Seafood restaurant with great aspirations, but falls flat on its face as just another chain

'Hi. I'm Matt. I'm your waiter for the evening. If there's anything you'd like to know, I'll be right here.'

That's always a worrying start to an evening. Smacks of a restaurant so over-managed that the staff have to go through two weeks of training on the script before they are allowed in front of the customers. But Loch Fyne does claim individuality in all its restaurants. And more than that: it offers seafood with a clear ethical conscience - nothing from deep sea trawlers and unsustainable fisheries. A great concept then. Knowledgeable staff and green credentials.

Well here's something you need to know about Loch Fyne. The fish all gets lorried around the UK's motorways from the Scottish farm where it's reared. So no matter how noble the intentions of any Cardiff fishermen they are never going to get their products to your plate. Which is especially annoying when you find out those juggernauts come only every other day, which means you've got a 50/50 chance of having yesterday's fish. Got all that info from Matt by the way, just in case you were wondering.

Shame he didn't know much about quite a lot of the rest of the meal. Like what the wine was he was giving me as part of my set dinner deal. But never mind, he was a friendly chap, and you can't go far wrong with good quality fresh fish.

Except when it's cooked this boringly. The salmon platter scored on quantity but there was no excitement to it all. Could really have done with some herbs to set off the delicate flavours in the fish. A crevette salad was reasonably done, but the peas with the main course had been cooked to absolute buggery (or were tinned). The 'speciality' bread was utterly insipid too. In fact, I really can't remember anything which tasted of, well, anything much.

Which does present the curious question as to why Loch Fyne is so busy. Perhaps it's the novelty of a new restaurant, perhaps the a-la-carte is where the chef puts all his effort, or maybe the safety of the chain experience is what most people want. But I'm afraid that's all Loch Fyne is, another boring chain, and probably not worth much effort or money.

Matt was hardly seen all night by the way. So much for promises.