YOU won’t fail to have noticed the so-called ‘casual dining’ sector is struggling.

Jamie’s Italian, Prezzo and other big names have been closing branches across the country.

Cote is firmly in this category but they just get it right, that much is clear from the moment I walk in to the restaurant for a family celebration meal.

Great atmosphere, tick, good service, tick, rammed on a Thursday night, tick, people turning up hoping to bag a last-minute table, tick.

Cote, if you’ve not been, is a chain of French brasserie-style restaurants.

They’re done out in the style you might expect to find down a sleepy Paris backstreet, all dark wood and chequered flooring.

They major on steak and chips – I’ve been before and this they do well – but there’s also an a la carte menu with a good range of options for those not looking for a slab of meat.

There’s a choice of seven mains – enough for anyone to find something they fancy and not so much you begin to wonder how it can all be cooked to order.

I started with calamari – crumbed squid – something easy to get wrong. No-one wants a plate of elastic-band-chewy squid rings.

But no worries here on that front. The squid was tender and soft, the breadcrumbs light and not oily.

It came served in a little frying pan complete with crunchy garlicky bits, which were as good as the squid itself.

My brother had the chicken liver parfait – light, sweet-but-not-too-sweet – and gave it a resounding thumbs up. I pinched a bit. He was right.

So to the mains. We all swerved the steak – why order something you can cook at home?

I went for the Breton fish stew – sea bass, mussels, clams, prawns, (more) squid in a tomato, white wine and chili sauce.

It came in a bowl, the sea bass perched on top, the sauce a vibrant red.

It was, in a word, yum.

The sauce had a depth of flavour you only get from long, slow cooking, while the seafood was tender, the fish flaking. A little zip of chili brought it all together.

That said, I was looking jealously across the table at my dining partner’s belly pork.

This came with braised savoy cabbage, gratin potato with a thyme and calvados jus.

But really it’s all about the belly isn’t it? Unctuous, silky fat - is there anything better? (for me, no!)

We looked at the pudding menu but didn’t have the room as the portions, especially the starters, are generous in size. But it features all the usual suspects you may remember from holidays in France - the MasterChef favourite, chocolate fondant, tart fine aux pommes, creme caramel, crepes, creme brulee and more.

It was tempting, but not as tempting as a nice glass of sticky dessert wine to finish.

We went for the Château la Sabatière Monbazillac 2015.

At £4.50 for a good-size glass - fruity, nutty, caramelly - it really was rather super.

But the food, of course, is not the only thing that makes a meal out a success.

Good service is not an easy thing to master at the best of times, and is especially hard when it’s super busy.

But at Cote they’ve got it licked. Attentive but not in-your-face. Friendly but not over friendly.

And a good flow through the evening.

We’ve all been to those places where they pick up your starter plates and before you’ve blinked your mains are out – do I not like that.

At Cote they pitched it about right. In other words, long enough for some weren’t-our-starters-tasty chat, but not too long for a where’s-my-dinner moan.

And not too much of the ‘is everything okay for you’? Enough but not too much.

So all told a winner.

For those who like a bargain, Cote does a lunch and early evening menu – two courses for £11.50, three for £13.50.

If you’re in Ciren looking for somewhere to eat, I’d give Cote a go. I’ll be back - mainly for the belly pork.