Report Abuse

“My husband and I thought that we would treat ourselves...”

written by paradise on 21/08/2004

Good Points
Cannot list any.

Bad Points
Terrible Food, Terrible Decor, Bad Service.

General Comments
My husband and I thought that we would treat ourselves after reading a review on an Internet Restaurant Guide (not this site). Howards was stated as being one of the nicer restaurants in Bristol - we thank God that a taxi was not ordered and I opted to drive.

Our table was booked for 8.45 - 9.00 p.m. We arrived around 8.45 p.m. Shown to a table which was tucked right out of the way next door to a drafty curtain, which I found out housed the coats, napkins, etc. Not a good start. Decor and atmosphere was bad.

Very expensive food, so it had to be good....er no! I ordered mixed shellfish and seafood starter, my husband had scallops wrapped in bacon with a delicate sauce, sounded very nice but at around £7.25 expensive. No water was offered, only a bit of stale homemade bread, (which we ended up paying £1.00 each as an extra for a piece of bread that was approx. 5 ins x 5 ins).

This was ordered straight away at approximately 9.00 p.m. 45 mins later still no starter. It was 9.45 p.m as our stomachs were rumbling. Ready to walk out as two waitresses often passed us not noticing that are starter cutlery still laid before us. I beckoned a waitress over and asked why it takes 45 minutes for two starters? She rushed away only to find that our order had gone missing. The manager came over and apologised on behalf of himself and the chef and that our two glasses of red wine we ordered to have with our main courses were complimentary - thank God as they were nearly £6 a glass each!. Our starters arrived. Mine was surprisingly a cold starter and very badly presented. I had two baby squid, a piece of I think mackerel or some type of white fish, two miniature cockles, and a couple of cocktail prawns thrown on a large bed of lettuce which tasted like it had been marinated in vinegar. I could hardly swallow a mouthful as the vinegar taste was awful. It was swimming in a vinegar and to top it all the seafood tasted as though it was pickled seafood and not fresh. My husband's surely must be better. He had two skewered bacon rolls arrived on a plate with Worcester sauce splashed around the plate. The bacon was extremely smokey, fatty and thick-cut, which killed any flavour of the scallops or anything else come to that!. Were they scallops or something else?, we couldn't decide. It looked like chicken, Awful and over cooked. The manager came over and said, "was it worth the wait", assuming that we would throw nothing but words of compliments at him. It was ok said my husband, terribly British of him. I had to say that I've never tasted anything like it in my life, it tasted nothing but vinegar and I couldn't eat it. Oh dear was his reply, thank you for being honest, I will relay your comments to the chef. At least we didn't have to pay for our two glasses of red wine, normally we would order a bottle. But as I found out on the way home my husband informed me that a bottle of wine was around £40 mark. Next came the main course. My husband ordered some kind of pork in noodles with a sauce...hey wait,, it's drowning in, yes, Worcester sauce, must be a chef speciality. Mine main course next, the menu read, Duck with peaches, raspberries and a sauce. Sounded lovely, unusual I thought putting raspberries with duck, but hey, I am open minded. Guess what, well under cooked duck still bleeding to death in a -yes, raspberry vinegar type clear sauce. I managed to swallow the duck but nothing else. Service, food, atmosphere was the worst I have ever tasted in my life of eating in good and not so good restaurants around the world and U.K. We couldn't wait to get out of there and our bill without a bottle of wine, desserts or coffee still came to £50. Money very much wasted and a total evening ruined. My only advice on this review is to say STAY AWAY.