Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Clifton
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Clifton restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 71 restaurants in Clifton and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Clifton restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Clifton Restaurants
1. The Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Russell St - BA1
“An incredible, unpretentious dining experience” with “varied and sumptuous tastes and service that’s attentive but not fussy” is hailed in all reports on Chris Cleghorn’s long-established venue. “The nine-course tasting menu is imaginative, beautifully presented and very tasty with some unusual flavours” (it’s £160 per person, with a six-course option available for £130, and other cheaper menus available at lunchtime and earlier in the week). It’s located in the cellar of a ‘proudly independent’ boutique hotel and is currently the city’s only establishment to hold a Michelin star.
2. Green Park Brasserie
Burgers, etc restaurant in Bath
Green Park Station - BA1
“A good, no-nonsense place to eat, with outside heaters” – this local landmark is housed in an old 1870s station on the fringe of the city centre (next to the old Ironbridge railway line) and is celebrating over 30 years in business. Billing itself as a steakhouse and jazz bar – and they also do a good line in pizza – it doesn’t aim for foodie fireworks, but is well-rated across the board.
3. Flute
restaurant in Bath
9 Edgar Buildings, George Street - BA1
Flute is a distinctive all-day seafood destination in the heart of Bath offering Cornish seafood, an extensive selection of wines and cocktails with a kick. Flute consistently sources the freshest fish from Devon and Cornwall and...
4. Robun
Japanese restaurant in Bath
4 Princes Building, George Street - BA1
Too limited feedback for a rating, but that which we received is promising on this central Japanese two-year-old, which – as well as offering sushi – specialises in Yakiniku, which is cooking over charcoal (it’s named for the Japanese food writer who introduced western-style BBQ into Japan in the 1870s).
5. Puro By Tommy Thorn
British, Modern restaurant in Clevedon
Rear of 32 - 34 Hill Road - BS21
PURO Restaurant & Bar is a modern venue for relaxed, yet sophisticated, eating and drinking.All our food is fresh, with a focus on well sourced ingredients, providing simple but quality, seasonal food. In addition to the food menu is a carefully selected wine list (...
6. BANK
International restaurant in Bristol
107 Wells Road - BS4
Limited but positive feedback, including from a London-based reporter, on this revamped former branch of Lloyds in Totterdown, which opened in 2021 and relaunched in spring 2023 with a menu based around open-fire cooking.
7. Harbour House
British, Traditional restaurant in Bristol
The Grove, Harbourside - BS1
“Really a little gem in Bristol”: the former Severnshed has morphed, post-pandemic, into an “amazing place that has bags of character and history”, being set in a boatshed designed by Clifton Suspension Bridge engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (and also hosting a well-known eatery with a River Café chef in the ‘90s, and an exhibition by Banksy in 2000). Too limited feedback for a rating, but reports say Ross Gibbens now turns out “really competent food using SW ingredients priced sensibly” (and with a particular nod to St Mawes seafood); minor quibble: “the interior is a bit of a barn so wait for good weather and get a table on the terrace”. Need more convincing? Jay Rayner called it “a delightful place to be” in a 2022 review.
8. The Granary & The Granary Club
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol city centre
32 Welsh Back - BS1
The Granary is a buzzy, neighbourhood all-day eatery near Queen Square in central Bristol, with a great vibe and striking interiors and has been featured in The Telegraph, The Times & Condé Traveler.Think unique, period windows flooding the space with light, ...
9. Clifton Sausage
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol
7 Portland St - BS8
“Working well as a straightforward venue with good fare” – the clue is in the name at Simon & Joy Quarrie’s stalwart fixture, which is now over twenty years old.
10. The Scallop Shell
Fish & seafood restaurant in Bath
22 Monmouth Place - BA1
This “exceptional” and rather posh chippy is reputedly MPW’s favourite restaurant in the region, and all of the many reporters who commented on it this year praised its “truly excellent” food (“whether you opt for fish ’n’ chips or grilled skate wing, it’ll impress!”). In recent years, they’ve added a roof terrace – plus a sibling, The Oyster Shell, near the Theatre Royal, which offers fishy treats and fritters to go.
11. Lido
Mediterranean restaurant in Bristol
Oakfield Place - BS8
It’s “slightly surreal watching swimmers while eating a selection of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern tapas” at this restored Grade II-listed mid-Victorian swimming pool in Clifton, which offers a “warm welcome and some very accommodating touches”. “Great breakfasts and small plates” are available poolside and fuller meals served upstairs, with windows overlooking the pool. “Overall it’s pleasant but not perhaps memorable”.
12. Bravas
Mediterranean restaurant in Bristol
7 Cotham Hill - BS6
2023 Review: Well known down Brizzle way, this small (16 seats) tapas haunt has an outsized reputation for its authentic approach. Our feedback is limited, but it’s a favourite for one or two of our reporters who award it very high marks. It’s part of a local group, and its siblings include Cargo Cantina and Gambas.
13. Spiny Lobster
Fish & seafood restaurant in Bristol
128-130 Whiteladies Road - BS8
“Small, friendly, super fish” – the MO of Mitch Tonks’s longtime Bristol outpost, the former Rockfish Grill, which is “slightly old-fashioned” (a “proper restaurant with proper tablecloths”) but whose “beautifully fresh” catch, shipped in daily from Cornwall, makes it “so good” by absolutely all accounts.
14. Bar 44
Spanish restaurant in Bristol
18 - 20 Regent Street - BS8
2021 Review: “Proper jamon, a good selection of small plates, and an excellent Spanish wine list with a wide range of good sherries” – “a great drinks list with something for everyone” – help inspire positive reviews on this Hispanic yearling – “a great new addition to Bristol” and the first English branch of a small minichain originating near Cardiff.
15. The Ivy Clifton Brasserie
British, Traditional restaurant in Bristol
42-44 Caledonia Place - BS8
Thoroughly at home in Bristol’s smartest village, the first branch outside London of Richard Caring’s national chain is “a very good place to go for a relaxed business lunch” or similar occasion on smart, neutral ground – the food doesn’t inspire much in the way of feedback either good or bad.
16. Wilks
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol
1 Chandos Rd - BS6
2020 Review: “Elegant and imaginative cuisine” and an excellent standard of service again won nothing but rave reviews for James Wilkins & Christine Vayssade’s small restaurant in a Redland sidestreet, whose ambiance was “greatly improved” a couple of years ago “with a new feature street-art wall and intimate décor”. But in October 2019, the pair put it up for sale in order to pursue an opportunity overseas: hence we’ve removed the rating for now.
17. Otira & Chandos Social
Australian restaurant in Bristol
5-7 Chandos Road - BS6
2022 Review: A restaurant of two halves partly inspired by Kiwi chef Stephen Gilchrist's home country of New Zealand, and also featuring an adjoining Argentinian tapas bar with counter-style seating – both highly regarded for their unusual combinations and accent on foraging. Only the latter, Chandos Social @ Otira, was open as of October 2021 – and offering tapas menus to share per couple – so do check ahead before you visit.
18. Wilson's
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol
24 Chandos Rd - BS6
“A combination of casual style and fine dining” – Jan Ostle & Mary Wilson’s modern bistro in Redland is “well worth seeking out” for the “always excellent, ethically unquestionable” cooking (much of it using home-grown produce) that they’re “always pushing to improve”. “The food is most definitely refined but the venue, a small Victorian shop in a shabby-chic part of Bristol, is relaxed and the vibe is more cafe than restaurant”. “At lunchtime, you can opt for a cut-down tasting menu which is great value at this level”.
19. The Vincent Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol
Queen Victoria House, Redland Hill - BS6
2022 Review: “Recently opened of all places in a retirement village” – a modern development of 64 apartments in Redland – “but open to the public”: this September 2020 newcomer is run by local caterers CleverChefs and occupies a light-filled space with open kitchen overlooking an arboretum garden. Open from breakfast and throughout the day, it wins strong early feedback for “assured cooking at reasonable prices”.
20. The Kensington Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Bristol
35-37 Stanley Rd - BS6
“Standards remain consistently high” at this Redland boozer – “part of the Pony and Trap Group” and offering “a step above pub food” (though not straying from the classics and laying on proper Sunday roasts). Top Tip – “there are two rooms upstairs you can have for exclusive use of groups”.
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