Magari — Restaurant in Bristol

85/100%

SUMMARY: High quality, delicious, good value, authentic Italian, homemade (including pasta itself) food with very friendly service. Would recommend and would return.

Went for lunch on a Tuesday with 3 others.

Chef/?owner making pasta with pasta machine as we walked in.

Menu comparatively small (5 pasta dishes, 1 starter and 2 desserts I think) but this probably lunchtime menu and whole restaurant is tiny (only 2 tables next to kitchen). Small menu always sign of good restaurant though in my experience - they can focus on doing few things to highest standard and keeps things cheaper. Each pasta dish only approx 9£.

Ordered 3 types of pasta dishes. All homemade including pasta and sauce itself - ragu (tomato meat sauce), butternut squash and pumpkin seeds and anchovies.

Not waiting too long (although we were only people in restaurant to be fair).

All decent portion sizes (this isnt tiny portions like you get in posh restaurants etc).

All REALLY FLAVOURFUL - I wish I could make simple pasta like this at home.

Bear in mind that this is traditional Italian - ie the pasta doesn't have that much sauce or meat/fish/veg mixed in. Just a really flavourful lighter sauce with small amounts of meat/veg to coat pasta. Might not be what you are used to from other Italian restaurants in UK but THIS PASTA WAS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS I HAVE HAD IN RESTAURANTS IN MULTIPLE CITIES IN NORTHERN ITALY earlier this year. Really delicious.

Maybe a little more protein/vegetable pieces could be mixed in? Would make seem even better value for money too.

Tiramisu also homemade, good portion size and very tasty.

Fire alarm was going off for most of meal but not restaurant's fault - apparently linked to all other fire alarms in complex. Some way to turn this off bit quicker would be good. The people you pay rent to/building manager should sort this out - you're paying them money and this problem (which is their fault I guess) disruptive to your business.

Lady that served us also mentioned how they were trying to use local ingredients as much as possible which is great (eg using local cheese).

She was friendly, sweet, smiley and seemed to be from ? Italy.

Things that I LOVED (PLEASE DONT CHANGE THESE):

1. homemade
2. delicious
3. good portion sizes to fill me up nicely.
4. good price (continue at less that 10£ I think would be great)
5. quick to make
6. simple - no need for fanciness/extras to make the dish seem more fancy/posh. Just simple delicious bowl of pasta like my Italian aunty would make is all that is needed and this is what you provided.
7. friendly service and very smiley

Things that could be improved:

1. maybe more protein/vegetables in sauce (as long as doesn't affect taste/price)
2. fire alarm
3. maybe the long pasta lengths could be cut in half to make half as long? Would make bit easier to eat with fork/could provide some knives to cut pasta in half

If things that I loved stay the same/things get even better will definitely be back and telling friends/family. Would love to be taught how to cook this food which you mentioned you may be doing in future too.

Could consider delivery to local businesses for lunch with cheap lunch menu to create extra income? If I worked nearby I would love this for lunch as long as cheap and quick to make.

Great find. Thank you for creating your business.

SUMMARY: 85/100%. High quality, good value, authentic Italian, homemade (including pasta itself) food with very friendly service. Would recommend and...

Is the £10 lunch deal at Magari one of Bristol’s best? I certainly think so. Your options are:

🥤 Pasta & a soft drink £10 🍷 Pasta & a glass of wine £12.50 🍝 Pasta & a tiramisu £12.50

You can chose any of the house sauces (not the specials), and the kitchen will chose which pasta it’s served with dependent on what’s available. The pasta is made fresh each morning with the finest CackleBean Eggs and you’ll find local suppliers honoured too with the sausage meat in the ragu from Ruby & White and the coffee in the tiramisu from Odd Kin.

Speaking of that tiramisu… 😮‍💨 I hadn’t had one in years before trying the Magari version - as someone who doesn’t like coffee I’ve never been fussed - but it was a hot day, and the only thing I fancied to drink was water so I thought I’d try the dessert deal… It was beautiful! Absolutely delicious, gave me a full on pick up and a spring in my step and I even tried calling my Italian bestie afterwards to tell her how good it was 🤣

The deal is available weekdays at both their Bristol and Bath restaurants until 3pm, and in my opinion is one of the best value lunches around. If I’d opted for a soft drink they had my favourite - San Pellegrino orange 🤩 And if the sun is shining their Wapping Wharf site has a beautiful terrace (worth noting tables can only be reserved inside though) for people watching.

I went solo and staff were lovely, didn’t bat an eyelid and I was super comfortable....

really disappointing experience at magari. we ordered bruschetta, but it never arrived. when we asked about it, the server rudely insisted we hadn’t ordered it; until the manager checked the ticket and confirmed it was on there. he said it would come “straight away,” yet 20 minutes later the server came to clear our plates and asked if we’d had it (we hadn’t). another 10 minutes passed before she asked if we still wanted it or a refund. at this point, we said refund.

the manager then came over to take my email (apparently their machine “doesn’t do refunds”) and was equally rude. instead of taking responsibility, he blamed the kitchen and shrugged it off with “these things happen.” the whole time, both the server and the manager were dismissive and made us feel like we were in the wrong for chasing up food we had already paid for.

do they speak to all their customers this way, or just people of colour? either way, it was unprofessional & bad service. we will never come here again. honestly, they should have refunded the whole meal & not just...