Rowley Leigh is the darling of the critics. They all know him, they all adore his food and bask in the atmosphere of his restaurants.

In these pages, Fay Maschler highly praised his new venture, Le Café Anglais, a beautiful big room above Whiteley's shopping mall.

All who love Rowley Leigh's cooking are long-term loyal. But less committed customers have been less convinced. Several friends have reported that the service at Le Café Anglais has sometimes been haphazard as well as slow.

Hoping to book for 1pm recently, we were asked to come at 12.45pm, no doubt to stagger the service, though the restaurant was far from full then.

At 1.10pm we ordered. Ten minutes later, a little hors d'oeuvre plate of the yummy salsify fritters arrived. Our first courses didn't turn up until 1.40pm.

Lobster bisque from the set lunch was fantastically good, quite light, not over-reduced, more-ish rather than overpowering. Pike boudin with beurre blanc, an obscene-looking sausage that is the fish finger from heaven, had its recipient actually groaning with pleasure.

Our main courses arrived at 2.10pm. For languorous hacks that's almost a hectic pace. But if you had to make conversation with a sticky business contact, or get back to work on time, it could be uncomfortably slow.

The wait was well worth it, though. The bistro classic, skirt steak with shallots, also had an enjoyably dilute red wine sauce, a sign of Leigh's determination to cook not blockbusters but the kind of food you'd love to eat every day, if only you could. Rabbit with escarole and bacon salad from the rotisserie was wonderfully tender and sweet, too.

Then, at 2.45pm, the service went awol again. I've been here for lunch before and had to leave before puddings had ever been reached.

When it finally came, pear and parmesan from the appealing set lunch menu (£16.50 for two courses, £19 for three) was no more than nice slices of perfectly ripe pear with cheese and oatcakes - a simple and right end to a meal.

And as it happened, the advertised parmesan turned out to be cheddar - really good cheddar, though.

And then it took time to secure a bill. We had entered that dreamy land where no waiter meets the eye. When the bill came the total, including a £20 bottle of Beaujolais, was £91.41. Fair, rather than cheap.

But if you stick to the set menu and drink modestly, it could be much less - and a bargain for anyone with the time to enjoy it.