But 18 months after opening, the restaurant seems to have finally found its feet, as Little Oliver discovered during a lunchtime visit this week.

Croma is based in Manchester and seems to target the market currently dominated by Pizza Express – but despite a poor review from Oliver, who said the food was "among the worst" he'd ever eaten, it certainly doesn't seem to be suffering in the current economic climate.

The restaurant was bustling with diners just minutes after it opened at midday and with good, polite service and clean, sparkling decor, it's easy to see why shoppers and workers would be drawn to the King Street venue.

The menu offers a variety of simple Italian food, with a range of pasta, pizza and salad dishes, although some of the dishes seem to offer a more multi-cultural twist – examples include the chicken piri-piri pizza and the penne arrosto, with spicy Tuscan sausage.

I went for the Anatra pizza (£7.75), which includes Peking duck, plum and hoi-sin sauce, spring onions, cucumber, mozzarella and fresh coriander, while two of my dining partners went for the tandoori chicken salad (£6.75), with cashew nuts, yoghurt and mint dressing and dough balls.

The third opted for the goat's cheese salad (£6.50) served with roasted pine kernels, while the head of the table also ordered four portions of garlic bread (£1.95 each) and a bottle of sparkling water.

The meals arrived in an impressively short time and looked delicious. A lot of thought and precision had clearly gone into the presentation of the food, which is reflected in the restaurant's immaculate, shiny decor.

As far as the standard of the food goes, it wasn't perfect, but it towered head and shoulders above Oliver's last visit.

The dough in the garlic bread was quite dry and it tasted almost like a doughnut, while the pizza had a slightly strange aftertaste.

But no major complaints from any of the other diners and, to be honest, we were all fairly impressed.

In the last review, Oliver described Croma as the "inferior cousin" of Pizza Express – but now it seems the popular Italian chain might finally have some decent competition.

Rating: 4/5