Big and bustling Italian

If you're going to set up an informal Italian restaurant, lower Regent Street, with its tourists and nearby theatres, is a sensible place - and Pomodorino has made sure it has room for the hordes.

Widely separated tables and blond wood give an airy but impersonal feel, which is offset by smiley service and complimentary hors d'oeuvres of tasty thin-based pizza.

If the waiters had been as accomplished as they were cheery, we'd have been a lot smilier ourselves. But no: black pepper wasn't offered with my mushroom risotto starter (too creamy but of a lovely consistency) and my delicious chocolate souffle dessert was plonked down with mango and peach sorbet instead of the rosemary ice cream listed. They'd run out, which happened with several other dishes, too. It would have been nice to have been offered an alternative that worked.

Other dishes were mixed, although there's an odd bias against the tomato after which the place is named (two fine specimens of which sit cutely on each table). Bruschetta comes with topping un-chopped and un-marinated and, if the (excellent) pizzas don't have tomato listed as an ingredient, then none shall be forthcoming - a practice which, while common in parts of Italy, should be made clearer in London.

Prices are reasonable and there's an impressively varied by-the-glass wine list. If they sort out the blips, this will make a useful alternative to the pizza chains.

Pomodorino
4-12 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4PE