BELLEZZA ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Where: 102 Quay Road, Bridlington.

Call: 01262 603767.

Open: Nightly from 5pm.

Accessibility: All on one level, with wide doors. The toilets are at the back of the restaurant and involve negotiating a small step.

Vegetarian: Yes, a good choice on a separate menu.

Family friendly? Very. High chairs are available for the toddlers, plus plenty of attention paid to youngsters by the staff.

Parking: Free – on the road directly outside.

Bruchetta: £2.95 Toasted crusty bread served with tomatoes, basil, garlic and artichokes

Fungi Al Algio: £4.25 Mushrooms flambéed in olive oil, soaked in white wine and garlic with a cream sauce.

Nicoletta's Pollo Bella: £9.95 Traditional dish. Chicken cooked with potatoes in a tomato sauce, pasta and herbs.

Lasagne: £7.95 Handmade with fresh layered pasta, home-made meatballs, buffalo mozzarella and basil.

A birthday is always a good excuse for a meal and having spotted Bellezza in Bridlington a few weeks earlier I had earmarked this Italian restaurant for my special meal out to mark my forty-something celebration.

The menu is a great advert for rustic Italian food, with descriptive words such as "hearty", "chunky" and "unique" dotted throughout the menu. However, the statement "for the brave" at the end of some of the dishes made me think that the food portions would be sizeable ... and I was not disappointed.

Our table for four was situated at the centre of the restaurant area and gave us an ideal site for people-watching both inside and out.

After being warmly welcomed and promptly taken to our table, we were given a comprehensive menu and pointed towards the specials board.

A bottle of house white (Verdicchio Classico at £9.99) was promptly ordered and proved to be a such a good choice for the adults, another was ordered later on in the evening.

Starters, shared between our group, consisted of Melanzane (aubergine, ham, tomatoes, garlic and parmesan cheese), prawn cocktail (big, succulent, fresh prawns and crispy salad) and garlic bread (huge). These three dishes were all declared to be packed full of flavour and enough to keep us going for the whole evening.

My wife opted for ravioli filled with lobster, served in a rich white wine sauce. At £9.95, this was good value, especially as the portion was, again, on the hearty side. Having begged a couple of the ravioli parcels from my good lady, I thought I should have picked this classic dish, but when I was presented with my choice of Nicoletta's famous lamb special a few moments later, I knew after the first succulent mouthful I had opted for the right dish for me. The melt-in-the-mouth lamb, which had been slow-cooked all day in rosemary oil and garlic, was perfectly complemented by the rich and slightly peppery cream sauce.

The other two in our party shared a huge cheese and ham pizza (well, they are children), and cleared their plates within minutes.

After a requested break, we started to look at the sweet options, but all we could manage between us was a zingy home- made lemon mousse and a couple of liqueur coffees. The kiddies were quite content to pick at a surprise sweet tree that was brought to our table by the owner with her compliments – a lovely touch to end the evening.

We all declared we had thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The ambiance of the restaurant, service and food quality were top notch.

To top the evening off, the bill came to just over £60 for the four of us, and that was including two bottles of wine, lots of soft drinks and coffees. It was excellent value.

Bellezza is a relatively new venture, and a lovely place to enjoy good, wholesome food in welcome surroundings. Well worth a trip to Bridlington for.

Type: Rustic Italian ... just like mama used to make (according to the owner).

Quality of food: Top notch.

Atmosphere: We went early, but it soon got busy.

Service: The staff were extremely pleasant and helpful.

Value for money: Exceptional: prices were good on all food and beverages.

Best for: A great meal out for families, couples or groups, and it won't break the bank.

Would you go again? I have been since and it was still excellent.