Until about five minutes ago, they were a wasteland with the Royal Armouries jutting like a lone fortress and beside it was the sunken slab of an abandoned industrial dock. Now there's mooring for leisure river and canal craft, a bridge and at night its black water reflects the lights of a spacious concourse around which tower sharp new blocks of glass-and-steel.

Clarence Dock is the latest physical manifestation of the boom which turned Leeds into the country's fastest growing financial centre. And hence, presumably, why Larocca. Behind the bar lies an eating area big enough to build a short-haul airliner in, its décor crisp and geometric like the surrounding architecture, but relieved by sensuously curved lamps, some of them up to 8ft (or two-and-a-half metres) tall and all of them dominating this cavernous space.

Huge windows look out upon the concourse and its rectangle of water. On the walls are the sort of pictures intended to be noticed rather than studied. There are linen napkins at the tables. The salt and pepper are in smart lidded white ceramic boxes, and the menus are so substantial that if given legs, they might be used as coffee tables. Everything at Larocca is pure calculation so that the ambience grabs you by the throat. And it is apparent that a fortune has been lavished on it.

The effect is enhanced by the efficient, professional service which finds that pleasing balance between crushing attentiveness and aloof unconcern. I doubt if anyone from a smart, prospering metropolis anywhere in the world would think that Larocca let Leeds down.

And with luck, such a visitor would be so distracted by the sparkling conversation at the table, or the music being provided by the musicians on a Saturday night, as not to pay over-much attention to what was being served. There are pizzas on the menu – 15 of them, from £6.50 to £9 – and possibly there's not a more stylish place in the universe to eat a Margherita.

The menu, however, invites more adventurous choices, and for us, the most successful was the hot home-made bread with pitted black olives, pieces of Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar (pane caldo della casa) and classified as a "nibble". It was extremely edible, and as with the dishes which followed, far too much for one person (assuming the one person wasn't a re-incarnation of Pavarotti).

In the artichokes and king scallops with herb salad (Carciofata Toscana), the two scallops were fresh, sweet and succulent but the artichokes preserved and uninteresting. Another starter of spare ribs with a sweet and sour barbecue sauce (Costolette di maiale con salsa agro dolce) was enough to feed a family.

The sauce was overly stringent, and the meat on the ribs the sort that has to be wrenched off with the teeth and vigorously chewed. A main course of diced wild boar cooked in wine and black olive and mushrooms (Bocconcini di cinghiale con fungi e oliva) arrived in a mass with two bay leaves standing out of it like a pair of ears. It was salty, mushy and, once again, there was far too much.

One spoonful of this intense mixture sitting on some salad leaves and accompanied with roast or mashed potatoes would have been a more appetising way to serve it. A side order of roasted Mediterranean vegetables would have been better balanced by a green-leaf salad. A main course of aubergine baked with tomato and mozzarella cheese (Melanzane Pariggiana) was over-generous. Not only because of the sheer quantity but also because the flavours, in which Balsamic vinegar played a leading role, were so overpowering.

A shared pannacotta with Pontefract liquorice offered liquorice so subtle it might as well not have been there. An espresso coffee arrived at the table less than piping hot. We had an excellent Tocai Friulano (grave) for £11.50, and a jug of iced water offered to go with it.

The food aside – we may have chosen ill-advisedly – Larocca has a style which is complemented by the high standard of service. It revealed a serious intention to make an outing a pleasurable social experience. But will that be enough?

The restaurant is placed to serve a community, many of whose residents are in Leeds because of its financial services, whose future is suddenly in question.

The city council has banned on-street parking all around Clarence Dock, presumably so as to force visitors to the Royal Armouries to use the multi-storey car park. That policy also obliges out-of-town diners to do the same – and how many will pay car parking fees when there are so many other parts of Leeds where on-street parking is free?

That might make Larocca over-dependent upon the locals. And if Clarence Dock ceases to be filled with the sort of people it was designed to attract, what then of its long-term future? We paid a little over £65 (tip if you want to – this place does not impose an "optional" service charge).

Larocca Restaurant and Bar, Clarence Dock, Leeds LS10 1LE.

Open daily 10am-2am. Tel: 0113 234 6000. www.laroccaleeds.com