There was a time in my life – it must be around a decade ago – when Ar Vicoletto was our default restaurant of choice. For a couple of years, there were few birthdays or occasions that were not marked under its roof. Tucked away down a Temple Bar side street, Ar Vicoletto's charm lay in its successful masquerade as an authentic, undiscovered, cheap little place. It was never really about the food, which was basic but good. The ambience was conducive to the enthusiastic consumption of red wine and the generosity with which the staff dispensed shots of limoncello at the end of the evening did much to soften the pain of a bill that was always higher than you would have expected.

I hadn't been back in years. Last year the ownership changed, the 'Ar' became an 'Il' and recently a new chef, Giorgio Trovato, was installed. Christian Ignad, who was the manager in the old days, is the new owner. You won't miss him - he could pass for a premier league footballer on a night off, with a nice line in rosary beads worn as necklaces and slinky shirts with too few buttons done up. We were three women, in for early dinner straight after work on a Wednesday, and benefited from his attentive service.

Il Vicoletto has been given a bit of a makeover but it's still rather naff – red plush banquettes, bad prints, fake flowers. This doesn't matter a whit, every Italian town I've ever visited has a place that looks just like it. I wish the loos weren't quite so authentic though.

The pre-theatre set menu (€20.95 for three courses) did not appeal so we opted for the à la carte. This was in a process of transition on the night of our visit and so Christian ended up explaining various new dishes that were on offer from the kitchen but didn't yet feature on the written menu. This involved a certain degree of hype and, consequently, great expectations.

We began with an amuse of soup served in martini glasses. It tasted suspiciously like Avonmore's vegetable variety; all it was missing was the sweetcorn. It was an off-putting, sludgy colour. One of my guests said that if she were the chef she wouldn't be making a song and dance about it.

Claire began with Tortino di Ricotta con Brunoise di Verdure e Salsa al Miele di Arancio (€7.50), sold by our host as a light ricotta soufflé. This was served warm and had an unpleasant, heavy yet sawdusty consistency. It came with shredded cucumber and red peppers, anointed with a pungent (and unadvertised) garlic oil. This was unfortunate as Claire doesn't like garlic. At all. She ate half because she was hungry. Fin started with a half portion of Risotto con Taleggio e Pere (€7.90) made with carnaroli rice, which we were told (lectured?) was the absolute best rice to make a risotto with and superior to arborio. Her verdict? "He definitely oversold it. It was nice but not spectacular. Two things: the plate was cold and the pears were crunchy and far from caramelised, as promised. They would have been more at home in a fruit salad."

I lucked out with Prosciutto with Grilled Smoked Scamorza (€8.95), a cow's milk cheese from Puglia. This was the simplest of the starters and by far the best. Delicious.

With the mains, we had mixed fortunes. Claire's Filetto di Manzo (€24.95) with a Barolo sauce was a generous, tender, perfectly cooked piece of good quality meat, aged for over six weeks. The accompanying broccolini (a hybrid of the cabbage family), which tasted and looked a bit like kale, had been sautéed and was slightly crunchy and "really delicious".

From Christian's verbal menu Fin chose Filetto di Spigola in Crosta di Prosciutto e Patate, a traditional Sicilian dish of sea bass in a crust of Parma ham and potatoes (€21.90). What arrived didn't tally with his description, which hadn't mentioned the ham. The fish was overcooked. She had asked for a rocket and parmesan salad as a side order, been told it was an unsuitable accompaniment and advised to go for a mixed salad instead. When the dish arrived there was a large mixed salad on the plate already so she had two big portions of mixed salad and didn't know why she couldn't just have had the rocket. (We weren't charged for the salad.) There were cold carrot batons on the plate as well. Were they part of the salad or should they have been hot? I opted for Gamberoni al Prosciutto Serviti con Misto di Verdure al Forno (€25.90) – massive prawns wrapped in prosciutto. These were significantly overcooked and rather disappointing.

We shared a trio of good Panna Cottas (Honey, Chocolate and Coffee) (€6.50), of which the chocolate was the star. With excellent coffees, a couple of bottles of gutsy merlot (€24.90 each) and three extra glasses of wine, our bill before service came to €178.20.

There's plenty to like about Il Vicoletto but as it stands the restaurant is under-delivering. My secondary school motto was 'Actions Not Words'. With less talk and more walk Il Vicoletto could be a great spot once again.

Il Vicoletto, 5 Crow Street, Dublin 2. Ph: 01-6708633. Rating: 2/5