It sounded too good to be true. Having told a colleague I was planning to "do an Eating Out", he suggested I should try Sunday lunch at the Novotel, where he had heard a couple could get a three course meal for £6.99 each, with their children eating free. Now that sounded extraordinarily good value.

So I wasn't too surprised when I rang up and found it wasn't quite true ....or not any more.

There had been such an offer, but it had just been replaced by a slightly different and more expensive deal. This time it worked out at £7.50 per adult, with the kids paying £2.95 each. Still, £21 still seemed pretty good value for a family of four to dine out - and as an added bonus for me, I didn't even have to drive because I live within reasonable walking distance of the Novotel.

I have walked umpteen times past this hotel, built in the 1980s on the site of a former glassworks alongside the River Foss. But it's never really occurred to me to eat there, seeing it purely as a resting place for visitors to York. But that's illogical really. Why shouldn't local residents dine at their neighbourhood hotels?

We were shown swiftly to our seats in the Garden Brasserie, a place of pleasant decor overlooking the river and also the Foss Barrier, which played such a crucial role in saving hundreds of York homes from inundation during the November floods.

I reflected that the last time I had been near the barrier, the circumstances could not have been more different. It was chucking it down with rain, I looked like a drowned rat and I was collaring the Prime Minister with a dossier about the Evening Press' campaign to save Ryedale from flooding. It was a surreal moment I will never forget.

We had booked a table late and were shown to our seats only 20 minutes before they were due to finish serving. I was a little worried the best dishes might have run out but everything still seemed on offer.

Starters that day were basically a choice of soup (vegetable) or cold buffet. We asked for soup, and my wife and I found it quite acceptable - but my son bizarrely reckoned it smelt like rice pudding and decided just to munch on a roll until his main course arrived. Meanwhile, my daughter decided to scoff a couple of crackers from the cheese tray to keep her going while she wistfully watched someone swimming in the pool next to the restaurant (sadly for residents only, not diners).

The main course was a choice of turkey, pork, beef or fish, served with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy, with a meat-free alternative of vegetable curry. My wife and children chose the turkey, and reported there was plenty to eat and it was well cooked. I went for the curry, which was very tasty. We had glasses of house red and lemonade to accompany the food.

The puddings were mainly flans, pastries and coffee gateau, which none of us really fancied, and we all went for a perfectly acceptable fruit salad alternative.

We emerged satisfied if not enthused by our meal. A good straightforward carvery lunch, not the bargain basement meal I had originally expected, but still a meal of relatively good value, which Yorkies as well as hotel guests might enjoy.

Novotel, Fishergate, York. Telephone: 01904 611660

Fact file:

Food: satisfactory

Service: courteous

Value: pretty good

Ambience: pleasant

Disabled access: yes