Moran's Restaurant, 289 Abbeydale Road South, Dore, Sheffield S17 3LB

Having twins, life has been a bit hectic since their birth. Now that things are calming down a bit, we thought we would grab the opportunity to go out for a meal together. Having regularly enjoyed the likes of Rafters and West 10 in Sheffield and Elena's L'Etoile in London before the arrival of the twins, we couldn't pass up a visit to the well reviewed and personally recommended Moran's Restaurant and Wine Bar in Dore, Sheffield.

One of my gripes about Sheffield restaurants in general is that to be great in Sheffield to me means that if the restaurant were in London it would be average or just above par. I guess I'm spoilt in that respect as I get the regular opportunity to eat out in London from the worst kebab shop (after one too many ESB's) to the best Michelin (and ALL points in between). Moran's in Sheffield, continued to prove the rule rather than the exception. The food was good, but not so much better to set it apart from anything else in Sheffield. I had a wonderful souffle starter, followed by the lamb with a summer pudding dessert to finish. I would suggest smaller plates for the mains, as meat was one side of a great divide of whiteness and the veg accompaniment on the other. I would also suggest different looking jus' - I know odd as it may sound, the jus served with J's beef fillet looked not dissimilar to my lamb jus and it gets you thinking - though I would have to say that they did taste different.

They were two things that set Moran's apart. I will discuss them separately. The wine list represents tremendously good value - despite our experience at the end of the meal, I could still quite happily rave about the value of the wine list of Moran's, Sheffield on its own, had there not been issues.

The dessert bit @ Moran's, Sheffield

Now the difficult bit...J had asked for her liqueur to come after dessert, so when I gave my order, I assumed that my port and espresso would arrive with J's drink. Unfortunately, it turned up with dessert, and I wasn't quick enough to ask for it to be taken away again and I couldn't catch anyone's attention again to point this out. Luckily, the young lady who cleared our table was quick to spot that the coffee had been untouched, apologised and got a fresh one. The port remained untouched throughout dessert.

It wasn't until I was about 3/5ths the way through the glass of port that I tasted sediment (more like take a great big mouthful of it!) - as the port must have settled during the 20-30mins of dessert the top bit was fine. In fact the remainder of the glass was a sludge, clearly I had the end of the bottle and staff at Moran's had failed to filter their port too. Again I struggled to catch the attention of the waiting staff.

Conscious of time, as it had been over three hours since we arrived (I wouldn't say service was slow at Moran's - maybe sluggish but it did get more sluggish as the evening went on) and that one of our neighbours was baby sitting for us we felt it best to get the bill. What followed qualifies as the most bizarre restaurant experience of my life to date...

meet the owner of Morans, Sheffield

We finally got someone's attention (it later transpired that her name was Sarah and she was the owner of Moran's). I asked for the bill, and before I had a chance to point out the problem with the port she was off again, so I had to call her back. By this point I must say that my attitude was cooling, as I had a good meal but with the port issue coupled with having to attract someone's attention to get the bill my enthusiasm was waning.

Sarah did apologise and offer a replacement glass, but it was late and to be honest my palate felt like a fur coat with the sediment from the first glass of port, so I thanked her and said "No", explaining my reasoning. She asked what else she could do, and I asked for the bill and a taxi to be ordered, thanking her as I did.

When she came back I passed the check holder (what is the proper term for those little wallet things that they give your bill in?) with my card in it to her and the card fell out as I did, before passing the check holder to her I popped the card back in. It was at this point that everything appeared to go wrong for Sarah. She told us we could have the meal for free, as clearly I was still unhappy and I was being rude by throwing my card at her. I nearly fell off my chair at that one, a member of staff in a restaurant telling a customer that they were rude (owner or not, right or wrong - you don't do that - and if you really felt like you did have reason there are more subtle and intellectual ways of doing it). To compound the first slight she then proceeded to try and rope my wife on to her side - J would always tell me whether I was in the wrong or out of order - and on this occasion she had to tell the proprietor of Moran's that I didn't throw the card and I was not being rude. Though at this point I did feel like being rude, but I wasn't. So we left - not before the owner of Morans, Sheffield tried it on again telling J on the way out the door that I had been rude - feeling bemused and very taken a back by the whole turn of events.

People, especially those with young children don't have very much time, and for those who can steel a couple of hours away from the kids those times are precious. So to have your first night out in about 6 months in a good restaurant blighted by the bloody mindedness of the proprietor who has decided to take a turn against you spoils things for you, ruins your night out and leaves a bad taste in your mouth (both literally and figuratively speaking in this case).

We are still bemused by the situation, and on reflection we can't see anyway how we could have handled the situation any differently as Sarah was very clear of her own volition that I had been rude. Our friends who are regulars claim that Sarah from Moran's isn't normally like that - fair enough but on our night out she was and free meal or not she still singled handily spoilt it for us.

For restaurants with good food, personal service and real flair I would suggest:-

The Ubiquitous Chip - Glasgow

Elena's L'Etoile - London

Stravaigin - Glasgow

Asitane Restaurant - Istanbul