The Living Room, Bridge Street, York

IF you like dressing up to the nines, expect to pay a fortune for a drink, and enjoy fancy-sounding grub, then you'll feel quite at home in the Living Room, York's new million-pound bar.

Looking down from Ouse Bridge to Queen's Staith, you can't miss it. It boasts an enviable position in the city, with an outside veranda snaking around a new luxury apartment complex offering unrivalled views of the river.

But you could miss the entrance: an unassuming doorway just over Ouse Bridge at the start of Bridge Street.

Part of a chain, the Living Room opened in May, following a £950,000 investment in the former derelict riverside site.

Inside, a long corridor of dark polished wood resembles a top-class hotel and is rather intimidating.

At weekends there are bouncers on the door and punters in jeans have been turned away.

But for those who get the nod, there's a world of posing to enjoy inside.

Sink into one of the semi-circular leather bunks by the bar and order a cocktail (prices from £4-£6) from an intriguing and extensive menu. Very Sex In The City.

Or splash out on a meal in the sophisticated dining room, with those impressive riverside views.

On my first visit, I was impressed by the service and the food. The waitress had actually eaten most items on the menu, so knew what she was recommending. I savoured chicken and noodle soup with Thai flavourings of coconut milk and lemongrass, delicate seabass fillets and soft and squidgy dauphinoise potatoes followed by a Mars Bar ice cream cocktail.

Quite divine.

However, the Living Room is also the sort of place to pop into for a leisurely lunch - or brunch, when the dress rules are a bit more relaxed and the clientele less cliquey.

Clad in denims, I took my family there on a Sunday for brunch.

We were warmly welcomed and shown to an outside table, and a highchair was promptly brought for my two-year-old daughter.

The Sunday Brunch menu featured roasts (chicken and beef for £9.50 or £8.95) and breakfast options such as Full English, Vegetarian, Continental, poached eggs and omelettes, prices from £4.95 to £7.95.

Also on offer were soup and snacks such as fishcakes and potato wedges (£2.95-£4.95) as well as salads, a range of sandwiches, including cheese burger with tomato salsa and fries (£8.95), and afternoon tea with scones, cream and jam (£4.25).

There is a children's menu featuring the usual suspects and we chose Toad In The Hole (£2.95) - a Yorkshire pudding with mash, sausages and gravy.

My husband and mother were tempted by the special: smoked haddock tart with poached egg (£7.95).

I went for the roast beef with all the trimmings (£9.50),while my dad plumped for ham and eggs (£6.95).

We enjoyed some drinks - white wine (£3.75) a white wine spritzer (£2.40), a pint of beer (£3), filter coffee (£1.25) and orange juice (£1.25) and watched two fishermen on the riverbank beneath.

When our food arrived, it was obvious some of us would be winners and losers.

The special tart looked impressive: a pastry case filled with a creamy leak sauce, topped with smoky, flaky haddock and crowned with a soft poached egg. It was declared delicious.

My dad eyed it enviously as he launched into his griddled eggs (which were fried) and two hunks of hand-carved ham, which was surprisingly moist and tasty despite its dried out-looking edge.

Most disappointing was my roast. I'd asked for the sirloin to be well done, but didn't expect it to be like leather. Luckily my dad didn't seem to mind and Hoovered it up.

The trimmings were almost as disappointing: a tiny portion of broccoli hollandaise and glazed carrots and a just-adequate Yorkshire pudding. Best were the roast potatoes: small, with a crispy edge and creamy inside. At almost a tenner it was poor value. I've paid half as much and had loads better in plenty of places elsewhere.

The children's meal was a winner - particularly the sausages which had a pink tinge and tasted of tomato.

For puddings, they offered a children's yoghurt (£1) or ice lolly.

For the grown-ups, we shared an Eton Mess (£4.25) and Exotic Fruit Salad (£4.25).

They arrived in the biggest pudding bowls we'd ever seen - much to my dad's delight.

This time, he was the winner. The Eton Mess was a faultless combination of chewy meringue, tart berries and oodles of thick cream.

My fruit salad was ripe and refreshing, with a fair selection of ingredients including mango, kiwi and pineapple. My only gripe would be that the pieces were too finely chopped and some too ripe.

We finished off with caffe lattes (£1.50), which were excellent, and decided that the food had been a bit hit and miss on this occasion.

Considering how fab my first visit to the Living Room had been, I felt let down by this second outing and have to conclude there is room for improvement.

Fact file:

The Living Room, Bridge Street, York. Tel: 0870 220 3001.

Maxine visited on Sunday, June 27, 2004.

Food: mixed

Service: professional

Value: pricey

Ambience: sophisticated

Disabled access: Yes

Restaurant reviewers aim to be fair and accurate. Any comments on this review should be addressed to Chris Titley, Features Content Editor, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN or email features@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 08:25 Saturday, July 10, 2004