Aspirational Anglo-Italian food in a soulless environment. Businessman's lunch heaven.

Park Plaza is Cardiff's latest swanky hotel, and its main restaurant makes some loud statements as you walk in. 'Come, see my sleek dark-wood tables and floor-to-ceiling wine display,' it says, 'but make sure your shoes are clean first. Are you sure you're posh enough to eat here?'

You see, the trouble with the 'Laguna Kitchen and Bar' (who devised that one?) is that for all the things they do right (efficient service, concise menu, ambitious dishes) nothing can make up for the fact that it's just not a comfortable dining experiences. The waiting staff adopt that forced smile that tells you that although they are being extremely polite they really can't stand you, and would much rather be pursuing their burgeoning acting careers. Everything else is more for show than for genuine satisfaction, not least the public facing kitchen populated with chefs who clearly don't have quite enough cooking to do most of the time.

As for the food, it pushes quite a few buttons. The basil and tomato soup for starter was full of ripe fruity flavours, and the sweet potato in the fettucine with tiger prawns and chilli was a cute touch. From the half dozen main courses we picked chicken pancetta with a paté stuffing and polenta accompaniment. Not convinced about the paté (tasted Tesco Brussels to me) and all a bit cloying without any vegetables to freshen it up, but certainly fills a hole with style. And do try the white wines - the Condesa de Leganza 2004 house is a very smooth animal, and pleasantly reserved.

And yet you just don't feel any warmth. This is a restaurant for doing business, where international financiers harbouring mutual loathing can make their enforced meeting as tolerable as possible. Pleasure diners be warned.