Quote: We occasionally visit Bath for the day to meet up with my son who lives in Bristol, and we like to try a different restaurant each time we go. There is no shortage of eateries in Bath, but the problem is that many of them close between 2.30 and 6pm. We were looking for somewhere at about 3 in the afternoon and drew a few blanks. Just as we were going to head back to Cafe Rouge, we came upon the Firehouse Rotisserie in John Street. Yes, they were still serving food and yes, they did have a table for four, right by the window.

At first the restaurant seemed quite small, but I discovered later that there were tables on the first floor as well. I personally liked the décor, with still-life paintings, strings of chillis, and what looked like some old carved wooden gates hung on the wall. There was a large circular ironwork light fitting with a ring of small lamps, and smaller light brackets on the walls. The wooden tables were laid only with cruet, wine glasses, cutlery and linen napkins. There were no flowers on them but a beautiful big bouquet stood on the bar. Ambient music was playing most of the time; it seemed relaxing at first but got a little boring after a while.

It wasn't until after I returned home that I found out the Firehouse Rotisserie is an American restaurant. When we entered, we knew that they served pizzas as well as a variety of other dishes. As soon as we were seated we were handed menus, and a couple of minutes later the waitress returned to take our drinks order. My younger son has developed a taste for cider since moving west, so he ordered a glass of Stowford (£3.25) which lived up to expectations. The rest of us ordered fruit juice at £1.45 a glass.

We were intending to have just a main meal, but Firehouse does do a selection of 'small plates'. These include Vietnamese vegetable spring rolls (£5.25), grilled jumbo tiger prawns (£7.95), barbecue duck quesadilla (£6.95) and crayfish and rocket salad (£6.95). Quite an original array of dishes.

The Firehouse Rotisserie offers gourmet brick fired pizzas with toppings such as prosciutto ham, fresh mozzarella, fresh oregano and shaved parmesan. My younger son and I both decided on lemon oregano chicken pizza bianca with three cheeses and crispy bacon (£11.95). My elder son and his partner both went for a vegetarian pizza with goat's cheese, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, pesto, olives and rocket (£11.95).

As well as pizzas, there is a choice of main dishes from the rotisserie and grill. These include Pacific crab and salmon cakes (£14.25), six hour baked 'carnitas' shoulder of pork (£14.95), honey barbecued confit duck with cheddar mash and green beans (£13.95) and twenty-one day aged spiced rubbed rib-eye steak (£18.95). There is always a vegetarian option, such as white bean, pecorino, thyme and truffle cakes with asparagus, cherry tomatoes and lemon rocket pesto (£12.95). These mains did sound tempting, but the fact that you would need to order a side dish at around £3.25 with some of them put them a little beyond our pockets. In fact, if you wanted a rocket and shaved parmesan salad, that would be an extra £4.95.

When the pizzas came they certainly were rather large. My younger son was surprised that we were not offered any grated parmesan. The vegetarian pizzas were covered in rocket with the other toppings hiding underneath. Our chicken ones looked enticing, with fresh oregano leaves, little strips of lemon zest, small pieces of bacon and plenty of chicken amongst the cheese. The chicken was very tender but didn't have a great deal of flavour in itself. Plenty of interesting flavours were, however, provided by the other toppings. The pizza base was quite thin and a good consistency, with the crust being fairly crisp but not overly so. The waitress had said something about bringing sharper knives; she didn't come back, but we managed well enough with the ones we had. The plates, however, had a dip in them which didn't make cutting easy at times. We couldn't quite finish our chicken pizzas, but my elder son and his partner polished off their goat's cheese ones. No wonder they were both so sleepy on the train home.

Desserts were around £5.25 and included chocolate brownie or fruit and champagne jelly with cream. There was also ice cream with espresso for £4.25. All of us were too full after our huge pizzas to even contemplate a dessert. My elder son and his partner decided to order mint tea (£1.60 each) to help their digestion. They were each served a pot of tea that contained about two and a half cups.

Our bill came to £58.60, to which we added a tip as service was not included. Service was polite, efficient and friendly enough but not overly so.

Firehouse Rotisserie does have a kids' menu with just two choices: cheese and tomato pizza or rotisserie chicken with fries, both at £5.25. I can't remember seeing any sign of highchairs while I was there.

Unfortunately the toilets are right up on the second floor, so there are four flights of stairs to negotiate. When we were there, the stairs up to the first floor were just bare planks of wood. Several notices asked clients to take care as they were in the course of repairing the stairs. Even with my bad knees I did manage to get up to the second floor and found the ladies' toilets to be very clean and well supplied with toilet tissue, soap and paper towels. The mirrors had wide, rough wooden frames that were totally in keeping with the décor of the restaurant itself.

When we arrived at Firehouse around 3pm it was fairly busy, but most of the people there were just finishing lunch and by 4pm the place was almost empty. Just one other party of four arrived while we were there, but I would imagine the restaurant gets busy in the evenings. It is in the city centre, close to both Milsom Street and the Jane Austen Centre. The Theatre Royal is also not far away. It is interesting to find a restaurant that offers gourmet pizzas but does not confine itself to Italian cuisine. Firehouse Rotisserie is definitely one to make a beeline for if you want a meal mid to late afternoon, but also for lunch or dinner if you are looking for something that is a cut above the run-of-the-mill chain restaurants.