Bergerac can get some things really right, and it's getting far better at making fewer mistakes as our last few visits have been more than positive. Excellent pate, salmon entree, duck, lamb, veal... with a reasonable wine list and an ability to BYO. The staff - generally Frendh - are attentive. Serves are a good size and generally well prepared.

The dining room is different, with walls cluttered with curios and empty bottles. We are becoming regulars. If you're looking for something a little different, and French, and you want a reasonably quiet place where you can have a conversation, check it out. Well worth a visit.

Bergerac is one of those places that manages to get some things really right and others really wrong - it just depends when you are there. Having had one or two outrageously successful visits keeps a memory alive that coaxes me back now and again. I would have been there more than ten times over the past few years so something at Bergerac is right.

Good quality dishes include those involving lamb and poultry while the steak and seafood varies from 'expertly prepared quality ingredients' to 'poor.' Vegetables have varied from the excellent to the mundane. Plates are sometimes well heated and sometimes cold.

The standard of service varies according to 'who happens to be working there on the night'. I wander back now and again for a taste of reasonably authentic French bistro food and the lack of 'standards' is what comes through the strongest. Consistency is what is really missing here.

The dining room is clean, providing a fascination with memorabilia and empty bottles all over the place, standing like monuments to something you wanted to be there for and somehow missed. They obviously get passing business from the budget-priced Hotel upstairs. I've seen well-known faces entertaining large groups at the big round tables so some people like it more than I do.

Our last visit saw us on the edge of sending food back because it was 'not quite bad enough' (a friend ordered a large steak perfectly cooked to order in some places, over and under-cooked in others). We finished with delightful creme brulees and a very well-priced half bottle of Aussie dessert wine and then good coffee.

The apologetic waiter had two unsuccessful goes at adding up the bill aided by a calculator, resulting in a negotiated figure to minimise the duress. 'Was that a real French accent?'

Prices are reasonable but then they do that 'paper on the tables' thing that means they wouldn't want to charge more.

If you're curious and looking for something a little different and nostalgic, take an old friend- be prepared for things to sway between 'maybe a great event' and 'oh no, not another problem.'

Not quite recommended but worth a go.