It's been a while since I did a review with the in-laws, even though they've now become Wicklow residents and are consequently closer. I just checked back through the archive and found that the last time we did a review together was 'La Marine' in Rosslare, a trip made all the more exciting because we travelled there by helicopter. Chris and Diane are now well ensconced in Enniskerry, so when they told me that there was a new Italian restaurant there it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to do another review together. Sadly this time we used a more a prosaic form of transport to get there, all of us arriving in Enniskerry's central triangle by motor car.

This time, though, we were missing a family member. There was Susie and me, Chris and Diane and their two sons - Hubie and Michael - but no Roseanna. She's away in China where she's representing Ireland in the Miss World competition, and by all accounts has a really strong probability of winning it. If that happens I won't be at all shy about gratuitously inserting the phrase 'my niece, Miss World' into restaurant reviews for no other reason than the fact it looks impressive. I couldn't help feeling that it must be rather nice for her to have such support from her family, even from her younger brothers.

Anyway, Emilia's can be found upstairs overlooking Enniskerry's central triangle. It's all very simple: plain wooden stairs, floors and ceilings give the room an uncluttered air. The tables are simple, the chairs too. It has the feel of a dining room that doesn't take itself too seriously. I got there fresh from the eternal Dublin traffic jam to find everyone else already seated. 'You have to take this place as you find it', said Chris, something I'm always happy to do. He had a point; it's long been a puzzle to me that Enniskerry - home to so many expensive houses and big-incomed families - has been badly served for years by restaurants. They come, they go, they leave barely a gastronomic mark. I think it may have something to do with having a captive audience - if you live in Enniskerry it must be great to have a restaurant on your doorstep without having to go into the city centre. It's so much easier, in fact, that possibly the restaurants don't have to try as hard. What Emilia's has to offer is 'cheap and cheerful', which is unique to Enniskerry and it's about time that this option was available. It's a place where you can go with your kids and get a pizza or a dish of pasta, a glass of wine, and then home for an early night without breaking the bank.

The first thing I did was look down the wine list, a four-pager that includes wines to choose for under €20, something I always like to see. There's a good choice of Italian wines, as well as wines from the rest of the wine-producing world. I invited Chris to choose a wine and he settled on a white from South Africa, a Chardonnay/Colombard mix from Graham Beck at €20.50. Colombard isn't normally a grape that I like, but in this cepage it works very well. Four bottles of mineral water and 7ups for the boys completed the drinks order.

The menu is very much trattoria style. Starters include all the regulars like bruschetta and crostini, an antipasto and the classic melon and prosciutto. The ladies and I ordered the calamari, the boys chose the crostini and Chris had the garlic mushrooms. I grant you there was nothing here to put the kitchen to the test, but all the starters were good and were completely devoured.

You can get steaks, a couple of chicken dishes and a couple of fish dishes, but the majority of the menu in Emilia's is made up of pasta and pizzas and there's a large choice of both, roughly a dozen of each. They were all priced pretty much in the €11 to €14 range, but there was a special of the day that caught the fancy of a couple of us - pappardelle ( a ribbon-like pasta ) with a porcini sauce. This is exactly the right time of year for porcini, or ceps as we call them in English. Only a few weeks ago we were on Big Bill's annual mushroom hunt in Wicklow organised by Caviston's of Glasthule, and quite a few were found. I'm told there are mushroom foragers now in Ireland who make a tidy few bob supplying them to restaurants. So we ordered two of the porcini pasta, a spaghetti Bolognese, a swordfish steak, and two pizzas for the boys - a 'meaty momma' with ham, chicken, bacon and spicy sausage, and a plain Margherita. The boys really enjoyed winding me up, telling me how much they enjoyed pizzas with pineapple and sweetcorn.

Swapping around tastes from plate to plate I found well-made pizzas, a tasty swordfish, a nicely reduced Bolognese, and a very successful mushroom pasta dish. There's no doubt that porcini really are the kings of the mushroom world, they have a depth of flavour and a firmness of texture that no cultivated mushroom comes close to. So all in all we ate well and the service was brisk, which is exactly what you want when you're looking for something uncomplicated and easy.

Real Italians can be found in Emilia's, both at front of house and in the kitchen, which does add a sense of authenticity. But more importantly, now there's a place in Enniskerry where simple, wholesome food can be bought at reasonable money. The bill for the six of us came to €172.45, excluding a service charge.