Finally it was time to shout about my favourite restaurant in town from the rooftops, or at least from the pages of The Guide.

Gushing adjectives were rolling off my tongue in anticipation, the thought of the food alone making me dribble, and then the worst thing possible happens -- on the day I actually review Cafe Coco, it falls apart in front of my eyes.

What a dilemma! After all, I have sat here drinking wine all day with girlfriends, taken my parents there for a meal, my children for pizza and my work colleagues for cocktails. It's never let me down in the past 11 years. Until now.

I could have lied of course, returning on a later date when things had improved, but each restaurant only gets one bite of the cherry.

That's not to say that I didn't wince throughout the meal as things went from bad to worse. "Not today," my brain screamed as the management made one boob after another.

I almost uttered those immortal words, "don't you know who I am," just to give them an outsiders' chance of repairing the damage. But the words remained frozen in my mouth, as we sat back and watched the disaster unfold.

OK. Maybe I'm being overdramatic, but it was disappointing. We had planned a quick lunch during the week, and set aside an hour and a half to eat a quick pizza and gulp down a glass of wine.

We hadn't booked and as all the tables were busy when we arrived, we were happy to wait at the bar having been assured the next table was ours. None of the barmen asked us if we wanted a drink and it took a while to get noticed. After 15 minutes of waiting, a table became free and a man walked in and bagged it. We alerted the manager who booted the man off (sorry) and we sat down.

We immediately ordered two pizzas accompanied by a glass of house red. My companion had the mushroom pizza (£6.25) with extra sundried tomatoes, and I the rocket pizza (£7.25) with a crunchy salad (£2.95) meant to comprise of 'mixed leaves, chick peas, kidney beans and a choice of herb mayo or house dressing'.

And so we waited, and waited and waited. An hour later I called over the waiter. He said he'd check in the kitchen for us. He did and said the food would be another five minutes. It was 15. There was no one else being served food at the time, so they must have lost our order. The manager said he'd remove the drinks from our bill to make up for the delay. We now had five minutes to eat up and get out. The extra toppings and the side salad had been forgotten, but we didn't have time to complain, let alone eat them.

Our pizzas were delicious -- they always are -- but we didn't have time to enjoy them.

When we asked for the bill a waiter wandered up with a side salad, saying "apparently this is yours". It was 90 per cent kidney beans smothering a few wisps of salad, no choice of dressing, and quite revolting.

We were charged for the pizza topping we didn't have and the side salad. So I adjusted the bill accordingly and left money for what we were given, there not being a waitress in sight, and we galloped out.

I am still gutted, because not only did Coco's let itself down badly at the one time when it really mattered, but it was the first time I'd taken my mother-in-law out for a meal and, having raved about it, Coco's didn't live up to expectations.

Despite the dud meal, I would still urge you to try Coco's out. I believe/hope this was a one-off and either way, the staff are always glamorous and friendly, the decor fascinating, the opening hours generous, the clientele a funky bunch and the food ranging from pizzas to fish, salads to pastas and the famous marguez-Algerian sausages with couscous.

At least I hope it was a one-off, or else I'll have to find somewhere else to frequent.

Cafe Coco, 23 Cowley Road, Oxford. 01865 200232.

KATHERINE MACALISTER