IT'S fair to say I've eaten my fair share of Italian food and I must admit it was not with great anticipation that we went into Bella Pasta, on Low Petergate in York city centre.

That's nothing against this particular establishment but more the fact that many so-called Italian restaurants - especially chain restaurants - are, to put it bluntly, much of a muchness.

You know those adverts where Italian people compliment the "Italian" pasta sauce, yet at the bottom of the screen there is the quick giveaway line "Made in the Netherlands"? Well, I often get the same impression from some restaurants.

To a certain degree, I got that feeling here. It seemed Italian by name only.

Now before you get the wrong idea, I must point out the food was nice, the service was excellent, the surroundings were pleasant enough (apart from the toilets, which weren't the best) and we could have no real complaints. Furthermore, the desserts were top drawer, if a bit rich for my savoury liking.

It's just that the main food, as at many chains, was not inspiring. The menu at Bella Pasta - pasta and pizza only, with no main meat or fish dishes - was nothing out of the ordinary, although there was a decent variation for vegetarians.

Nevertheless, as usual we took a while to figure out what to have, and the waitress was patient as we got through a fair amount of wine - a house red of Sangiovese Rubicone (£9.90), which is no less pleasant than the other more expensive reds on offer - before finally deciding.

I chose gnocchi quattro formaggio (£3.80) to begin with and Louise asked to have the roast vegetable salad, which would normally be a main dish but was kindly made as a starter portion (£3.45). As we were hungry we also ordered some ciabatta bites to share (£2.30).

I wouldn't say we had to wait ages for the food to arrive but it was longer than expected given the place was not even half-full. (We had booked a table to be on the safe side for a Friday night but when we got there saw there had been no need.)

When it came it was all very pleasant. The gnocchi, I must say, was better than average and its sauce was not too (for want of a better word) over-cheesy. So good marks there, but the roast veg salad was a bit unexciting. It was improved with balsamic vinegar but still lacked pazazz for its price. The ciabatta bites were good enough and filled a spot.

Then came the main course. There was nothing that exciting on the menu so I went for the smokey lasagne (£7.95). In all honesty I expected little more than a basic sauce and it was indeed a bit dull, but to be fair it was of perfect texture and tasty enough to appreciate.

Louise chose the vegetarian pumpkin and parsnip ravioli (£7.95) from the winter specials menu. That was something new to try and at the end got the thumbs up, although again it didn't get the taste buds crying out.

The desserts were more stimulating. I'm not a big fan of puddings but you can never go wrong with chocolate and this was the case with the cioccolata divino (£3.65), a rich chocolate cake with hard chocolate coating. Divine chocolate indeed.

Louise had the "godfather for one" (£3.95), a broken chocolate brownie with cream and toffee ice cream served in knickerbocker glory style. Where its name came from I don't know - it had no similarity to Al Pacino, a horse's head or even James Brown - but it was very good.

The final price, including the wine, came to £42.95 - which was about normal for this kind of establishment.

That "normal" tag pretty much sums up Bella Pasta overall; nice but unexciting.

Bella Pasta, Low Petergate, York. Tel 01904 611221

Pete and Louise visited the Bella Pasta on January 17

Fact file:

Food: nice

Service: efficient

Value: average

Ambience: okay

Disabled access: No

Updated: 09:38 Saturday, February 01, 2003