home with your mates from uni or your mum and dad on a family night out. Not haute cuisine, perhaps: but great fun. And at £29.45 - including drinks - for far more than the two of us could possibly eat, not bad value, either.

Fellini's Italian Restaurant, 11-12 Fossgate, York YO1 9TA.

Tel: 01904 611154.