Reviews in Bristol City Centre

Have been going to this restaurant since I was at College and now my own children who are at University use it regularly when they are at home - with or without us(or collect takeaway pizzas from them as they claim they are THE BEST). Owner was a waiter there when I first went to the restaurant!! All staff are longstanding - Richard in the kitchen, Augusto, Mario, Poalo, Peter - all great. TOTALLY NON SMOKING RESTAURANT. Pasta is fantastic - the spaghetti bolognaise is famous with an unchanged recipe over the 25 years I have been going there. Hubby loves the Pollo a la Grotto which is like a chicken kiev but stuffed with pate and is on a bed of rice with a redwine sauce.Open from lunchtime straight through for six days a week and for a shorter period of Sundays. Pasta, pizza, steaks, chicken, fish, mixed grills, omelettes - whatever you like you will find something to suit - so you can take granny and the aunties and the toddlers and the teenagers and everyone will be happy. Tell them Kathy and Malcolm sent you!!

After visiting the Glassboat on numerous occasions in the past I am pretty confident that a good time will be had by all when we visit. The most recent visit was on a Saturday night in September 2006. On this night my wife and I found it rather noisy (we usually go mid week which is quieter) and was disappointed to see a rather casual look to the clientele eating on the night. We like to dress up for a meal out (I? 37), whereas some guests wore jeans and trainers. I would have preferred a dress rule to be enforced at restaurants like this to preserve the idea of getting dressed for dinner, but times change and I guess restaurants have to also. The service was excellent: friendly and prompt without being in you face every 2 minutes. The selection of drinks available always good and the choice of wines by the glass can be recommended. A little surprised by the bar staff not knowing if they had a Fino or Tio Pepe (dry sherry's) and having to search for a bottle - which to their credit they did without too much fuss. Starters: Scallops for my wife (very good even though she was afraid of the Roe that accompanied it). The Rabbit En Crout on the other hand, while tasty enough, should really have called Rabbit Pate and supplied with a chutney. The En Croute pastry was more than a little hard (had to catch the little devil before it was fired of the plate when I tried to cut it). Main course: Fillet of Beef (well done for my wife) was soft and tasty and came with mushrooms and Gratin Dauphinoise potatoes. The potatoes a little on the hard side, lacking in cream we felt but tasty all the same. Meanwhile I had the Veal Cassoulet, succulent pieces of veal on a bed of beans, smokey bacon and what appeared to be chorizo. My first time eating a cassoulet, and an excellent introduction - would certainly eat it again. A side dish of vegetables (including new potatoes and butternut squash amongst other items) accompanied the meal course. Desserts, we felt let the meal down, my wife? Tiramisu while looking the part unfortunately consisted of a heavy cream dish, which she simply couldn't complete. My own Pear Tarte Tatin with Saffron icecream shouldn? have been called a Tarte Tatin. To my mind a Tarte Tatin is a caramelised fruit dish set in puff pastry, this one appeared to have been made the lazy way and was a pastry base with poached pears and a strong flavoured honey poured all over it. I never found out if the Icecream had saffron in it as the Honey flavour killed the dessert dead, leaving me with a strong after taste for the rest of the night - not pleasant. For some reason, the Glassboat have included a taster glass of dessert wine with each dessert. Each glass supposedly matching the dessert ordered. While this free(?) taster would normally have appealed to me, on this occasion I had driven (from Weston) and so wasn? drinking and my wife had drank enough already so other than a small sip both glasses were left. It wasn? until after I left that I thought perhaps I should have asked for the alcoholic drink to be changed for a coffee instead. The drinks themselves, while fine in themselves where not what I would have selected for myself. For instance the drink that came with the Tiramisu had a strong hint of honey, which I would have thought would have matched the honey flavoured Tarte Tatin, but then I? not a sommelier. On previous occasions I? sure the taster glass wasn? included and I also think the price for the dessert was a little lower also, so was it really free?. Coffee - fresh and tasty accompanied by with chocolate truffles. The total for the night was a little under £100 (including 2 dry sherry's, a glass of wine and bottle of water), which we felt was ok apart from the slightly disappointing desserts. Next time I'll watch out for the puddings and try and exchange the drink that comes with the desserts for a coffee. Still highly recommended.

Great Mediterranean food, with a wide choice of Tapas and sharing food. We enjoyed the dining experience but even better was the live music treat we had on a Wednesday night that was quite unexpected! The service is very pleasant and we did not feel at all rushed. Prices were normal and a wide variety of drinks always helps. I will definitely visit again. Thank you antics.

This is a superb place to have a curry...it isn't you basic - one sauce fits all - menu...the special dishes are really great, the king prawn are always cooked to perfection and if you're a garlic lover like me then the chilli garlic chicken is lush. A good curry house should always be judged on its nans...this place doesn't fail they are superb...go eat!

Very impressed with level of service and quality of food. As I have gluten intolerance I was very impressed with the awareness of this food intolerance and the service offered to accommodate a specialist diet requirement. Will be back again.

A wonderful experience, relaxed atmosphere, excellent food and a fair price. The set meals for 2 are indeed too much. Will certainly return and order in stages from the excellent sushi menu.

This restaurant was superb, we had been wanting to try real Caribbean food for quite a while, Plantation had been recommended to us and we were not disappointed, we had a very warm welcome and were pleased to see they had a buffet style menu on (Sat night) we could eat as much as physical possible for £14.99, and we did just that, the food was amazing, their was nothing pretentious about this place, it almost felt homely. The staff were more than happy to explain how the food had been cooked and what some of it was!!? My partner wanted to try the famous Caribbean saltfish he had heard about which wasn? on the buffet table but once the staff heard this we had a little dish brought to our table (FOC). We also tired the local beer which was surprisingly tasty and a couple of cocktails..!! Ummmm.. All in all we had a great experience, I wanted to ask for a doggy bag of jerk chicken but thought again..! Cant wait to take friends and do it all again..!! Excellent.

Great atmosphere, friendly family run business, fantastic food at a great price. No frills but great fun! Been again and again and so has everyone we have taken there. For tasty genuine Greek food that gives you change in your pocket, highly recommended and they never rush you.

Two of us ordered the most extensive set dinner and could have fed a secret third person, so huge were the portions. Everything was quite lovely with only small exceptions, and certainly as far as value for money goes nothing could beat our 18 pound a head extravaganza. This was our first meal ever in Bristol and was superb!

As a lover of Brazilian football watching world cup matches here has been the highlight of my week since the tournament started. Good food, discount Brazilian beer and an atmosphere as close to being at the match as I have ever experienced, samba drumming when Brazil attack and lots of Brazilian people with flags, dancing in euphoria when Brazil score.

I really liked it. It had a bit of a rustic feel with the concrete floors, garden style furniture and erm interesting 60s style lamps with tables attached. The beer is what you'd expect to pay in town...2.90 for a pint of yes on draught of becks.

Last night was my first visit to this restaurant and it was very good. I had Herring fillets in four marinades with potato and pimento salad to start which were nicely presented and tasted great. I can honestly recommend the Glen Fyne prime Highland 8oz sirloin steak, dry-aged for 28 days it was a beautiful cut and was also beautifully presented. The service was impeccable with friendly polite staff who were informative and helpful. Everything was spotless and it is interesting to watch the chefs preparing the food only 8feet from your table!

Went to this restaurant on the recommendation of a friend and was not disappointed! The mussels are fantastic and friendly staff made this a most agreeable and pleasant dining experience

A great little place, fab food, really friendly staff, will definitely be returning. It is possible to miss it, looks so small from outside, so make a point of looking for it and go there. Go on, spoil yourself, it'll be worth it.

We visited Tootsies on a Saturday afternoon after a few park street cocktails. We expected to find pub style food as the menu and appearance would suggest but we were pleasantly surprised to find very well presented and tasty food, including the biggest burger we've ever seen! Great cocktails and smoothies too, lovely with vodka!

Uninspiring curry, fine if you want a basic curry, but don't expect magic.

The Chinese food here is good for Bristol (and believe me with a Chinese partner I have tried all the main ones in Bristol). The best in Bristol, by the way, is the Mayflower. If you can read the Chinese only part of the menu then you will be in for a real treat because it is so authentic the restaurant actually serves mostly Chinese restaurant owners (a secret you should know is that most Chinese restaurant owners in the UK have not been trained to cook in China and the food they serve to British customers bares no resemblance to anything they would eat themselves). If you can't read the Chinese then you can still order all the usual dishes you see elsewhere, but these are not as authentic. The best treat is the dim sum.

Pizzas are the main fare here, freshly made they are quite good. You are paying here for the ambience, this is the perfect location for a date that will lead on to a night out on the waterfront. Don't travel here for the food though, good house wine.