Enoteca Torino in Inchicore was recommended by a colleague who lives in Kilmainham and laments the dearth of decent neighbourhood restaurants. It is, she tells me, the only good place to eat for miles and always busy. Parking around the corner I could see what she meant – we didn't much fancy the five in one (Thai, Italian, Chinese, Turkish and Indian) alternative either.

On Saturday lunchtime there were a few tables occupied in the front section and a steady stream of customers. I hadn't realised that Enoteca Torino was a Mick Wallace-the-property-developer-owned restaurant until we spotted the Wexford football posters (Wallace is the manager of Wexford Youths) and the selection of Wallace labelled bottles of wine on display. Wallace has a few restaurants and cafés around Dublin, several of them clustered around his Italian Quarter just off the north quays, and another recently opened near Croke Park, Enoteca d'Asti. There's also one in Enniscorthy, Enoteca d'Alba. Wallace's restaurants have a reputation for serving good quality, no-nonsense food at reasonable prices. There's a no-frills, nothing-special look to Enoteca Torino (refrigerated deli counter displaying huge vacuum packed cheeses and cold meats, wooden shelving for all those wine bottles) that smacks of authenticity, and all the staff are Italian – you could be in any town in Italy.

I had two very hungry 12-year-old boys with me – they had spend the morning being put through the academic assessment mill at the secondary school where they'll be starting in September. Some of the tests had been VERY HARD, especially the spellings, but they had been mollified by the promise of their fifth year mentor-to-be that there were lots of hot girls in the school.

Milo started with the Mediterranea Bruschette (€5.50) – mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and garlic atop good bread that managed to achieve that elusive combination of crunch and lightness. The cherry tomatoes were not fantastically flavoursome – and a tad tough-skinned – and I'm not sure that it's worth eating mozzarella unless it's of the buffalo variety but the bruschette did the job well enough. Cian's Di Campo Bruschette (€6) was terrific – parma ham wrapped around melted goats' cheese and sandwiched between more slices of crunchy bread. I opted for the Crostini (€7 for the medium-sized portion) – more bread topped with vegetarian toppings. The green and red pestos were good, but I could see the giant proprietary catering jars out of which they were served and was disappointed to realise that they were not made on the premises. Toppings of peppers and mushrooms were on the bland side. An off-menu order of a green salad was over-priced at €8 for a plate of mainly lollo rosso with a stingy amount of rocket, plus a few carrots and tomatoes.

The menu offers a wide selection of vegetarian, meat and some fish-based pasta sauces, and you can choose between four types of De Cecco dried pasta which are displayed in cute jars on each table. Cian liked his Penne al Pollo ((€12) – chicken, red peppers and mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce. It was substantial, comforting – just the thing for the day that was in it. My Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Ravioli (€14.90), one of the more expensive dishes on the menu, had no discernible flavour of either gorgonzola or porcini and when I cut open a couple of the ravioli to investigate there was definitely cheese (although it looked more like goats' cheese) but no mushroom activity. Hmmm. The tomato sauce was excellent, although perhaps overpowering for the ravioli.

Milo's Tagliatelle Carbonara (€12) was dreadful. The pancetta had been cooked but not browned, so its colour was unattractive. The oily sauce had split, and resembled nothing so much as the pallid scrambled eggs that you see on a breakfast buffet, the ones that have already been hanging around for a couple of hours. It was a travesty. Milo didn't finish it, no one asked why and it stayed on the bill.

The boys ordered a couple of puddings – an oversweet raspberry cheesecake and a greasy chocolate biscuit cake (€5 each). Neither was good, and I'd imagine that both were bought in.

With a couple of soft drinks, one glass of house red and a good double expresso, our bill came to €86.80 to which we added €10 for friendly if distracted service. Given the great deals that are to be had around town these days, I'm not sure that this represents good value any longer.

enoteca torino

9 Grattan Crescent, Inchicore, Dublin 8.
01-4537791

Rating: 3/5