In no time the space that was first home to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, has been joined by the Yorkshire Dance Centre, the Leeds College of Music and the BBC.

While this high-end culture is all well and good, what a Cultural Quarter also needs is a bit of soul, a base to relax, hang out, listen to music, have a beer and a bite, whether that's a snack, a snatched pre-theatre supper or a leisurely three-courser.

This is provided for at what has become one of Leeds's best-loved venues: The Wardrobe, a laid-back place that combines a bar the length of a cricket pitch, a stage for regular live music, an all-day coffee house, and a dog-leg restaurant at the back. All this fits comfortably into the ground floor of St Peter's Building, an old Victorian textile mill and once the wardrobe store for the Playhouse.

The watchword is informality. The posters for Norman Jay and Corinne Bailey Rae – two star turns this autumn – give the place an evolving personality and history. Bare wood floors and a mix of leather banquettes and bentwood chairs are a bit scuffed-up, not surprising given the Wardrobe's heavy use and popularity. It's all part of the patina.

The menu fits the mood. Nothing is steeply priced, with most of the mains at under a tenner. Dishes are scribbled on a large blackboard: soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta and risotto dishes, a daily pie, steak and chips, and half a dozen deserts. We started with a couple of salad starters: cold salmon with lemon and cous cous dressing; beetroot and Swaledale Old Peculier cheese with an orange and ginger dressing. Sadly, the casual vibe so agreeable in the dining area had infiltrated the lunchtime kitchen. The cheese and beetroot had a neat dish of leaves but there was barely any dressing, let alone any sign of the promised orange or ginger. The salmon salad had decent leaves again, but the cous cous was scattered as preciously as caviar, the lemon and the dressing were absent and the salmon was represented by a scattering of dry flakes. It looked and tasted a mess.

Mains were better. The pasta bake with chicken and bacon topped with crumbs was filling but needed more of the creamy sauce to help it along. Then, thankfully, the risotto was the best dish: a hearty tomato-infused rice, topped with a generous dollop of pesto and some semi-dried tomatoes. It was luscious, moist tasty and just about saved the day.

Wine by the glass was fine. Our waiters were smiley and attentive and had us fed and watered within the hour. Just about everyone asked us how we'd enjoyed our meal. There wasn't really a short answer and we were politely economical with the truth. What I wanted to say was
that we really like The Wardrobe but they should treat its kitchen staff to some meals at some of the better gastropubs around Yorkshire to see how good food, squarely priced,
can work in a relaxed setting. Can
do better.

Wardrobe, 6 St Peter's Square, Leeds LS9 8AH. www.thewardrobe.co.uk. 0113 383 8800. restaurant@thewardrobe.co.uk