Harbour House - Restaurant, Bar & Terrace — Restaurant in Bristol

Went for our valentines date meal, warm welcome and free cocktail on entry. Cocktails were quite sharp but very good.

The menu felt a bit all over the place and didn’t really have much order to it. It was very difficult to decide and nothing really jumped which is strange as me and my boyfriend are big foodies. I went for the duck rillette and my boyfriend had the charcuterie board and I wish I picked what he went for. My started was reminiscent of a tuna and may mix you prepare for a sandwich. I’ve eaten duck rillette before and never had it served like that. My boyfriend loved his food and gave me some and I’ve never had such food envy in my life the meats were lovely, full of flavour and buttery.

For mains I felt a bit lost in the random choices shoved into a paragraph of text with little to no description. I eventually went for the haddock fish and chips. It came with crushed peas, ‘hand cut’ chips and tartar sauce. The fish was okay. It came out very pale as we’re the chips. Crushed peas were nice and tartar was okay. The meal was warm at best but not cold. I asked if they had any mayo or garlic mayo and was brought a yellow sauce resembling mayo but tasted like sour cream so I was a bit worried it was off as it didn’t taste like garlic but the waitress reassured me it was garlic mayo.

My boyfriend ordered the fish cake and the ox cheek. The fish cake came with wilted spinach and peas in a brown sugar sweet chilli sauce me and my boyfriend shared this and I thought it was really nice and worked together well. My boyfriend was not a fan and loves a good fish cake normally. His ox cheek came out stone cold and looked like it had been sat for quite a while as the gravy had thickened and coagulated around the plate. I told our waitress who was nothing but apologetic and lovely who sent it back and made sure when we got the fresh one it was great. The table next to us also sent back their ox cheek for the same reasons. The manager came and apologised and gave us 50% off the ox cheek ( reduced from £20 to £10) my boyfriend said when it came back hot it was good but nothing amazing.

We also had a side of cauliflower cheese and it was good but again nothing amazing and was the only dish that came out piping hot.

Our waitress tempted us with dessert but we just didn’t feel up to it after the food being over all a bit rubbish decided to get our bill and go. I don’t think we will be returning anytime soon as one...

Came here for a birthday celebration, the man at the door was absolutely lovely and gave me a birthday card and allergen menus, was super accommodating! The reason for my 1 star review is because the lady with the short fringe was absolutely horrid to be served by. (Would describe her more but if you’re served by her you will know). What was so frustrating is that everyone else we interacted with was so lovely and she was the opposite. First of all when we walked through the door we received dirty looks from her from the bar, then once we were sat there was no welcoming presence, not even a ‘what do you want?’, she just said ‘someone start’ (to order) as her opening sentence, and then followed to overcharge us for our starters, which even the other waiter agreed was nonsensical. Two of us ordered surf and turf and she didn’t ask anything about temps, and somehow they came completely different?From then she was just genuinely bringing a negative atmosphere and attitude to the dinner, which was so bad that it couldn’t of been an accident and definitely deliberate as to be that bad at service on accident is impossible. When the food was brought to the table, it was pretty much slapped down and no check backs, which was pretty bad because as someone with an allergy it is pretty vital to check back? Luckily the other staff were amazing and did her job for her. I also saw her multiple times picking food out of her mouth in the middle of the restaurant and then bring food out to us. She kicked one of my party’s chair which was so bad it was funny. She also made me stack the plates for her and almost hit me in the head with a plate, reiterating the fact it was so bad it was funny. As i’ve said, for service to be this bad it must be deliberate. If you plan on coming here i’d suggest looking through the window and if you spot her, it would be easier just not to come in. Massive shout out to the rest of the staff who truly made up for her, without the welcoming service at the door and the last man to serve us the service charge would’ve been taken off (And if i had it my way i would make sure none of that money ended up in...

Blown away by the quality of the food here. Visited as a direct result of the recent Jay Rayner review in the Guardian, and was absolutely not disappointed.

We had three courses, the scallops were the best I've eaten in England, the arancini also amazing, and the mackerel. The salt and pepper almonds were beaut, the bread quality and fresh, the olives tasty and not old. Had the fish and chips, the batter (also relevant for the awesome onion rings too) fit for the place of Best Batter in Bristol, and the seafood linguine for mains. Linguini was the right level of creamy, was not disappointed in the actual seafood content either. Pasta cooked to perfection. The apple sorbet was unlike anything I have ever had in my mouth before, and I wanted it to stay there for ever. The blackberry sorbet was good, too, and the profiteroles in a goldfish bowl were delicious and perfectly made.

That such high quality food was produced for us, a meagre table of 3,while a booking of about a hundred people were inside for a Wedding Reception, is testament to the skills and talent of those working in the kitchen. The staff were polite but good humoured, and the atmosphere welcoming and relaxed. The setting, gazing across the water at Redcliffe Caves and the colourful houses, reminds me of everything that is beautiful about living in Bristol.

Will definitely return, again and again. Bristol has an excellent offering of places to eat, but this is definitely in...