Address: 13 Hristo Belchev Str, Sofia
Opening hours: 10am to 2am daily
Reservations: recommended for groups
Tel. 980 30 01, 088/ 837 37 27
[www.laguna-bg.com]

Sofia is not lacking in funkily trendy restaurants, many of which are not outrageously priced.

The real challenge is to find one where as much attention is given to the food as to the atmosphere. Style often wins out over substance, and Laguna is no exception.

The whimsical Little-Mermaid-meets-bachelor-pad decor is accented by large seashells illuminated from within and suspended from artful coils of rope. Chrome-and-cushion seats curve around glass tables. Orange predominates everywhere except in the expansive rear patio where, beneath a ceiling of festively striped awnings, large and greenly under-lit plants stand among the tables and wicker chairs. Club beats pulse throughout.

The array of food choices is overwhelming - there are at least four different menus, jam-packed with bright, attractive photos of almost everything, listed for the most part in both Bulgarian and English. (If English is your only language, you won't have much of a problem communicating with the friendly staff, either.) One menu lists drinks, which range from the conventional (wine, beer, soda, juice, etc) to a veritable rainbow of alcoholic and non-alcoholic concoctions. Another menu contains food items and desserts. Yet another menu is devoted solely to melbas (a type of ice cream sundae). As if all this weren't enough, there's also a sushi menu.

I ordered the  Solena Palachinka Vegetariana, a savoury crepe wrapped around some vegetables and cheese. It arrived in record time and was attractively presented with a garnish of raw vegetable slices, but there were more vegetables outside the palachinka than within. The filling was mostly kashkaval (yellow cheese that seems to find its way into nearly all Bulgarian cuisine), with some chopped pickles and sliced mushrooms which I suspect came from a jar. The topping consisted of sirene (the other Bulgarian cheese, white and feta-like) and more kashkaval. I was unimpressed.

The colourful drinks looked like fun, so I chose a non-alcoholic green one made with pupesh (melon). When it arrived, it was yellow and had a piece of banana sticking out of it. The apologetic server explained that they had run out of melon. I like bananas, so I accepted it. Dense, greasy and tasting mostly like whipped cream, it qualified more as a dessert than as a beverage.

Undaunted, I returned at about 10pm on a Saturday. The place was filling up fast (fortunately, I was meeting people who had made reservations). I ordered a strawberry margarita straightaway; it was sweet with a pleasant alcoholic bite, but I had expected the frozen version, as depicted in the menu. What I got was on-the-rocks but with smaller pieces of ice (was the blender broken?).

I ordered one of several sprout salads on offer and was informed 20 minutes later by our server that nothing on that entire menu page was available, so I made another choice in about 15 seconds. That was longer than the server felt like waiting - when I looked up to place my order, she was gone. This happened repeatedly throughout the evening.

With few exceptions, the food ranged from mediocre to appalling. The Gorska (forest) Pizza; which took about an hour to arrive, didn't have nearly the ingredients represented in its lovely veggie-and-herb-laden photo. An order of purzheni kartofi (French-fried potatoes, essentially) arrived greasy and soggy, accompanied by a small dish of sweet, watery orange stuff described as ketchup.

The omelette Samo Ti (Only You) was a bit better. The egg mixture was fashioned into small cups, arranged like flower petals on the plate and filled with chopped tomatoes, pickles, mushrooms, peppers and kashkaval. A bargain at 3.50 leva, it was large and tasty, although on the heavy side.

There were some unusual dessert items on the menu, including Ice Poached Eggs and Iced Spaghetti. I opted for the bizarre Fashion melba, which featured bright blue ice cream. It was impossible to tell what flavour it was, other than pure sugar. More akin to cold, greasy cake frosting than any ice cream I have ever tasted, it was topped with equally greasy whipped topping product.

One thing that Laguna does get right is its cakes. I sampled two slices - the chocolate-mousse-like Cleopatra and the intensely sweet, fruit-and-caramel-laden Gorski Plod (forest fruit) biscuit cake - and they were both quite tasty. Bring a friend (or two) to help you finish them, as they are extremely rich.

A friend reports that he was charged one lev for a take-home box.

Although the prices are not unreasonable (most entrees and salads are within the four to six leva range), there are too many food and drink choices for a consistently high-quality standard to be maintained. Judging from how packed the place was on a Saturday night, this is nonetheless a popular place, especially among young and beautiful people shrink-wrapped in the height of Sofia fashion. If you feel like lingering over a piece of cake in retro-cool surroundings before you head out to a club to dance it off, come and join the crowd. But if you're looking for a delicious meal first, your money would be better spent elsewhere.