Little Hollows Pasta — Restaurant in Bristol

EDIT: Owners response says a lot about the place. Somehow turned it into accusing us looking for a refund? Did we mention anything about a refund in store? Or in this review?

If anything rather shifting blame, it would be more responsible to explain the strange temperature of the dish? Cold plates cold on the outside but piping hot in there middle?

Explain why we were served slower than other people as well? We were the first customer in and 4 tables after us had their meals served and left, when we waited an hour before we asked to check on the mains?

ORIGINAL ANSWER:

I’ll admit our expectations were set a bit high considering it was a Michelin recommend restaurant, unfortunately our experience didn’t match that this time around.

The good:

Great atmosphere , very hospitable staff (front of house lady has a great smile!). Starters were amazing, I really liked the burruta with pumpkin, naturally sweet really compliments each other. Mussels were really nice as well! White wine sauce was very rich and spiced which we very much enjoyed.

The bad:

Not a restauranteer but I do think the menu selection is a bit too many with too many unfamiliar ingredients

We did ask for recommendations and explanations for the menu but never had an experience where I had to ask what every dish is (including starters). Not ideal

Bless the young lady who gave us the explanations, she did try her best. It would be nice to know in more layman terms what the different pasta+stuffing dishes meant and tasted , rather than “tastes really good”

On to our mains, ordered a duck Ragu and one of the “specials” that went on the main menu,sorry forgot the name. Personally didn’t really liked the special, again didn’t know what to expect, so can’t comment about authenticity or wether it’s well made. It wasn’t exciting nor had a great taste of stuffing i felt. Duck Ragu was underwhelming. I had the ox shin ragu from pasta loco this afternoon so I had something to compare. quite flavourless, a bit light but tasted nice nonetheless. I think their strength in fresh pasta really shines here, since their sauces were quite underwhelming.

Now, Here’s where i find unacceptable and hence the review. 1 hr wait time from our starters, we were the first to come but 4-5th table to leave. Others in tables of 4 or so have finished their mains and left before we asked the staff to check on our mains, which came 5 minutes after.

the ragu dish was lukewarm on the outer layer but pipping hot in the very centre. That’s when I checked the plates for both dishes to find mine being cold and the other dish being warm. It felt like my dish was reheated in a microwave as it really messed with the experience.

We mentioned to the front of house lady at the end of our meal as a comment, whom apologised for the experience. But then afterwards came a man with no smile on his face who came to tell us that they don’t have microwaves and invited me to go to the kitchen to check…

I’d much rather get an explanation on why the dish temperature was strange, and put the focus back to a poor experience with long wait times and dish temperature.

In the context of a Michelin recommended restaurant, that wasn’t a great service or mains and it didn’t meet the expectation. Will...

Had a lovely dinner here last night. We were a group of six which ended up working out really well (for reasons I will share in a second).

The staff here are great and the restaurant has a lovely atmosphere which is perfect for a date or a catch up. It's a comfortable and cosy space to be in that allows for conversation.

We ordered bread, olives, a plate of coppa, and some polenta to share for a starting nibble. And then for mains, since there were six of us, we ordered all six main pasta dishes which was so much fun to try a bit of everything. We shared desserts (two tiramisus and one rhubarb pavlova) as well as two bottles of wine. It came to £47 per person (one person wasn't drinking) which was very reasonable as we were all pretty stuffed and ready to be rolled home.

Highlights of the menu for me were the polenta small plate, the mushroom tortelli, the tiramisu and the rhubarb pavlova. The polenta was an interesting combination with the sliced courgette and celeriac - very tasty. I'm a sucker for mushroom pasta dishes, and they did no wrongs here. The rhubarb pavlova in particular was a highlight as it was made even better by the thin slices of basil which added a really fun twist to the flavour overall. The tiramisu was strong in coffee flavour and not overly sweet which is exactly what I like.

I thought for the pasta dishes, the fresh pasta was delicious, perfectly al dente. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed having the variety of being able to taste all of the dishes, I think had I had a singular plate to myself of any of them, it would've been too much. Three of them were very creamy, and would've been too rich to have had to myself. The ragu tagliatelle and prawn head tagliolini had great depths but were a bit too salty for my personal preferences to have had in quantity. Perhaps if I came here as a two, I would be mindful of that and order one creamy dish along with a richer dish. But as it was, I was very happy we got to try them all.

Whilst I don't think this is my favourite pasta place in Bristol, I think it's excellent value and I would happily...

A little gem of the area - amazing food with great atmosphere. We were welcomed with smile and immediately attended to. I particularly liked the sourdough bread - so good! The other starters we tried were delicious too (grilled octopus, burrata).

The main is the highlight of the evening - I had pasta with Devon crab. The pasta itself was made fresh and perfectly cooked. The dish was well-seasoned and I definitely could eat this everyday. My only issue with the dish is that there are some crab shells in the pasta which makes biting into them a little unpleasant at times.

The restaurant has a great friendly environment although we felt very rushed with the 90 mins table slot. The three of us actually haven’t finished reading the menu but felt that we had to make a decision there and then as staff kept coming to take orders. Also we were given the bill and the card machine without us asking as apparently our time had run out which was a shame as we would’ve loved trying their desserts.

Overall, a great evening with fantastic food. However I think a 90-min slot for a table isn’t enough especially if your customers would like a 3-course meal. My suggestion is either to extend table booking to a 2-hr slot or make food service a little quicker as it’s not the customer’s fault if the food takes some time to be prepared and yet they are forced to leave...