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Independent in style, Restaurant Bar and Grill, provides a vibrant setting for a business lunch, a break from shopping or a casual coffee with friends. The minimalist, contemporary designs, coupled with a lively and buzzing atmosphere ensures that the restaurant is always bustling with life, creating the perfect ambiance for day time dining.

Keeping an eye on the calendar, the kitchen carefully sources fresh and high quality ingredients. Think of an Asian plate that comprises of Thai prawn cakes, duck spring rolls, chilli squid, Vietnamese vegetables and mint salad, tempura king prawns and Malayan chicken skewers, to begin your meal. Follow it by a fish pie or pasta and finally close with a chocolate fudge pudding.

The wine cellar is well stocked and a good selection by the glass is to hand, something that well befits a predominantly lunchtime menu.

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.

Serving modern Italian cuisine, the family owned Pietra Bar and Restaurant on South Road in Waterloo offers a range of pizzas, pastas, quality meats and fresh fish, much of which is cooked in the traditional Italian wood burning stone oven. Chill out with family and friends in its stylish contemporary setting.
 
The kitchen team uses fresh seasonal ingredients including fresh meat from the local butchers and fresh fish from Morecambe Bay. The menu offers a range of antipasti including deep fried squid rings served in a chilli and cracked black pepper batter, fresh Scottish mussels steamed in a fennel and saffron sauce or oven baked spinach dumplings. Sumptuous meat and fish dishes include chicken breast stuffed with a porcini mushroom duxelle and soft Boursin cheese, tender lamb cutlets marinated in oregano, chilli, garlic and lemon and roasted cod loin wrapped in smoked bacon and asparagus and drizzled with a lemon Hollandaise sauce. Pietra also offers a number of freshly prepared classic pasta dishes such as spaghetti carbonara, lasagne and a spicy penne all'Arrabbiata as well as seasonal risottos and salads.

The drinks menu features wines from Italy as well as other new and old world selections in addition to cocktails, bottled and draught beers and cider.