Luciano's, Stourbridge

Tucked away in a quiet Stourbridge side street, Luciano's coffee house and restaurant is an intimate setting to enjoy an impressive array of Italian cuisine.

The sophisticated decor takes Italian influences from such as the opera house rather than the pizza parlour, with the modestly-sized first floor restaurant setting a cosy tone for diners.

Positive impressions are immediately enhanced by excellent attention from the waiting staff who offered my wife and me a choice of tables without pressuring us for a decision, as is the way of some eateries.

Our first reaction upon opening the menu was to gasp at the choices on offer - two pages full of starters, plus a range of pasta dishes to follow.

There are plenty of steaks and a mouthwatering selection of seafood specials - leaving us spoilt for choice.

For starters, my wife opted for the mushroom soup of the day at £3.95 while I plumped for the £5.95 funghi piemtontese.

I initially thought I had made the better choice when my delicate dish arrived with button mushrooms bathing in a delicious garlic and parsley butter, sitting in a crispy pastry shell.

The softness of the mushrooms and smoothness of the sauce was wonderfully complemented by the crispiness of the pastry and fresh strips of lettuce underneath and every mouthful had a great texture.

Half way through we swapped dishes - somewhat reluctantly - and I was taken aback to find the soup was even better than the whole mushrooms. The dish had a superb consistency - achieving a thick, full flavour without straying into the realms of lumpiness. Blemished only slightly by mildly overdone hot rolls, taken together with a few sips of the tasty house white wine at £3.95 a glass, the starter was a triumph.

Both my wife and ordered from the specials list for the main course - Nadia choosing the seabass fillet with lemon butter sauce, while I went for monkfish aurora cooked in white wine, tomato and a hint of cream, both costing £14.95.

My dish was a notch below the heights reached by the starters, the parcels of monkfish smothered in a little too much sauce for my taste, while the rice centrepiece was somewhat non-descript.

The fish was succulent however, and although perhaps on the rich side, the sauce was flavoursome and lingered pleasantly on the palate.

Nadia had once again hit the jackpot with the seabass. Well-cooked and toasted to a fine edge, the high quality fish had plenty of flesh and fell apart invitingly under the knife.

The tangy lemon sauce - again, perhaps a touch heavy - was nonetheless zesty and a fitting companion to the lightness of the fish.

There was just room for dessert and a strawberry cheesecake for me and a mix of white and milk chocolate profiteroles for Nadia topped off a hugely satisfying meal.

Excellent service and classy surroundings at a reasonable price - an Italian job well done.