Janet Hewison visits the new-look Caff Uno in York.

"Come and join us soon!" shouted the advertising flier.

Caff Uno, in Clifford Street, York, part of the national Italian restaurant chain, had been refurbished, and what's more the flier included a voucher for a free bottle of house wine.

So when we arrived for our meal, we stopped to nosy through the windows at the new-look interior, and it did look very inviting and cosy, with its mustard yellow walls, terracotta-painted wrought iron, and open brickwork, and a mix of families, couples and friends sitting down to eat.

Two-and-a-half hours later, when I paid the bill, I was not so sure.

I had booked a table in the smoking section for 7pm, and after giving my name, we were shown to a table as soon as we walked in. However, once we had settled down and I asked for an ash tray, I was told we were in the non-smoking section. Another table was located over at the other side, that we could have moved to, but I said I was happy to stay where we were next to the window. Our order was taken shortly afterwards.

Fifteen minutes later, the house wine arrived, a nice crisp Pinot Grigio, with the starters following .

I had Garlic Dough Balls, at £2.25. There were four of them, served with a dish of melted garlic butter, and another of hot salsa sauce. Both dishes looked as though they had been warmed up in the microwave and the dough balls were over-baked.

Ros had the Bocconcini Mozzarella e Proscuitto, which was grilled Mozzarella cheese wrapped in parma ham. Although the Mozzarella had clearly melted at some point, it seemed to have cooled off to a more solid consistency before arriving at the table.

At 8pm our main courses arrived, and we ordered a second bottle of house wine. (We had to remind one of the staff ten minutes later about the wine - then a bottle was brought over immediately.)

I had gone for Tuna Nicoise Salad (£7.55), which looked good as it promised a chargrilled tuna steak rather than the tinned tuna you often get.

But again, it wasn't quite all I had hoped for. The tuna, criss-crossed with anchovies, was quite dry and tough. The salad with it consisted of egg, olives, beans, tomatoes and some pieces of sauted potatoes.

It was all tasty, but could have benefited from some salad leaves and dressing.

Ros had Linguini Americano (£7.95), meatballs served in a tomato sauce with pasta.

The sauce and the pasta were fine, the kind of thing you could cook for yourself at home, but the meatballs seemed to have only one ingredient - mince. Neither of us finished our main

courses, which we remarked was an unusual occurrence for both of us.

The desserts were the best bit of the meal.

Ros polished off her Toffee Fudge Apple Cake quickly and I enjoyed my Chocolate Chip Fudge Sundae, both £3.65.

The bill came to £50.60, which was reduced to £40.10 with the free bottle voucher, but was still not cheap.

There were three serving staff on duty during the evening, which didn't seem enough, and we had to wait a long time between courses.

Those waits, plus food that didn't

live up to our expectations meant there was little to tempt me back, even with the money-off voucher I was given as we left.

Updated: 10:23 Saturday, November 02, 2002