Managed Mayhem
Google
The 2 star is purely comparing this to its competitors.
I was a little apprehensive and mentioned to my wife on the way that it was very easy to book a table with plenty of space last minute, why is somewhere like that so quiet.
Whilst there, there were a fair few empty tables.
I'm going to start by saying it is massively disappointing giving what was expected. Incredible how it's kept 2 rosette if I'm honest.
Our bill came to just over £300
Parking - spot on, plenty just accross the road.
Accessible- perfect, disabled people will have no issue here.
The atmosphere is nice, it was warm, relaxed, clean, good lighting and the smells coming from the kitchen were great.
Greeted with a smile and very friendly lady who couldn't have been more welcoming.
Offered drinks straight off the bat, I mentioned about having a wine flight and from that moment everything seems to feel a bit fractured, it's like I disturbed the routine by not wanting another drink before the wine started and then it felt very un easy.
When the first glass of wine came she asked me "would you like me to go through the explanation of the wine or shall I just pour it ?" This was awkward, i think she could tell so gave a very loose description. The wine was nice, descriptions were very loose and I asked questions with a "i don't know" so I think some more training on the wine would be good.
The food. . . Don't get me wrong the food was ok, I always look for that thing that stands out, that's item that makes me smile but unfortunately that did not exist here, i would put most of the courses as something I would expect to have at marriot hotel wedding function if I'm honest. There was not a massive amount of flavours going on. I'm being very harsh due to where this placing is trying to set itself and the money it's charging it a well under par and nowhere near it's competitors.
The entries were nice.
The purree on the dishes were pointless as there was hardly any on there and just for presentation however the purree was also like glue to the plate after being left under the lights for too long.
Veal was cooked really nice, the jus was very intense and tasted like marmite.
Squab was over and dry.
The john dory was slightly over cooked but I'm picking hairs with that one. (Which I'm going to do with the prices if I'm honest)
The Scallops... well .... Huxley disappointed. It was tasteless and the sushi was well over done. This just didn't fit at all on the menu to start with but was just a really poor executed plate. I didn't eat it all.
The first dessert was really nice, reminded me of what my grandmother used to make us when we were kids.
The second dessert (i didnt take a pucture) seemed to be very lost. Each individual item tasted fine but it was like a chef thought oh I'm good at these let's put them on one plate and see what happens, weird.
Overall it's like this place was coming out of the 80s but kind of got stuck getting out of it didn't really see anything modern there, still garnished with green leaf for a start. Food was very medium, I'd still be giving it a low rating if the price was lower.
Every other table got asked if they wanted to talk to the chef after appart from us I promised my wife that I would kindly refuse the chef as she knows I'd have said something and she hates that, he came over any way and took the feedback great, had a chat also and was a friendly guy.
For a tasting menu experience there are far better places to go in Bristol for the money, Wilsons for example.
For a Dinning experience again the food is dated and not fantastic, little french walks all over the food here.
It is just not up to par and punching well above its weight. We won't be back unfortunately but thank you.
Just to finish off I've come back to this review after uploading pictures. The food was that far under parr that there were dishes served to me less than 10 hours ago and I completely forgot about them. . . .the pictures reminded me. . . So yea £300 well spent ......... clearly