Grain Barge

We had a great experience there today with my students. Their celebratory meal was a hit. It was a good day of pub food that filled our bellies and my students found the presentation very adventurous. They helped us a lot with a group booking and arranging remote payment so would recommend for big groups.

Great floating bar/restaurant with great views and decent food. Good beer at reasonable prices and the friendliest staff ever. Great outdoor seating looking down the waterfront.

Fast service, friendly staff, good portions, well made food. Great location. Can't ask for more. Went at lunch.

I visited The Grain Barge while exploring Bath and Bristol on a wider trip, and it turned out to be a great choice. The setting on the water makes it feel a bit different and adds to the charm straight away. The service was very good — quick, friendly, and efficient. I had a Chardonnay, a lager with lime cordial, and for food went with the lime-battered fish, chips, and mushy peas. The portion was ample, the quality was spot-on, and everything tasted fresh and well-prepared. Pricing was fair for both food and drinks, and with the combination of quick service, good food, and a lovely view from the barge, the whole experience felt like solid value. Overall, The Grain Barge delivered exactly what I was hoping for — a relaxed meal in a unique setting. I’d happily recommend it to anyone visiting Bristol, and I’d definitely return myself.

Sunday roast was fantastic, really friendly atmosphere - would definitely recommend!

Great venue with mediocre food. Half the menu wasn’t available, and we were told that the seafood platter we wanted would take 25 minutes to come because there was only one “chef” in the kitchen (at 1pm!!) The fish and chips we had instead was passable but nothing more. Shame: it’s a lovely place which should be being run better.

Busy riverside pub/river barge. Lovely views. Nice pint however the queueing system is rather flawed and it was chaotic...Suggest avoiding at times busy times

The setting is great, but the food is very average, especially when considering the prices charged. We waited over an hour for food, which was unexpected given how underfilled the place was. The fish and chips was the notorious 75% batter 25% fish combo. Great for a drink, but I wouldnt suggest food.

Good honest food. Cool ambience. Nice people. Server was very nice. If you're visiting Bristol, recommend stopping in for at least a drink. Th food is very good.

Striking beautiful setting, on a big boat with tables and bar seats on the water. Excellent bar with the usual English pub vast array (a dozen) of very good beers on tap, including several of Bristol's best. Very friendly service for beer, food or conversation. The food is very veg vegan and even gf friendly though also fresh intersting and local (!) fish. Mussels from Cornwall, whitebait from the harbour mouth right here. A good espresso machine, creative desserts (blackberry cheesecake in a glass!). The kind of place you root for and wish every dish hit the heights. Though they don't, I still love this place!

This was my first visit to the Grain Barge but I was very disappointed. Yes, the setting is lovely. However, the food was awful. Perhaps we were just unlucky with what we ordered, which was farmhouse pie, mash and vegetables, but the mash and gravy were so salty that it made the meal nearly inedible and the pie crust was rock hard. Sadly, I won't be going back.

The Grain Barge is in the perfect spot for a well earned pint after a stroll along Bristol's Waterfront. I usually pop in for a few pints but we got food too this time. I had the Steak and Ale pie with mash, gravy and roast parsnips, the food was lovely and very filling! Not the cheapest but good for a treat. I had a nice pint of American IPA which I hadn't seen before. There is a really good choice if beers and wine. There is always a good mix of people and by 6 on a Saturday it was getting busy. If you sit to the left of the bar you can catch the last of the afternoon sun - very romantic! I think the only downside was that they were playing Jack Johnson, not keen but that comes down to personal taste!

The above times are for the restaurant, but you can come here and enjoy their beers from Tuesday to Sunday 12noon until 11.30pm. The restaurant has specials on different days - Tuesday is tapas, Wednesday is lovely pie and Thursday steaks. Reasonably priced and they take a lot of pride in it. On Fridays they have live bands playing from 8pm. It's cosy and fun and reminds me of going to see local bands play when I was a teenager. But I come here for the fantastic beer. This is connected to The Bristol Beer Company - an independent brewery in town which makes No 7, Sunrise, Red Dark, Exhibition and the drink that makes grown hairy men weak at the knees - Milk Stout. They also have a nice selection of vodkas. The boat is moored in Hotwells so doesn't get tacked onto any stag pub crawls but if you did want to have a mini crawl then may I suggest here, Bag O' Nails (as long as there aren't more than 5 of you) and a stiff uphill walk to the Hope & Anchor.

Another Bristol boat based venue, this bar-restaurant's niche (apart from being on a boat, obviously) is top quality ales. They're attached to the Bristol Beer Company (which I have to admit I didn't know about until I came here), a brewery in the south of the city, and only have their beers. The Sunrise, a pale ale, goes well with a bit of pie in my experience. The food menu changes by the day - some days are pie days, some steak, etc. It's well priced and presented, and you can get a bite to eat with a view of the harbour for a bit less than at the Glass Boat. Certainly worth the walk to Hotwells from the city centre. There's music occasionally too, nothing on the Thekla, a little further down the road, but a pretty good atmosphere with the right sort of artist. The Grain Barge's got good drink and food in a cosy (and floating!) setting.

Situated in a (yep) barge moored in Hotwells, the Grain Barge is one of my favourite places in Bristol for a drink and casual meal. The view - although regrettably not of the best part of the river - through the wide windowpanes is relaxing, complemented by the boat's gentle rocking. The food is good and reasonably priced, as are the drinks. Nights are themed such as tapas Tuesday, pie and pint Wednesday, steak Thursday. I'm a particular fan of the tapas which are tasty, innovative and unusually filling for £8.50. I've never managed to check out one of the Friday night bands, but having looked at the line-up a range of Bristol favourites seem to grace the barge, usually along funk, soul, Balkan, folk or jazz lines.

I like most of the pubs that stock the Bristol Beer Factory ales, mainly because I find that they seem to choose carefully where their ales end up in, and so almost all the places are places that are full of character. The Grain Barge is no exception. This pub is on a moored barge, and looks so fun the minute you spot it. I mean, who doesn't like getting on a boat? The food here is really yummy, serving up a small but very wholesome menu. I especially love the bread and hummous, it comes really bright orange (paprika, I'm guessing) with whole chickpeas stuck in there and the bread is home baked and quite heavenly. It's fun to sit here with a drink, watching the water for rowers or swans that come by from time to time. A real treat.

Set on the large boat that used to be Shoots floating restaurant in Hotwells, the location makes it a little tricky to get to from my side of the water. It's well worth the effort, though, as this stylish, friendly little venue has fast become one of the most popular in the city. One of the main reasons is its versatility. The food here is really good and very reasonably priced. You can get pies, steaks and the like on different 'themed' nights, though I just grazed on some fries and humous when I came and it was very good. You don't have to eat, however, and a lot of people are drawn here for the quality of the beers (supplied by the Bristol Beer Company). And if that wasn't enough, they also have local bands (with cheap entry) on Friday nights and seating outside with views across the docks. If you can't find something you like here you really are a fussy sod!

This used to be a pie minister pub, but they recently ditched the legendary local pie makers in favour of their own homemade versions. I went with a few friends a couple of weeks ago to check out these new and apparently better pies they were offering. They only had two pies to choose from, yes that's right, two! One was chicken and something and the other was some sort of vegetarian alternative. Being a confirmed carnivore, I went for the chicken option naturally and I have to admit, it was tremendous. It was the biggest pie I'd ever attempted to eat by myself and it was packed full of chicken. Somebody I was with had the vegetarian option and they seemed to enjoy there's also. We went on a Wednesday, when they have a pie and pint for £5 (I think that's how much it was). This sounds great, but you can only choose one from a handful of their locally brewed beer and the one I had was terrible.

How can you fault a bar on a boat which serves fantastic beer, superb food and has an electric atmosphere? You can't! The ales are all local Bristol brews, very tasty and something for every pallet. The food is also delicious, including the Bristol famous Pieminister pies! A pint and a pie sitting out on deck on a ummer afternoon and you are king of the world. The bar staff here are friendly, funny and full of energy. They also do great crisps!

Great vibe, lovely food, fantastic beer, totally unpretentious. Given any option around the floating harbour, my wife and I always gravitate here. Some excellent live music too. Recommend unreservedly.

There certainly are no shortage of outdoor venues in Bristol, so on a gorgeous sunny day it can be hard to chose. Granted, most will be teeming with sun seekers but it's good to sort the wheat from the chaff. With this in mind, the Grain Barge is a good call. As the name would suggest, it is indeed a barge/boat with seating on the upper deck for those summer months (or winter if you are particularly hardy). It is quite a way out of town towards Hotwells but this is good in that it is often much less busy than it's Welsh Back counterparts (think The Apple, The Thekla and The Mud Dock). It also hosts live music and while it's never going to attract any big names, it does showcase some quality local talent. I'm told their food is ace too though I've never tried it myself.

I haven't been here for a while but since it is one of my favourite places in Bristol I thought it deserved a review!! The food and drink are good but for me the best thing is the view of the river. I especially like it when the weather is bad (so always in England) and you river is choppy and you can watch random people go past in random boats and other floating devices, whilst you sit in the warm eating pieminster pie and a nice pint of proper cider :-)

A great addition to Bristol's selection of bars-on-boats, the Grain Barge provides quality beer (Bristol Beer Company), food (Pieminister pies) and entertainment. Live music on Fridays offers an eclectic range of acts in the cosy, intimate downstairs room, while eating and drinking carries as normal above deck. Well worth a visit.

Pub on the water. Outstanding food at pub food prices. Excellent local beer (at standard pub prices mind you). Nice atmosphere, good service. Five stars from me!

Great great food! And also some really fantastic music downstairs too. Highlights have been 'Baraka' and 'Able Mable'. Excellent stuff! Plus some interesting art going up around the place I noticed.

First time visiting and I have to say I really wasn't impressed, the staff were really unwelcoming and the food was below average. The steak in my sandwich was like an old boot.

A great venue right on the water. The Grain Barge has good food including the famous pieminster pies as well as a good range of beer and wines. It's a great place to go on a sunny afternoon as you can relax on the roof terrace or on a cold winter evening when you can hole up in the cosy bar deck. The Grain Barge also hosts a wide range of live music on Friday nights, I have seen some excellent blues, soul and jazz bands there and at £3 entry it's a bargain too. The staff are always really friendly and helpful I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

On a nice spring/summer day this is the place to be. This converted large barge is in a wonderful location in Hotwells - the heart of the harbour. Great beers from the Bristol Beer Factory and very good food, to boot. Not the cheapest, but you will pay more in Bristol. But, to be honest, I'd pay the extra, just for the views.