IT was a muggy afternoon when my friend and I arrived at Cafe Lucca in Bath, so we asked if we could sit outside. The waitress seated us, handed us a couple of menus and went back in. We made our choices, then waited, and waited, and waited...

After around 20 minutes I turned to a woman behind me and asked if you had to go back in to order. “No. They come out here... eventually...” she replied dryly.

After a further ten minutes my patience had run out so I went inside. Inside there were several young and very pretty girls, who were apparently too busy being young and pretty to do any actual serving. I decided to play dumb.

“Do you order in here?” I asked. “We’ve been waiting outside for a very long time.”

“Did you come in first?” one of them asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Oh.”

Eventually we did get served, but I wonder just how long it would have taken if I had not gone in.

The menu is mainly paninis and salads. Becky chose a chicken and egg panini, while I ordered the tomato and mozzarella salad. It didn’t come with bread so I ordered and some parmesan toast too.

I was taken aback to discover my salad was literally tomato, mozzarella, a small amount of chopped basil and the tiniest drizzle of dressing. I had been expecting a few leaves or something to justify the £9.95 price.

Becky had better luck with her panini, saying it was one of the best she’d ever had, and very generously packed and filling.

No one asked if we wanted dessert, but we ordered a huge piece of carrot cake anyway, which Becky said was spicy, but not very carrotty. I enjoyed it though.

If you do decide to eat here, make sure you have plenty of time on your hands and you really love mozzarella.

Joanna Pazucha

Cafe Lucca 1/2 Bartlett Street, Bath, BA1 2QZ

No parking

Walk-ins only, no booking