Bertha's Pizza — Restaurant in Bristol

We went on a Tuesday evening and overall, it was okay. The experience reminded me why I don't tend to go to trendy places around the docks - they're a little arrogant and up their own backsides.

Things started with a warm welcome but we only got a pint of beer when we asked for a pitcher. The non-alcohol options are there (dry January) but they're hardly plentiful. A glass of glass of elderflower presse was a rather expensive £3.

On to the menu - it's short and largely vegetarian/vegan. This wouldn't be bad if it weren't for the absence of tomatoes in several of the pizzas. I asked whether I could have a simple vegetarian pizza of my own choosing but apparently the chefs don't take kindly to customers making their own topping decisions (?!). Hence I went for the decadent truffle and mushroom pizza. My father went for the neapolitan. For starters we opted for the aubergine and the olives.

The olives were fresh but sadly quite bland and could have done with some seasoning or dressing. Note the tables don't have any salt or pepper. The aubergine was superb.

Unfortunately, my tomato fears were confirmed and my pizza had no tomato base. It was more of a creamy (and insanely rich) mushroom pizza. The base was superb but the topping wasn't to my taste. My father's pizza looked great but despite tomatoes, olives and mozzarella, all he could taste were the anchovies. The knives were also very blunt, leading to plenty of eating frustration.

The aubergine was the undoubted star of the show in an evening of questionable service and disappointing pizza. Perhaps if the place didn't feel quite so up its own backside (as many places do south of the river) they would be more welcoming to a customer simply asking for a pizza of their own creation? Or perhaps at least some more inviting options on the menu? What makes this particularly frustrating is that the base of the pizza was superb.

All the above cost £50 and the waiter never bothered to ask us whether we were enjoying our meals. Would I bother...

We had a great meal here and will definitely be back. The sourdough pizza is really delicious, as was the gelato, and you don't have to wait long for it (I later learned the pizza is cooked for a short time at a very high temperature). The place has a lovely atmosphere - laid back, lively without feeling crowded or noisy, and very welcoming.

While not obviously aimed at families, this is definitely a family/baby-friendly place - there's space by the door to park a pushchair, baby changing in the big loo (with plenty of space for it too - no need to balance your nappy bag on the bin here), and staff will bring you a high chair.

What really made our meal special was the great service we received. Visiting with our 10-month-old baby on a Friday night, the staff were very understanding of our needs. They suggested bread for the baby to eat and brought it quickly, took my pizza away to keep warm by the oven when I had to change the baby just as our food was arriving, and brought it back as soon as they noticed me returning to the table. The staff also went out of their way to engage with our baby as they passed, which he really loved. As any parent of a baby will tell you, happy baby = happy parents! Especially with food as good as this, we all left with smiles...

We are visiting Bristol from the US, and my nephew took us to this place for dinner. He'd never been there before, but we were looking forward to trying it. The atmosphere is nice, but in looking at the menu, one of the first things we noticed is that there's a 12.5% gratuity added to every order. It doesn't matter the size of your party, it's just added on regardless of the quality of service you get. This was especially interesting as most of England still don't expect tips for things. Anyway, we ordered 4 pizzas, and the range was from about 11.5 GBP to 15 GBP. Not a horrible price, but the pizzas were not huge. Good for one person each. We ordered drinks, and the prices were pretty average. Our disappointment came when the pizzas were delivered. All but one were scorched in a number of places, and the taste permeated the whole pizza. We didn't return them, but ate what we could. They did give us a discount at the till, but the pizzas shouldn't have been presented that way. We've heard that they have fabulous gelato, but we didn't have time for dessert, so I cannot comment on that. We left feeling that the meal was just "meh". I don't know if I would return, unless it was to...