Hort's Townhouse — Restaurant in Bristol

If I could give 0 stars to this place I would, what an awful, unpleasant experience it was. I would never in my life recommend it and clearly I am never coming back to this place.

I was there with a party of 8 for dinner, we sat at your table and were told someone was coming to take our order, after about 20 mins of waiting one of the 3 staff members came to tell us that they were understaffed and we need to come and order at the bar, okay no worries! we did and everyone ordered at the same time.

The order and time in which the food came out was appalling; the person who ordered last got their food before anybody then when they finished their food, two other people at our table got their meals, then when they finished their food two more got theirs and myself and one more person just sat there waiting for more than a God forsaken hour for a rare steak as thin as paper, seriously how long does that even take to cook? Just ridiculous.

The last two finished their meal and we still waited a while before saying anything meanwhile food was being served to the other tables, even smaller side dishes were coming out of the kitchen, I was so offended and disappointed, clearly the kitchen lost my order. The person serving tables could clearly see we didn’t get our food but not once he bothered to come and at least acknowledge the problem. Your staff was busier mocking around “hosting” a lame pub quiz and that made it all even more pathetic.

I got tired of waiting and grabbed your staff’s attention and before I could say a word he interrupted me and said “I know, I know and I’m very sorry but the food is prepared on a first come- first served basis” that was it for me, I was starving, I ordered my food at the same time as everyone else on my table, actually the person who got their food first and I went to the bar TOGETHER to place our orders. I did not appreciate the stand he took and I tried to explain that if that was true I would have been eating more than an hour ago.

He left and spoke to the kitchen staff, came back and said “it’ll be about 10 more minutes”

I waited so long that I was past the point of hunger, my appetite got ruined by the incompetence and poor response of your staff, so I instructed him to cancel my order and issue me a refund.

Now you might be thinking the restaurant was at full capacity but no, there were indeed only two other small tables and us.

Anyway, I was asked to go to the bar to get my refund, the other staff member that issued me the refund was very condescending and pushy “well I’m very sorry, your refund is issued but just so you know we are still cooking your food so you should eat” I was very clear when I said do not cook the food, I am not hungry any more and I’m not going to seat there and eat while the rest of the table just stares and waits for me, this was supposed to be a pleasant dinner party, I was supposed to eat with the rest of the table, not like this.

Well, it was like talking to a brick wall, I went outside for air and when I came back the food was on the table, as if the entire situation wasn’t ridiculous and embarrassing enough, now you put me in a position where I have everyone at the table watching me and expecting me to eat when my stomach is in knots, my appetite is gone and I clearly said do not cook the food.

You embarrassed me so much, I’m not a dog to eat on command, whenever your people decides it’s now viable to toss a steak in a pan for 15 seconds and put it on a plate for me, I told you explicitly to not cook it after I got my money back, what was all that about? Absolutely disgusting and tone-deaf attitude from all of your staff.

I hated my experience there, it was a total waste of time and I regret...

Absolutely abysmal service. We lasted all of 5 minutes before walking out.

I booked a table for 5 online via their website a few hours in advance of our arrival. When we arrived the staff were clueless because I wasn't on the piece of paper they print out first thing in the morning and again mid afternoon! Eventually they found us on the computer but were clearly concerned on where they were going to seat us, after a couple of minutes under the breath discussions they eventually decided on what to do. Admittedly at this point I made the situation far more complicated for any bar/restaurant to cope with when I asked if they could accommodate an additional 2 people who had decided to join us a bit later on.

This request now resulted in the table they were going to sit us at being taken by other customers (no one else was actually waiting for a table btw) and the only table available was in the main bar with just a few seats around it. Bearing in mind the entire back area of the restaurant was completely empty but the bar man kept saying that the place was fully booked from 3pm with a big party of 40 and no seats were available. This was at 12:45 and the table I had booked was for a 2 hour window anyway.

At this point a wedding party walked in and claimed the table in the main bar. To be fair the staff did speak to them and say that it was our table but the party announced that there were 28 of them descending on the bar. This was the final nail, there was no way we were hanging around any longer, if they can't accommodate 5 people who had booked in advance there was no way they could cope with an impromptu party of 28 and we just left the chaos and went elsewhere.

It was clearly amateur hour. What's the point of an online booking system if you refer to a scrap of paper that's printed twice a day. You have a completely empty bar/restaurant but you can't sit anyone because customers will arrive in over 2 hours and you are effectively turning away customers who've...

We stayed for the fourth time recently at this wonderful little gem. We had a few niggly issues but Lauren, Desk Manager played a blinder and sorted us out. Missing a trick in room 20/1, can't remember which. Large space in the corner of the room that has a small chair and small gold coloured surface/table. I'm sure there's enough room here for a small 2 seater sofa which would add enormously to the room, looks a bit sad when you're perched on the not too comfortable chair all alone. Super baths in the rooms we had and the showers are fabulous too. Happy waiting staff at breakfast too. We'll be back again. Second stay at Horts. We were in the Feature Boutique this time, some great features especially the round recessed ceiling light which was like having a ceiling window. It was a cold weekend, bathroom chilly but did warm slightly after we turned on the electric towel rail. For some reason the air con went into standby at random times. Had dinner one night and Jamie the Manager played a blinder with service and chat. Mussels were lovely and plump whilst the fish very tasty with batter light and crispy. Housekeeping lady was very helpful and customer focused. Three things we missed that we would have liked. Tissues, slippers and feather pillows. 5stars if provided....