The River Grille

My sister and I love to come here when we meet up in Bristol. The menu is varied and all choices are good. The service is excellent and discreet. Sometimes, if we are lucky, there is a pianist. A lucky find and a good place to sit and watch people outside.

Nice setting overlooking riverfront - friendly staff and pleasing atmosphere - good starters, but we had seafood main courses which despite good quality core ingredients could have been better - sauces didn't quite hit the mark. Otherwise very good.

Went for a Sunday Carvery, we were first to be served, the plates were cold and good tepid.

We did mention this to staff on departure.

Very disappointing as always had a good experience in the past.

Nice location with huge windows to watch the world go by. Sadly a bit of building work outside, but nothing the restaurant could control. Service was mostly good. Unfortunately my fillet steak was rather over cooked and I was given an end piece which was falling apart (stringy and tough), rather than 1 decent piece of meat. If I’m going to pay £25 for 6oz of meat it needs to be a good cut, and cooked to order (medium rare not medium well). Replaced without question, but when the new steak had been cooked my mum had finished her main course. Not ideal, no offer of a coffee etc to compensate. Not likely to return.

Absolutely wonderful
Well worth a visit
Had an amazing time
Xxxx

I ordered seafood skillet and honestly was worth every penny absolutely delicious dish.

On arrival, kept waiting a bit to be seated, felt that staff could of acknowledged us at least ! Once seated things improved ( other than miserable looking waiter pushing my mothers seat back under the table when she was up on her feet talking-she is disabled! Which I thought was rude!) apart from that food was beautiful, lad on carvers was cheerful and accommodating and the waitresses and manager was outstanding. Very good overall, will recommend...will be back!! 👍🏼

Very nice atmosphere and attentive service. The wine and the scallops starter were lovely. The veggie main course was interesting and tasty but not special, I would go for fish next time. Also had a children's menu which had to be requested from the server. I don't know if they had accessible toilets but the entrance was flat. Watch out for cobblestones in the harbour but that's not a reflection on the Grille House of course.

This restaurant is a must, they have never given us a bad experience, 3rd visit always spot on. Staff are very attentive and polite.

It was ok over all. The starters were superb, really good. The main courses were amazingly ordinary and disappointing. My steak was a medium rare fillet. It was accurately medium rare but strangely dry , almost as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp and it had very little flavour.

I had a lemon meringue pie where meringue was wet and sloppy and the pastry was as if ready cooked from a supermarket.

My companion had a slow cooked lamb shank which is usually an easy winner but again it was dry with a sauce which had been poured over it and then congealed. . A slow cooked lamb shank usually has the wonderful juices in which it has slowly come to fruition.

The food came with minimal vegetables . Side dishes were ostentatiously expensive. As is the whole menu. We paid £180 for three people including the tip. Enough for a bargain weekend away somewhere. As a family we have dined in some amazing restaurants and understand the costs involved at times and pay willingly when the experience is special. But the whole way through this meal it was short of great.

The waiters were friendly and attentive but far too eager to top up your wine glass. It became a nuisance and a pressure. Half a glass does not need topping up to the brim.

To top things off for me I went to the ladies at 10.35 at the end of our meal . There is only one toilet for the whole restaurant. There was a cleaning person in the loo. spraying the most toxic and pungent fumes. Having entered this airless cubicle, two lungs full of Izal or what ever chemical obliterated all memory of the meal and the wine. At 10.35? The inference also being that I was not required on the premises any longer.

The Maitr d' was charming and as friendly and helpful as he could be. 5 stars for him!

The situation was lovely and we had a table by the window.

However the experience did not in any measure add up to the lush advertisement online and was very very expensive at the price.

We've been to the river grille a number of times. It's our favourite restaurant for special occasions in Bristol.

Excellent restaurant with attentive staff in a great location

Really great Sunday lunch. Excellent value for money. Great Ambience.

This restaurant was perfect for a lovely night out as a family. From the time we arrived until the time we left the staff were attentive, accommodating of our children, service was timely, food was lovely, and meal was as good as it gets. This is an excellent restaurant.

The service was awwful, the waiter did not smile at us at all. The waiter ignored me when I asked questions most of the time. Inconsistency in crockery, myself and a friend ordered the same item and was given completely different styles of the same cup. My guests were not impressed and the bad service ruined our night considering it was NYE and paid £235 for our evening. Management arguing with my guests when they asked for the bill. Asked to leave early while still drinking coffee to seat other guests but was not told there was a time limit. Meat was not cooked to how I asked, waiter argued with me telling me it was, it was medium rare but i asked for medium well. I had to apologise to my guests unfortunately. If it was better we probably would have spent a lot more money, it was definitely not worth the money I paid.

Pre-theatre meal. The website showed a pre-Theatre menu so booked on open table stating under "Select an occasion" pre- theatre meal. Turned up at restaurant to be told only the Christmas menu at £35 was available. No apology given

We picked this restaurant based on your reviews and unfortunately came away very disappointed bearing in mind the cost.

Lovely ambiance, delicious food and friendly staff. Recommend 👌🏼

We were in a Bristol for one night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I spent time researching restaurants in the area and, having read other reviews, booked this one but we were disappointed.

The menu is limited and two options on the menu were unavailable, with one being substituted for what we would class as an everyday supper dish - spaghetti and mushrooms! We found the standard of the food we had was average and no more, and as the pricing is a little above average we expected more. We would have expected to be offered bread and we would also expect to be asked if everything is ok at least once during the meal. Our pre-dinner drinks took ages to arrive so we were still drinking them when the starters arrived.

The dessert was a total rip-off! Our summer berry Eton messes were a glass full of cream with 2, maybe 3, small pieces of meringue and a fruit sauce swirled through it. One sliced strawberry sat on the top! At £7 each we expected better.

The restaurant wasn't that busy when we were ready to leave but no-one saw us out and we were left to collect our coats ourselves. Perhaps we expected too much but for a meal for two costing over £100 we would definitely get better service, food and attention in Surrey or Central London.

Good, well done team

Staff seemed unorganised, and seemed to forget we were there at times

My boyfriend and I came for an evening meal here to celebrate our anniversary. It was my first time in Bristol and I am so glad we chose this restaurant.
The staff we very attentive, offering great suggestions from the drinks and food menu.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant

Very nice restaurant, pleasant, helpful staff. Ok food, salad leaves a little tired.
Good cocktail bar upstairs.

Good food with a view over looking the waterfront. Close to night life to carry on the evening. Wish it was a little cheaper though.

We have been to river grille several times ,this time we were celebrating Fathers Day.As always ,the food was excellent,the staff very pleasant,and in a perfect location...Well done again River Grille,we will spend many more Sunday's with you.Thankyou for making Fathers Day Special,my in-laws who travelled from Bedfordshire ,absolutely loved it .😄

We made a reservation on Open Table 30 minutes before arriving, and they said they didn't have a table for us, but they ended up pushing two circle tables together. The service was extremely slow. It took about 30 minutes to get our cocktails. The food also took a long time. The servers were quite rude and pretended not to see us when we tried to get their attention. When we ordered our second cocktails, the bartender brought them over himself, and he was very nice. The view and food were great, as were the dry martinis, but I wouldn't go back due to the service.

The River Grille is one of the most wonderful Restaurants in Bristol. A superb food quality combined with an outstanding service makes it a reference and a place to visit.
The pre-theatre menu is a very good choice and definitely value for money.

Enjoyed a great pre-theatre meal; good service and the food only disappointed slightly because the steak was a little fatty. But other than that the food was excellent. Would definitely visit again. An enjoyable experience.

Great tasty food! the staff were all friendly and welcoming and were able to offer recommendations. Lovely view looking at the river.

Love the lemon tart !

Main course took an hour to come

After waiting for desert was told pastry chef had gone home so no desert

So please we found this on our weekend trip to Bristol with friends . The food was outstanding, the service attentive and personal, we could not praise this restaurant more highly for our first night in Bristol. Well priced for quality of dining experience.

Lovely meal, and outrageously good service. Loved it.

Food was poor quality. Will not be returning.

We booked a family meal for daughters 20th birthday and it was fabulous! Gorgeous cocktail 🍹 lovely food and fantastic atmosphere we had a wonderful time thanks very much we will definitely return and recommend

Great Service & Setting, unfortunately let down by the food. Had the Sunday Carvery, but the veg was over cooked, roast potatoes dry and the meat (Lamb & Beef) was really tough.

Good service , delicious food , lovely restaurant.

A lovely atmosphere, we dined on a Saturday night and at around 7:30 they have a jazz band playing its was brilliant! The food was delicious as were the passion fruit cocktails on arrival! Would definitely return!

The meal was perfect the food was amazing the table looking out to the river couldn't be any better, the service was excellent the staff were very polite and couldn't do enough to make the evening any better we have already booked our next visit and cannot wait so thank you for making it so lovely.

Had a 17.45 reservation for pre theatre meal so the place was virtually empty & had no atmosphere. A little bit stuffy for this part of the city,Stags & Hens cruising past,but was excellent value for money.