Jean's Bistro — Restaurant in Bristol

My Sister recommended a Thai Restaurant to me the other day so we decided to check out 'Jeans Bistro' for ourselves.

We called in to book a table on a very wet overcast Tuesday morning which didn't show inner Bristol in its best light.

The streets were crowded with cars, parked bumper to bumper on every side street and Gloucester road was congested.

So when we found Jeans Bistro wasn't open for another hour we decided to sit and have coffee rather than stroll down Gloucester Rd, which was our original plan.

Anyone who doesn't know Gloucester Rd a former coaching route which eventually leads to Stokes Croft, is missing a treat.

It is full of independent shops and some of the best Cafe's and restaurants in Bristol.

There are hundreds of places to eat and the choice is vast.

You will never go hungry on Gloucester Rd!

When 11 am came round we wandered up the road to the restaurant.

It didn't look much from outside and on a gloomy morning, it didn't look very appealing inside either!

There were some ordinary looking tables in a very plain looking environment. It didn't look too impressive and we wondered whether this was a good idea.

However, a nice Lady came and spoke to us, took our details and gave us a menu to take away.

Wednesday evening our friends came and picked us up and dropped us outside the restaurant before going off to find a parking space.

When we went in the transformation was amazing.

With the tables laid, the lighting on and about a dozen customers already seated the place came to life.

We were seated at a rather small (for four) oblong table close to the counter and very close to the table of four next door.

This is a Bring Your Own wine (BYO) venue so we had a couple of bags of beer and wine sat under the table.

They do advertise a charge of £1.50 per person corkage which initially I found a bit offensive but on reflection, I didn't mind as during the course of the evening they gave us wine glasses, beer glasses and water glasses, all of which have to be purchased, washed and dried, and that all comes at a cost.

The menu isn't vast but it has a good selection of items and some looked very authentic which is important as all four of us have spent a lot of time in Thailand and we know our Thai grub.

We chose Spicy Soy Chicken (£5.50) and Crispy Beef in Sweet & Sour Sauce (£5.50) as a starter to share and it was very good, the Chicken being slightly hotter.

I chose Thai Green Chicken Curry (£8.50) with sticky rice and an extra portion of Noodles.

My mate chose the Thai Red Chicken Curry (£8.50) and had a discussion with the server about which would/should be the hottest.

I really wanted to try the Massaman Beef curry (£8.50) but I'll save that for next time.

My other friend went for the Pad Thai noodles with Prawns and it looked and tasted great with some big Prawns. Could have done with some hand wash though.

My Partner chose the Beef with hot chilli & sweet Basil Sauce and again it looked fantastic and tasted perfect.

Rice or noodles are extra and cost up to £2.50 a portion but it was good sticky rice and the noodles were perfect.

The food had those real Thai flavours.

Service was professional, knowledgable and friendly without being over bearing.

Seating was comfortable and had a really intimate atmosphere.

We paid £30 per couple and that included a tip.

The food was great, really authentic Thai flavours in a simple setting.

We are already planning our next visit

Come on and give it a try, you know...

The first thing I can say about this place is that the food is absolutely stupendous. Our range of main courses, sides and starters were cooked to perfection and served in a friendly and professional manner. The place was busy but not too rowdy, which was nice considering it was just after a Rovers game. It's nice to see a place doing well but my only criticism of Jean's is that the first row of tables are situated right by the front door, which opens inwards, exposing diners to the vagaries of Glossy Rd every 60 seconds. For this reason we asked to be moved and the staff were more than accommodating. I rarely give 5-star reviews but this came very close, so well done Jean's. I'm just updating this from December 2021. We pre booked a large party for my partners birthday. People had come from far a wide, not just Bristol and we had massively hyped Jeans to them all. Unfortunately this experience was nothing like as good. Slow service in between starters and mains caused me to get a Dominos starter pizza just to keep my 5 year old girl fed. Watching countless Deliveroo drivers coming to pick up orders while we sat there with empty plates for 90 mins was painful, to say the least. Due to the huge wait many of our party had consumed alcohol before eating, which exacerbated their hunger. the food is great but I wouldn't take a large party back as they clearly couldn't cater for it.

Update July 24. Was back at jeans on Wednesday and I have to say this time that service and food were impeccable. An accommodating and friendly team with still reasonably good prices for Bristol. My sole criticism this time was that the eating area was way too hot on the kitchen was too close. Take note, some trendy places make a big deal of showing off the kitchen but this looked like more like...

Just nipped into the Jeans Bistro just after 2300 tonight with my bicycle to grab a takeaway which I assumed who'd be ok as the lights were on, the door was open and there was two mopeds inside Unfortunately the man inside informed me it was shut in a harsh tone, because of his aggressive response I replied "well lock the doors then" he responded "get out " which I felt was escalating the situation considering I was a new customer & was already leaving This did annoy me due to the fact I'd never been their before and i was quite looking forward to something to eat I then said " I was going to coming back here" he then shoed me off like a unhappy security guard I cycled up the road about 10yards before I decided this was unacceptable and went back to take a photo of the sign so I'd remember the name later to make a complaint Yet again unfortunately he escalated it even further as as I was pulling up he walked out of the shop and stood on the footpath as I was taking the picture to which I changed my photo into camera for my safety as he seemed extremely aggressive by this point, laughed and said " Your a big man aren't you?" He replied "Yes" I laughed and said something I regret and would not like to repeat All in all I feel considering I was a potential loyal customer and a good Christian I will humberly regent I will never set foot inside this establishment until the business is different" Shame on you for your shocking customers service, maybe youd be better off working...