Good Food - Varied Service

Rating - Overall: 3  Food: 4  Service: 2  Ambience: 2

Roadman
Rookie Reviewer
Member since Feb 09
Rating: 1

21 Feb 2009

We thought that it was time we visited one of the newer restaurants in Bristol and thought that we would try Brasserie Blanc and sample the menu of the legendary Raymond Blanc.

It didn’t start of very well; we had booked for ten people and were showed to a table set for eight! Never mind, those resourceful people at Brasserie Blanc went and got another table, err no, they just squeezed us up on the existing table and put two more place settings. Gee thanks.

Baskets of lovely bread were placed on the table whilst we perused the menus, but strangely no side plates. The menus offered a reasonable variety and not too badly priced. I opted for the Loch Fyne mussels as my starter and free range Gloucester Old Spot pork cutlet. All of the starters were brought to the table at the time by a fleet of waiters and waitress which was great. My mussels were piping hot, however as I started to go through them it was a bit of a mixed bag. Some very plump and fresh, others were a bit shrivelled and not that good. The lesson for me was that if you want Loch Fyne mussels have them at a Loch Fyne restaurant.

Again our main courses were served all together and my pork was excellent and the little chips that were served with it were wonderful. The only strange bit was that the grills were all served on an oblong wooden flat plates which of course did cause a minor issues with the size of table we were on and I couldn’t really see what they added to the meal.

For pudding I went for a Baked Alaska ( I did share with one of the others) which was lovely, however puddings were slightly spoilt in that they forgot to bring the Cheese Board for one of our party and when it did eventually turn up (just as the rest of us were finishing our puddings), it was pitiful what was on it, a piece of blue cheese and various small crumbles of others. It was refused as my friend had got fed up waiting, but a few minutes latter it was offered again but saying that he could have it for free. Missing the point some what!

The wine menu is not hugh but more than big enough for a night out. However we all thought that the majority of the wines were overpriced. They started at around £14 (which is ok) but rapidly increase without a rapid increase in quality.

All in all the food was generally very good, the wine is not that great value and the quality of the service dropped off through the course of the night, however at about £80 per couple for a three course meal with wine was ok. Watch out if you are a party of 6 or more as a “discretionary” ten percent service charge is added to your bill.

We may return if one of our party wanted to visit again, but would not be somewhere that I would personally rush back to. There are better restaurants in Bath & Bristol, visit them first.

Visited: February 20, 2009
What I ate: Mussels, Pork Chop and Baked Alaska

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