I've always made it a rule never to review a restaurant when it's just opened. That rule's based on enough years in the years in the business to know that it takes a bit of time for any new enterprise to find its feet. A new kitchen, new machinery, a new layout and new staff need a little time to merge into an efficient unit. You could argue, and many have, that once a restaurant takes money for its offerings, then it's ready for a review. I take the point, but I'm still keen enough on getting a good meal that I'll give myself every chance of getting one - and that means avoiding newly opened restaurants.

Obviously, if I'm to have such a rule, then sooner or later I'd have to break it. This week I did and I'm glad that I did. The restaurant in question was Glass Onion, which occupies the space that used to be Dunville Place. It's in Dunville Avenue, which puts in firmly in the category of 'out-of-town restaurant', a concept that I deeply approve of. It's been six years since I was here, but as far as my faulty memory goes there don't seem to be any structural changes to the room - it's pretty much as I remember it.

The room is long and thin and it's in two distinct areas, there's a bar counter on your left as you walk in and there's a couple of tables at the window and then the room narrows as the kitchen and service areas take up some of the width. At the very back the room ends with an outdoor area that must be very attractive on a summer's evening. Along the wall there are padded benches and the plain, solid wooden tables are placed quite close together. They are simply, but elegantly set, and the room has a crisp and clean feel to it.

This rather chic décor was entirely in keeping with my dinner companion, who was the chic and elegant Patricia Devine, a lady who would be described in Los Angeles as a multi-hyphenate - which is another way of saying she has several strings to her bow - journalist, actor and model. We were sat in the section near the door, Patricia taking a bench seat and me a chair facing her. I started with the wine list, which like the menu, is nicely presented. My instructions from Patricia were clear enough; 'a red wine that's soft and velvety'. The list is weighted towards the New World with a slightly higher than normal mark-up and after a little deliberation I settled on the Chilean Merlot, Casa Silva, which was listed at €25. It suited Patricia just fine, so we started on the menu.

The menu is simple, there are six starters and ten main courses to choose from. Two of the starters are soups, so if you want something to chew you're down to four choices: a charcuterie plate, a baby leaf salad, chilli and lime marinated prawns or mussels and clams. The soups were fairly priced at €4.50, the salad and the mussels were €6.95 and the charcuterie and prawns were €12.95 and €11.95 respectively. Patricia decided on the soup of the day, which was curried parsnip, and I chose the mussels and clams, which on this night was just mussels. As it happens clams aren't my favourite shellfish, so that suited me well.

The main courses split almost evenly into those that cost over €20 and those that cost less. There was chicken, scallops, fillet of beef, calf's liver, tortelloni, rack of lamb, penne with mozzarella, baked goats' cheese and lamb's kidneys to choose from, and Patricia decided on the beef, while I picked the kidneys. All the side orders are priced at €3.95, and Patricia was keen to try the honey roasted vegetables, so we ordered a dish of them as well.

When the starters arrived Patricia was very happy with her soup, proclaiming it to be 'exquisite'. I got a taste of it and had to agree, it was very good. My mussels arrived in a heaped bowl and I did enjoy getting my fingers stuck into them. The cream sauce that they were served in had little lardons of pancetta, which gave the dish a wonderful taste - so good that I used my bread to soak up the sauce when I'd eaten the mussels.

As an aside, can anyone tell me why Irish restaurants have the fixation of removing the bread with the empty starter plates? What if I got a main course with a succulent sauce that I wanted to mop up with bread? As far as I know this is the only country where this practice of removing the bread occurs. I'd just like to know why. Anyway, the main courses were as good as the starters. A good piece of fillet for Patricia and really good kidneys for me. Cooked pink, as I like them, and in a well-made mustard sauce. And yes, a bit of bread would have been nice to dip into the sauce.

We finished up with a dessert each, the only two available, a rather dense fruit flan which Patricia got and a rather better creamy fruit torte for me. These were both okay, but were the least successful dishes of the night. A tea for Patricia and an espresso for me completed the meal, which came to €97.75. I suppose that I'd better reassess my ideas on the average price for a meal for two with wine in Dublin. It's definitely moving up from €80 closer to €100.

What we got in the Glass Onion was a well-cooked meal, good service and a pleasing room to sit in. If I lived in the Ranelagh area I'd be happy that another good restaurant was in easy reach.