Occasionally I get an irate letter from a restaurateur claiming that I've shut their restaurant down by having written a less than favourable review. Having owned several restaurants myself I'm acutely aware that publicity has an effect and I'm always careful to bear that in mind. After all we're talking about people's livelihood here. But the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that neither me nor any other reviewer has the power to close a restaurant. Restaurants close themselves. Serve enough below par meals to enough people and you'll soon have no customers. It's possible that reviewers might hasten the process, but we don't set it in motion.

It may not prove my case, but at the other end of the scale no one has ever told me that I've turned their restaurant into a success by giving it a good review. In this view of the world then, success is achieved solely on merit, but failure is someone else's fault. But it can get more complicated than that; I've given less than enthusiastic reviews to places that are still thriving and rave reviews to places that closed shortly afterwards. I can't even begin to analyse what's going on in those cases, but the thought came back to me the night I took my son, Rocco, to dinner in the Courtyard Cafe.

People with long memories might recall that there was a 'Courtyard' behind Madigan's in Donnybrook some years ago. It had a serious revamp in 1998 and then emerged as 'Avenue'. I gave it a rave review at the time and was surprised when a few months later I went back with a friend to find it closed. Well, it's up and running again in a new incarnation and it's reverted to the 'Courtyard' name again. The interior is as it was when it was Avenue, a vaguely nautical theme runs through the décor, which is bright, modern and airy. It's a big dining room, I'd guess seating around two hundred people, but the space is well divided and you don't get any cavernous sensation. It's obvious that no expense was spared on its furnishing; comfortable and smart chairs, good tables and all the little touches have been carefully and tastefully selected. If there was a splash of sunshine, you can even sit outside in the courtyard itself.

We took at table where I sat on a big, plush-covered bench with a back shaped like a rolling wave' another nod to the nautical theme. There are brushed steel vertical surfaces which visually break up the large expanses of colour and textiles, and to my son's artist's eye it all worked very well. Ever since he's returned from Italy the poor fellow finds himself allergic to wine, a tragedy of immense proportions for an offspring of mine, but with luck it may be just a temporary anomaly. Still, it confined us to beer for this meal - Holsten by the bottle for Rocco and Heineken by the bottle for me. I did check the wine list out of curiosity - it's average in length with a majority of New World wines on it, and the bulk of the listed wines fall in the under €25 range. Don't however think that drinking beer is a saving, our six bottles came to nearly €30, and you'd get a decent bottle of wine and change for that.

The menu is a kind of modern Mediterranean fusion. Starters include linguini, seafood chowder, celeriac mousse, Caesar salad, calamari, chicken wings, buffalo mozzarella salad, Portobello mushroom and char-grilled Mediterranean vegetables, which range in price from €6-€8. Main courses run from €16, but the majority are clustered around the €20 mark. There are steaks, cod, seafood risotto, chicken a la brassa, sea bass and duck amongst others. To start Rocco picked the chicken wings and I chose the calamari, then to follow I managed to persuade Rocco not to have his usual steak, but to try something else, so he went for the sea bass, while I had the seafood risotto.

Two things were notable about the starters when they arrived; the first was Rocco's chicken wings had been carefully prepared and halved, so that each piece was perfect finger-food. After I'd had a taste of his and he'd tried my tender squid rings, I had left my fork down. It took Rocco to say 'Dad, you really need to try this salad, it's fabulous. Normally I assume that the bits of green that come with a starter are no more than decoration, but he was right - the salad was a winner in its own right. Good olive oil and a well-balanced vinaigrette, but something else as well, something that had us both searching the memory banks to pin it down. Eventually I got it: toasted cumin seeds.

With two really classy dishes like that, you can't help but feel that your main courses are going be good, and they were. The bass that arrived in front of Rocco was perfectly cooked and lightly flavoured, just right for one of the finest fish to come to come out of the sea. As a confirmed carnivore Rocco was happy to discover what a fine, firm, meaty fish bass is. My risotto was also well cooked - saffron coloured arborio rice making the backdrop for a variety of shell fish and a taste of sea bass all of my own. A little too salty for my taste, but nicely flavoured, the extra salt making my beer all the more welcome.

Just one dessert between us, a tasty but dense Pecan pie, which we nibbled on with our espressos. In all, a good meal with very professional service - a bill for €107.90 not including service, was the damage for the night.