HOLD the front page. A new restaurant has opened in Yarm.

Well, actually that’s not true and neither is it news really – restaurant openings on Teesside’s answer to Sunset Strip being ten-a-penny.

Lucia’s Italian Kitchen opened three, four, maybe five years ago, but it has until now somehow escaped the Eating Out radar.

Possibly that’s because it’s slightly off the well-beaten High Street track and possibly it’s because it is where a Joe Rigatoni’s used to be and, after so many bad experiences in the formerly ubiquitous chain of faux Italian eateries, I’ve developed a severe case of gastro-associative amnesia – a neurological condition I’ve just invented to describe a loss of memory linked to dining out nightmares.

Which is all very unfair on Lucia’s because we think it deserves to be brought to your attention because although the owner is said to have worked previously at Joe R’s the experience has clearly been valuable in that he must have learned how not to do it.

The best way to describe Lucia’s location is to say it is upstairs at Strickies – as Yarm’s delightfully quixotic “department store” Strickland and Holt is known to the locals. After shop hours, it is accessed through a pretty small courtyard graced by a cherry blossom tree.

On the April Monday evening we visited, there was white stuff on the courtyard’s flags. It was so cold that evening we were not quite sure whether it was snow, hail or blossom.

Upstairs, despite there being only a handful of early doors diners, it was cosy enough and we took a table with a view over the courtyard where we realised the white stuff was a mixture of blossom and hailstones – which rather summed up April 2016 weather-wise.

The restaurant is large open plan space, decked out in a contemporary loft style with a long bar centre stage and views towards the river at the rear. The only thing that jarred were tellies mounted on the overhead roof trusses running the movie The Italian Job on a loop.

Our waitress, Hannah, was lovely however, taking our drinks orders shortly after taking our seats and our food order soon afterwards.

The menu is a careful blend of Italian classics with a few twists designed to keep happy those not entirely happy with Italian fare. So potato skins sit alongside calamari and a New York-style burger and Chicken Parmo feature among the mains dominated by pizzas and pastas.

Sylvia thought her Pate di Fegati di Pollo (£5.95) – a smooth chicken liver parfait served with red onion marmalade, toasted bread and dressed rocket – nicely liverish and prettily presented with lots of drizzled balsamic glaze.

My insalate Caprese (£6.50) was an exceedingly generous plateful of sliced beef tomatoes – not too chilled and very flavoursome – and thick chunks of good quality mozzarella. Again the balsamic had been wielded enthusiastically and that sticky, salty sweetness made the dish.

Sylvia’s Pollo Lucia’s (£13.95) is the restaurant’s signature dish and it went down very well. Although the chicken may not have been raised on the slopes of the Puglian hills on a diet of Tuscan sun-dried corn, it was a decent enough breast, carefully fried and served with chorizo (Lucia has clearly been on her holidays to Spain) and some excellent char grilled asparagus, sautéed potatoes and paprika-infused light cream sauce.

My pasta dish – Malloredusu alla Campidanese (£9.95) made with gonocchetti Sardinian pasta with fried Italian sausage, onion, garlic and parsley in a Napoli sauce – was not quite so successful. The traditional Sardinian past shapes were al dente and the tomato sauce herby and sweet with a hint of saffron perhaps but the sausage element was a little bland. I expected something a little more spicy.

I also had a rocket salad (a bit pricey at £3.75) with my pasta. No dressing but heaps of Parmesan shavings.

We shared a hefty slice of apple pie (£4.95) which was chiefly notable for the amount of apple filling, the slightly soggy pastry but the very good vanilla ice cream served with it.

The bill was £58.45, inflated somewhat by our drinks, a half of San Miguel (£2.25), a diet Pepsi (£1.95), a 175ml glass of Albarino (been in the opened bottle just a little too long – £5.95) and a small glass of house red (£3.25).

Middling value for better than average Italian fare. We noted that had we arrived slightly earlier (before 6pm Monday to Friday and noon to 6pm Saturday and Sunday) we could have taken advantage of Lucia’s “teatime special” – a restricted range of starters and main courses for less than a tenner.

FOOD FACTS

Lucia’s Italian Kitchen

44 High Street, Yarm TS15 9AE

Tel: 01642 782242 Web: luciasitaliankitchen.co.uk

Open: Monday to Friday, 4pm until late, Saturday, noon until late, Sunday, noon-9pm

Vegetarian options

Ratings (out of ten): Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 7, Service 8, Surroundings 7, Value 6