Patience is a virtue, I'm told, it's just not one of mine. Which is why it's taken me so long to revisit Quod on Oxford's High Street. Having attended the opening night in 1999, when, as expected, it took several hours to get our food, I'd left a sensible period for it to find its feet, before I reattempted the experience.

The main reason it's taken me so long is that Quod doesn't take bookings at weekends. For those of us with children, when going out for a meal needs to be planned with military precision, waiting for a table costs £5 an hour, so I've never bothered.

That is until a particularly tempting football match was on TV one night and the boyfriend kindly offered to stay at home and babysit while I took the parents out for dinner.

So where to go? Quod was the perfect answer. The restaurant, on the site of the old Barclays Bank, was busy as usual, and we had to wait half an hour before there was room to seat us.

Quod is entrepreneur Jeremy Mogford's place, which he bought after selling Browns. You can see the similarities. The blackboards proclaiming the specials being hoisted up to the ceilings, the electronic screen by the bar letting you know when your table's ready, the huge open plan bistro style design. This is a 21st century version, and while Browns seems to be stuck in a timewarp, Quod has captured the moment.

But for all you gourmets out there, bear one thing in mind -- people come to Quod for the atmosphere, rather than the food. Always lively and full of beautiful people having a good time, Quod enlivens even the most dour guest.

The food is described as 'British and regional Italian cooking' and includes fresh fish, chargrilled steaks, pasta, pizza and risottos. But it took us a while to get going on the food front. There was a mix up with our table and then, having been given the menus, we were abandoned for at least half an hour while the waiters changed shifts before anyone came to ask us about drinks or taking our order.

We ordered the 'salumeria della casa' platter for one, which consisted of smoked ham with gherkin and emmental cheese, air-cured beef with rocket, balsamic onion and parmesan shavings and Parma ham with figs and pecorino cheese for £5.95.

My starter was the gnocchi with gorgonzola and spinach for £4.95. The antipasto was enormous and my father couldn't finish it.

The gnocchi was delicious, the blue cheese and spinach minimal and delicately flavoured, rather than a thick, overwhelming sauce.

Next up came one of the specials -- a chargrilled fillet of tilapia with fennel and rocket salad, courgettes and polenta for £12.25. This tropical, freshwater, light, white fish is apparently like no other and was delicious and perfectly accompanied.

The duck confit, with mashed celeriac, bacon, spring onions and cherry tomatoes at £11.55 was again huge and included a giant leg from some Herculean feathered friend.

I had the pizza bufalina, with buffalo mozzarella, rocket and cherry tomatoes at £7.95. Now they did warn me most of the ingredients were added after the base was cooked to keep them as fresh as possible, but the result was still odd. The first taste was wonderful -- light with the sharpness of the rocket biting into the creamy mozzarella, but after a few mouthfuls it got boring very quickly and the cold textures didn't complement the dish. In essence, it was salad pizza.

Even mentioning dessert makes me feel like a prize heifer, but we managed one portion of profiteroles between three and they were disappointingly bland. Coffee and liqueurs on top, the bill came to £30 a head. The food is fine but it's not the main attraction.

Quod is at 92 - 94 High Street. Telephone 01865 202505.