The Hole in The Wall - The Centre (by Queens Sq) - Bristol

I went here as it was on the list and my Dad's friend said it was good, oh how dissapointed we were!

The pub is perfectly nice, with a good outside area (in which we sat) and good beer selection and nice sounding menu but sadly this is where is ended.

To be honest I should have left as soon as I heard a member of the bar staff mention there was no mushroom risotto as they had ran out and weren't going to make any more...when i said ran out already? he said it was never on to run out...ALARM ALARM of brought in food rang but i chose to ignore it!

So we took the menu and I chose Steak and chips with pepper corn sauce.  To be honest the chips were amazing, the steak was OK and the peppercorn sauce was tasteless but it was edible, and if not a bit luke warm it would have been satisfactory - if not very expensive.

It was Andy's lunch that was terrible, duck with daupinouse potatoes with kale and beetroot and plum sauce.  Sounds amazing...oh it was not!  Again it was luke warm which is always not great, the duck (although tasty) had still very white rubbery skin which had had not heat applied to it (SCREAMS Microwave!!!)  the plum sauce was like water which mixed horribly with the potatoes leaving behind a slop and worst of all was the huge dumping of kale on the plate which had no seasoning and had not been drained AT ALL so still retained so much water.  The whole plate tasted like flavourless mush!!  This dish was one of the most expensive on the menu and was just so sad.

Why didn't we complain you ask?? well we were starving and couldn't be bothered and we were being typically British about it, but most importantly we were not checked on at all so had no means to complain easily.  However at the end of the meal i confessed my disappointment to a waitress, who i had to take our plates to, she said sorry but obviously didn't care and did not offer any kind of refund or free pudding etc.

So, in conclusion, if you like cold microwaved slop the go here if not then avoid.  The sad thing is on their website they talk about having a proper chef etc, which may be the case but they obviously can only cook chips!!

FOOD: 2/10
CUSTOMER SERVICE: 5/10
AMBIENCE: 7/10
PRICE: 8/10

The Boston Tea Party - Whiteladies Road - Bristol - Breakfast

My husband raves about this place so we finally managed to go Saturday morning.

What a treat, the cake cabinet was enough to have be drooling with their amazing display of home made treats.

Although we were there for breakfast I could not resist a White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondie, WOW, sharp but sweet and really soft, god it was good, and a perfect set up for Breakfast.

I had pancakes with fruit compote and Greek yogurt which were light and fluffy but filling, they were expertly made and left me with a full but still relatively healthy buzz.

My Husband had eggs Benedict and they were amazing, such a well made rich sauce complimented the perfect eggs and ham to a tea and he was very impressed.

I am assured that lunch is just as good and I can imagine it would be!!

FOOD: 8/10
CUSTOMER SERVICE: 5/10
AMBIENCE: 7/10
PRICE: 7/10

Xion Long - Gloucester Road - Bristol

This was possibly the best Chinese I have eaten.

The place itself is very small but welcoming, the staff were great, very friendly and attentive.  The only bad thing was even though it was pretty busy for a week night it was still quite a still atmosphere, this was not a problem for me but my Hubby didn't really like it.

However, we went for the food not the atmosphere!!

The food was amazing, I had the Crispy Shredded Beef to start and it was crispy, spicy, stick and beefy (something i tend to see a lack of with crispy beef) the sauce was amazing, it felt so fresh and had the slight cloudiness to it so you could see it had been made with corn flour by hand, none of this too sweet bright red gloop!!
The mains though were the show stoppers, I had Beef with green beans which i was advised to have chili with if i liked it, it was again so fresh and full of flavour, I really was blown away.  The beans still had a lovely bite and the beef just melted.  The portion was huge too.
My Hubby had a house fried noodle dish which looked like summer on a plate, lots of perfectly cooked meat, prawns and veg with a powerful but not obtrusive sauce, it was just wonderful.

We left very full but very happy, only having paid a few £ extra than a take away but getting a lot better food.  Yum Yum!!

FOOD: 9.5/10
CUSTOMER SERVICE: 9/10
AMBIENCE: 5/10
PRICE: 6/10