In the last couple of months it's felt like I've been doing a lot of driving to review restaurants, so when my wife suggested that we go to the Glenview Hotel for dinner its very propinquity made it seem like an attractive proposition. I've been there twice before, once for a family Sunday lunch and once for a journalistic lunch to celebrate a major international award that the chef, Derek Dunne, had won. The food was good on both occasions and the place is only twenty minutes drive from home. After a long day in Dublin it seemed like just the right thing.

The Glenview commands a spectacular view over the Glen of the Downs, a few miles south of Kilmacanogue on the Wicklow road. It's up on a hill itself and you go up a long drive to the hotel from where you can look at the battle-site between Wicklow County Council and assorted eco-warriors where the proposed road-widening scheme is supposed to happen. As an Italian with a love of wide roads and motorways in particular, I have to admit that my sympathies are less with the trees and more with an easier drive southwards - but then as a latter-day barbarian I could be forgiven for thinking like that.

After parking next to a lot beribboned cars in the car park we walked in to the hotel wondering if the wedding was still in full flow. Inside you can see the results of the recent modernisations: new carpets and furnishings and a lot of reproduction antiques. The hotel dining room is on the first floor and is called 'The Woodlands', not inappropriate given the number of trees to be seen from the dining room windows. Mind you, they may be somewhat fewer if the road goes ahead.

There's something indefinable about hotel restaurants, I can't quite put my finger on it. There are obvious things that spring to mind like deeply patterned carpets and heavier duty furniture than restaurants normally have, but I know that if I was blindfolded and led into one I'd know it was a hotel restaurant when the blindfold came off. Partly it's the size; they're always bigger than your average restaurant. And partly it has to be that the room is designed to be many things - a breakfast room, a function room and a dining room. One thing struck me at once in The Woodlands; if this had been a restaurant that wasn't in a hotel with views like this, I've no doubt more would have been made of it. Here the big picture windows are swagged in heavy red patterned plush, eliminating much of the view. That said it's a comfortable room, there's plenty of space, the tables are big and the chairs are upholstered and soft. Definitely the venue for a family meal out.

As we were shown to our table we passed a bar area and what might have been a dance floor. A young woman was playing the piano and she played rather endearingly throughout our meal. We were placed at a central table which is something I don't normally like - we mafiosi like to have our backs to wall - but given the space around us I didn't mind for once. Menus and a wine list came along with some well-made breads - I managed two tomato rolls. Susie decided on sea-food all the way, a crab risotto to start and an assiette of seafood to follow, all before I'd finished looking through the wine list. It's a very moderately priced list, the bulk of the wines falling into the £14-£20 bracket with a good claret front end. Some of the better clarets are remarkably reasonably priced, in some cases so much so, that it came as no surprise to find they were finished. In deference to my wife's seafood I chose a chardonnay from New Zealand made by Jane Hunter which was priced at £19.50. With that decision out of the way I was able to study the menu myself.

Susie's choices were both from the a la carte, so I decided to try the table d'hote which is priced at £25 and is four courses plus coffee or tea. There were three starters; cheese beignettes, a tian of smoked chicken and a red pepper and crabmeat bavarois. Then there was a choice of soup or sorbet, and then main courses which included tournedos of beef, rack of lamb, corn-fed chicken, sea bass and fillet of turbot. I chose the crab bavarois to keep Susie company, a sorbet and then rack of lamb.

There's a very professional feel in the Woodlands. The service is impeccable and the welcome is warm. It exudes a confidence generated by people who know what they're doing and that extends to the kitchens. Our starters arrived and were beautifully presented, Susie's crab risotto being especially good. Susie had a pause while I ate my sorbet, described on the menu as a 'Champagne sorbet'. It had no taste of champagne that I could discern and was very sweet, which kind of defeats the purpose of a sorbet mid-meal. Still, the main courses came and once again were prettily presented, my lamb chops cooked very pink, which is just how I like them and Susie's seafood being a mix of white fish and salmon. A selection of vegetables completed the table.

What we'd eaten was a very well prepared meal that gave me the impression that the chef was more than capable of doing more exciting things than the menu allowed - but then that's what I meant about hotel restaurants, they have to be many things to many people. Were this to be a really interesting menu, it's possible that many of the existing clientele would move elsewhere. It's a hard line to balance.

The dessert menu was full of old favourites: a chocolate terrine, a walnut tart, a plum mousse and bread and butter pudding. Although Susie was tempted by the chocolate terrine in the end her appetite just wasn't up to it. I couldn't really have done justice to any of the desserts so I picked a selection from the cheeseboard. I got a very generous plateful of cheese which Susie helped me finish. Our maitre asked us if we wanted an after dinner drink and I asked for a Fernet Branca. He came back and said unfortunately there wasn't any. I asked for Armagnac instead and after a while he came back to say no to that too. 'A cognac, then,' I said. He came back with one and said 'That's on the house to make up for all the 'noes' I've given you.' Now that would endear anyone instantly. The bill came to £74.90 to which I added a tip.