MENTION the Trafford Centre to Bolton restaurant owners and you might get a look of displeasure.

But on my visit to one of the Trafford Centre's restaurants, I don't think there's much culinary competition from the multi-million pound development.

It's not that the food was terrible at the Exchange Bar and Grill when I went on Friday night - the food was generally nice, if a little over-priced.

But I can honestly say I didn't enjoy the whole experience of eating there.

It's quite an exciting prospect to go somewhere new and I was looking forward to a great night out.

But the entertainment area The Orient - with its huge TV screen suspended in front of an enormous mock ocean liner - just didn't wash.

Being a young fuddy-duddy - 27 is beginning to feel like old age - I found The Orient attracted loads of teenagers. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I felt out of place as I wandered around.

Inside The Orient there are certainly plenty of places to choose from, ranging from Chinese through Italian to the jungle experience at the Rainforest Cafe.

The Exchange Bar and Grill is an American-style diner with the obligatory pictures of American actors and icons pinned to the walls and has an attractive patio area outside.

We were seated by an extremely friendly waitress and we were never left waiting long to be served drinks or have our order taken.

But the patio proved just too chilly for us - it must be hellish on the heating bill to keep the Trafford Centre warm with that big domed roof - so we moved to a table inside the restaurant.

Looking around at the clientele, it was nice to see a whole spectrum of people from families to young couples and groups of friends.

The food on the menu also displayed a wide selection.

It's probably true to say "American food" can be read as "almost any food".

For starters there is a choice of Mexican Dippers (£2.95) corn chips with dips, Chicken Wings (£3.35), Crispy Mushrooms (£3.25), Beer Battered Mozzarella (£3.75) Mozzarella sticks deep fried in beer batter and served with a peach salsa dip, and Lobster Tail (£3.95) plus several other dishes (max price £4.25).

There are starters big enough to share between two - and I suggested to my girlfriend we shared a double dish.

We chose Vegetable Combo (£8.25) which consisted of cheese and potato skins, nachos, crispy mushrooms, onion rings, vegetable chilli and zucchini (battered courgette) with dips.

It was a huge hit with my girlfriend.

I loved the vegetable chilli and almost wished I had chosen it as my main course meal, although the potato skins were too greasy.

The main course was a tough choice between the steaks and grills and the sea food.

Watching the steaks emerge from the kitchen on one of those special pan things which make it stay all sizzly nearly swung me. In the end I decided on a lighter fish dish.

The menu choice is wide - steaks from £9.95 for an 8oz sirloin to £11.95 for a 12oz, there is also Sirloin Steak with Ribs Combo (£9.75), Breast of Barbary Duck (£8.75) served on hash brown and Ham on the Bone (£12.50) apparently a house speciality coated with redpepajam, whatever that is.

Burgers are priced from £6.25 to £8.95 for a double.

Chicken dishes start at £8.25 for an 8oz sizzling chicken breast to £8.45 for Chicken and Friends - chicken with added extras.

There is also a selection of Mexican and pasta dishes ranging from £5.45 for chilli and tortilla chips, to £9.95 for Fajitas.

I chose Shark and Prawn Kebabs (£8.75) which turned out to be one of those exotic dishes you feel like experimenting with and end up thinking it wasn't so exotic after all. To be honest it doesn't taste of much - more like chicken than fish.

Although I was disappointed by the size of the portion, I didn't complain to my girlfriend (who thinks I always complain when we're out).

So biting my lip, I bit into one of my two kebabs which were well cooked, but I thought the rice which came with them was a bit too chilli-hot.

My girlfriend had chosen the Smothered Chicken (£8.25) which came with cheese sauce, mushrooms and onions.

My girlfriend wasn't too happy with the sauce - I had a forkful of it and found it wasn't up to scratch, tasting too much of flour.

But she was generally pleased with the rest.

The total bill came to £31.20, including a couple of soft drinks and a pint and half of Stella.

Disabled access was pretty good, I couldn't see any awkward steps to navigate and there were disabled toilet cubicles. MATTHEW TAYLOR

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.