Planet Pizza

83 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2NT. Tel: 0117 907 7112

It's not until you have children of your own that you realise quite how badly the future generation of diners are treated in many restaurants.

I hadn't planned to review Planet Pizza but it was raining and my three-year-old daughter was hungry.

The original plan was to try The Hill, the newly relaunched bar and pizza joint around the corner on Cotham Hill but Bella and I turned up soaked to the skin and still received the frostiest of welcomes.

There were five people in the place and not one of them was eating but when the two members of staff saw "man and young child" approaching the bar, you could almost see them twitching.

"Is it OK for children to be here?," I enquired, more out of courtesy than anything. "We only want a quick pizza and we'll be out."

"Uh, um, yeah, I suppose, but there's a bit of a wait on food at the moment, and, er, we can't have kids here after 6pm.

"Oh, really?," I replied, looking around at the near-empty room and the clock striking 5.30pm.

"Yeah, the food might take 25 minutes so it would be a bit of a rush," he droned on, by which time Bella and I had decided for him and made for the exit.

I didn't realise three-year-olds knew such expletives.

This was the second time in a month that I have tried, unsuccessfully, to review The Hill, which is clearly only aiming at the student market, sports fans and vertical drinkers.

The first time was a disaster as there was an hour's wait for the food at 2pm on a mid-week lunchtime. I ended up reviewing a new and very good pizza place opposite instead, as I didn't want to be eating my lunch during the rush hour.

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, I won't be darkening The Hill's doorstep again. They had two chances of a review and blew it.

And so there we were, traipsing around Whiteladies Road in search of somewhere cheap and cheerful, as well as child-friendly.

We stopped outside Planet Pizza, simply because Bella could see the twinkling fairy lights inside. She had already decided where she wanted to eat.

It was just before 6pm and the staff were still cleaning tables and getting ready for the busy evening ahead.

Mindful of what happened around the corner a few minutes previously, I asked the waitress if it was OK for Bella to eat there.

She couldn't have been more welcoming and before Bella had taken off her coat, she was handed a box of crayons and a copy of "Cosmic News", the restaurant's in-house colouring comic.

"Of course, we are a family restaurant," smiled the waitress, giving me a menu and handing Bella a child's copy.

Planet Pizza has been open on Whiteladies Road for 15 years and its other branch on Gloucester Road has been open for the past five.

An independent business run by two Bristol brothers, it has survived despite fierce competition from national pizza chains, which says a lot.

The Whiteladies Road restaurant is cavernous and cosy with flagstone floors, pastel pink walls and blue fairy lights.

It's all nooks and crannies, alcoves and mismatched church pews and the sort of metal-framed wooden chairs that used to be found in school art classrooms in the Seventies.

The menu is divided into pizzas and salads and nothing costs more than £14. Before 5pm, all nine-inch pizzas are £5.

Pizzas come in nine-inch and 12-inch sizes and it would be quite easy to have a small pizza and a drink and still get change from a tenner.

Our waitress proudly explained how the pizza dough is made fresh each morning and a sign on the wall claims that local produce is sourced where possible.

My Mars pizza (£8 or £12) sounded more like a Scottish bar snack but was, thankfully, free of chocolate. Instead, it boasted a crisp, thin base and a generous topping of spicy pepperoni with quite a kick, herb sausage and soft, sweet strips of red onion.

Bella's small Plan-it pizza (£5) was a simple tomato and mozzarella cheese affair, mouthfuls of which seemed to go down well between the colouring. She took half of it home with her in a cardboard box and finished it for lunch the next day.

We shared her colourful plastic bowl of Marshfield strawberry ice cream (£1 a scoop for kids) and were out within the hour and back home to watch the bedtime story on CBeebies.

What had started as a disappointing evening had turned into an enjoyable meal and all because we found somewhere that treats children like adults, rather than babies.

We couldn't have been made to feel more at home at Planet Pizza and that meant a lot to the stressed parent as much as it did to the hungry three-year-old.

Prices: Salads from £4.50, pizzas from £5; desserts from £1 (for children)

Wheelchair access: Steps down to restaurant but staff will assist

Food: 7

Value: 8

Service: 8

Atmosphere: 7

Overall: 7