Bambalan — Restaurant in Bristol

If I could do less than 0 stars, I would. I’ve tried to visit Bambalan Bristol 3 times. The first time, it was a Sunday and they had all new signage out to say that they were now open Sundays. As me and my partner walked up the stairs to enter, a member of staff in our eyeline SHOUTED to another member of staff “CAN YOU TELL THESE PEOPLE THAT WE ARE NOT OPEN” whilst we were literally waiting at the checking in area. The second time, we actually booked a table, we were treated like rubbish. We were sat in a deserted corner away from everyone else, then when it came to paying the bill, my partner gave the member of staff cash. The member of staff took the cash and we stood waiting for our change which was around £9. The member of staff ignored us, then as he saw us Clearly waiting for change told us that they did not accept cash and therefore could not give us cash as change. At no point before this did he mention this, including when we handed over the cash as payment. He then proceeded to argue with my partner over this as my partner was saying if they had told us this, we would have paid card. This went on a few minutes until the bouncer came over (who agreed with us) that this was disgusting service and eventually the member of staff gave us the money back and we paid on card. For one, do you not think that this would be a point that you would make when seeing us to our table rather than trying to pocket an extra £9 by not telling us you did not accept cash? The member of staff was horrendously rude and clearly embarrassed the bouncer which is why he told him to give us our money back and let us pay by card. The third and final time which was today, we walked up the stairs to enter, to be greeted by a member of staff who told us that they were booked with a private function and closed to members of the public. Again, do you not think that it would be appropriate to put a sign up to say that they were closed for a private function rather than letting us walk all the way in to then tell us they were closed. I think Bambalan Bristol need some training in customer service. If this is the way you treat people that want to dine and drink at your establishment and expect them to return for a further visit - Then you are very much mistaken as your current team are not fit for purpose when it comes to their “job role”. Sort...

April 2021 UPDATE: 2 years ago I wrote the below review and gave the restaurant 4 stars. I went again yesterday and I would now recommend avoiding this place. The food, drinks and service were all extremely disappointing.

The menu has now totally changed, and it is now basically a pizza restaurant. All other food on the menu was overpriced and disappointing. For example the Grilled prawns main is £12 and is just prawns with no sides. I ordered the Aubergine "salad" which was absolutely not a salad. A big dollop of hummus with a smattering of tomato and cucumber on top for £8. It was essentially a dip, and you had to pay £2.50 extra for pita bread. The chips are also kebab shop quality. Pizzas were good, so if that's what you want then you will be happy, although there are much better pizza places in Bristol. Overall, the quality of the food did not meet the cost, and the menu is disjointed.

Similar issue with the drinks. Cocktails are £9, for which you would expect either a lot of drink or a really tasty drink. This was neither, we received something that resembled juice in a glass that was mostly ice. For that price you can get much higher quality drinks elsewhere.

Finally the service was just poor. We had been at the restaurant for an hour and still no one came to take our order. We had to ask to give our order, to get the bill, to pay for the bill. No one checked if everything was ok, or if we needed anything else.

It's really sad as this is such an amazing venue. I hope they improve soon, but until they fix the menu I won't be returning.

August 2019

I went here for my birthday with a group of 16. The staff were really lovely and accomodating for a large group, making sure that they could fit us all on one table. The food came surprisingly quickly as well, all arriving at the same time. Everyone really enjoyed their meal, but the best part were the drinks, which tasted like proper fruit juice rather than fruit syrups that most places use. I had to give it 4 stars though because our drinks orders often didn't get put through, so we would wait for ages, before realising that we needed to ask for the...

Went to visit on Saturday 10th June in the hope of having a lovely lunch and some drinks. The service was absolutely shocking. On entry their was a bored looking man sat on a stool halfway up the stairs, not sure if he was security or what his purpose was, but we told him we had a table reserved and he was completely uninterested and felt like he couldn’t be bothered. When we got up the stairs again we explained we had a reservation and we’re asked to wait at the bar someone would show us to our table. No one did. We ordered a couple of drinks and stood drinking them surrounded by empty tables. A staff member approached us and asked us if the hostess had come over to us. Clearly not? She then disappeared again. The hostess (at least I think that was what she was doing) was strutting around and passed us several times without even a glance - we were the only group waiting in the bar. I then complained again and we were eventually told to head up to the terrace. We were waiting for about 30 minutes being completely ignored. I have never ever experienced such rude service! We weren’t shown to our table and they just pointed up the stairs. A man at the top who shockingly turned out to be a manager then gestured to a table. He then disappeared. We had no Menus or any idea how to order or where. We sat for a while and then I went to the bar. The bar staff seemed as useless as everyone else working there - they told us they didn’t know what was going on that they were temp staff from another company. I asked to speak to the manager. The bat man went off to find them. He came back and said she would be over to speak to us in a minute. No one came. We had been there nearly an hour and not one member of staff was interested. We decided to leave and not waste our money Ona venue that clearly did not want our custom. On the way out i asked to speak to a manager. The man from the roof terrace came out. I nearly laughed in disbelief. Absolutely shocking service. Trying to be an Ibiza style summer bar but if you bought it off wish. You get better service in Mcdonalds. Will not be returning and would urge...