Bordeaux Quay Reviews

I am suprised at the previous review. I have eaten at Bordeaux Quay on numerous occasions and have always been delighted by the experience.

The setting and ambience of the place is superb. The excellent quality of the basic ingredients ensures it doesn't need to be over 'engineered', which leaves the real taste of the food to be appreciated.

If you like imaginative but honest food try it out.

Having recently moved to Bristol, I read about this 'famous' and 'ethically run' restaurant. I spend over 200 nights a year in hotels around the world due to my job. Consequently, I eat out more than the average person. This restaurant will be one I will avoid in the future - the food, the service and the value are the worst I have experienced anywhere ever. My recommendation - avoid it!

I've eaten in the fine dining upstairs four or five times and the brasserie about the same over the past two or three years. Never had a problem with the service though one sommelier was not what I'd expect, previous one was very good and I'm a committed wino. The food has always been good and on a couple of occasions absolutely stunning. It seems better with a party of three or four than twelve, which I did once. One of the few places I've ever had a whole meal with every element cooked perfectly - and I'm comparing with Quatre Saison, brilliant, and Gavroche, very good but slightly restricted lunch menu.

This was our first visit to Bordeaux Quay, on Saturday at lunchtime. The first impressions were favourable - large, open dining area, tables well spaced apart - great for pushchairs, clean and modern. It was also busy, but not heaving. After we were pointed, not shown, to our table, we sat and waited, and waited for ten minutes before having to flag one of the staff down for a menu - not a good start.

After waiting for another ten minutes, we again had to flag someone down to take our order. We both decided to keep it simple and ordered bread and olives to start followed by moule frites. Our coffee was very good and was brought to our table by the barista after his attempts at attracting the attention of any of the waiting staff failed.

The bread and olives were quickly delivered to our table and a very generous selection it was too - four different types of fresh, homemade bread with olive oil and balsamic dip and large, plump juicy olives. Our water arrived sans glasses. Moules were also good. Not the largest I've seen but plenty of them and nice fresh homemade frites. These were brought over by the gentle man in charge of the front desk.

You may have noticed a pattern here. In fact, I'll go as far as saying that it was the worst I've ever experienced, and I've eaten out hundreds of times in over forty countries. In summary, the quality of service is incredibly disappointing, given that the food and drinks were actually very good, the location is great and the interior modern and stylish. I have never done this before but I'm contacting the owner directly with my feedback and if other people do the same, maybe this place will get the quality of staff it deserves.

We took friends to BQ in the second week after it opened and ate upstairs. However, after all the pre-launch hype the whole experience proved to be exceptionally disappointing - and embarrassing for us as we had positively recommended the place to our friends. The service was very casual and confused. The quality and content of meal was extremely disappointing. It was very poor indeed said the two wives, who are excellent cooks themselves. The setting and ambience was, well just bland lacking in everything except space. We just shrugged, wrote off the better part of £140 and put the whole thing down to the settling in period a new business might need to get its act together. However, shortly after our visit we read an absolutely devastating critique of the place by a well respected restaurant critic in a national newspaper. He absolutely slammed the place - so it wasn’t just us. Even the professionals thought it was bad. This weekend we read another review of the restaurant by another nationally renowned critic and he gave BQ nine and a half on ten. Maybe the whole experience has improved. We are tempted to give it another try, but we hesitate to risk another very bad and expensive experience, especially when entertaining friends. Which restaurant critic was right and has the place really improved that much?

I have eaten there on three separate occasions now, twice at lunch and once for dinner (all in the brasserie downstairs). Each time the food has been outstanding and service excellent. I would highly recommend it.

Having enjoyed a visit to the Brasserie where the food was even better than Quartier Vert, we decided to try the fine dining on Saturday. It was a huge disappointment, the food and service were not a fine dining experience, indeed were inferior to the Brasserie. Barnie was on holiday - maybe that was the problem!

I was hugely disappointed by my first visit to Bordeaux Quay being a die-hard fan of Quartier Vert and a participant in their cookery school. The main course was inedible - a lump of tough, white pork that was totally tasteless - the chick peas and vegetables did little to help the dish. When asked if everything was alright we said 'no' and gave our opinion. The plates were taken away and later returned with the same tasteless meal with a assurance from the waiter that the meat was 'properly cooked'. The restaurant generously reduced our bill and apologised, but I would have preferred to have had some lovely food and paid in full. The starter and wines were excellent.

Sorry Dr Noble, you must have been there on a bad day. I ate in the restaurant upstairs there, for lunch before Christmas with two friends, and for dinner in January in a party of twelve.

Both times the food was excellent, the service just about right, and the wine list varied. The menu had changed on the second visit, both times having a good selection. Recommended.

My review is in complete contrast with that posted by another party on 7th January, which almost stopped me from going to Bordeaux Quay. We enjoyed courteous but not obtrusive service. I had two fish courses. Both were of good quality ingredients, simply prepared (as fish should be) and beautifully presented. I was too full to partake of dessert. My partner had the special of salt beef, again beautifully cooked. The wine list was extensive, and to suit a wide range of budgets. The atmosphere was very pleasant, with enough room between tables for privacy. We had a window seat, looking out onto the water side. A very enjoyable evening.