Riverstation — Restaurant in Bristol

There’s a thing that happens when you live in or around Bristol long enough. You start throwing around the word institution like it’s seasoning. The Lido this, The Ivy that. But when it comes to food – proper, grown-up food that doesn’t come with a side of TikTok – there is one place that quietly, assuredly, earns that title. The Riverstation.

Now, I’ve been here many times, which is more than I can say for most people’s gym memberships. But this time? This time we did it right. A group of four to six – the sweet spot between feeling like a gathering and not needing a group chat with a spreadsheet. Some wine, some sun, and that perfect Bristol thing of being just a little bit smug about being in Bristol.

The Riverstation is smart without the kind of stuffy pomposity that gets the napkins ironed and the waiter sneering when you mispronounce jus. It’s a restaurant for grown-ups who still want to be friends at the end of the meal.

We started with a raw hand-dived Orkney scallop – which sounds like a euphemism, but isn’t. It came with cucumber, shimeji mushrooms, and a whisper of horseradish, and while the flavours were bang on – fresh, clean, like licking a glacier in a greenhouse – the texture was, how shall I put it, slightly slippy. Not bad slippy. Think passionate kiss in the rain, rather than elbow on a nightclub floor. Could’ve done with a crunch or two, but I’m nitpicking.

Main was a ribeye steak with a red wine sauce deep enough to lose your phone in. Cooked with confidence and swagger – none of that sous-vide softness or the obligatory burnt shallot tower. Just beef, sauce, and chips that had seen better days. As in, they weren’t exactly crispy, but they also weren’t sad enough to complain about. You don’t come here for chips. You come here because your colleague suggested it, and for once you’re not furious about it.

The thing about Riverstation is that the views are exactly what you want: interesting, but not the main event. A bit like sitting next to someone attractive at a dinner party – you clock them, sure, but the food’s good enough that you don’t need to flirt.

Is it the best meal you’ll have in your life? No. But it doesn’t want to be. It wants to be the place you come back to. Again and again. Like a favourite jumper that still fits. Or that friend who always picks the right wine. And that, my friends, is what makes it a proper institution.

Go with good people – ideally four to six of them – order a decent bottle, and relax. This is Bristol doing grown-up dining...

Such a disappointing experience for my husband's birthday dinner on Saturday night. We were running a bit late due to taxi delay but I phoned ahead to advise and they were happy to accommodate.

We arrived and were seated at a window table as requested so that was good; took a while to take our drinks order but again this would not have been a big deal had it not gone downhill from there.

Over 30 minutes to get a our starter; 1hr45m in there was still no sign of our main course. Not one member of staff advised us of or apologised for the wait or offered us drinks refills, until we complained. I asked to speak to a manager, who then took ages to come over the first time and said he'd come back as soon as we'd finished the main. We ate fairly quickly as by that point we had been in the restaurant over 2 hours. The plates were cleared after about 10 minutes; again we received no apology, no check in as to whether our food had been ok for us, no offer of drinks or dessert (not that we would have stayed for those!). I had a table booked at another venue for drinks and entertainment at 10pm which I had to cancel as we were still in the restaurant.

We waited another 20 minutes after our plates had been cleared and the manager was doing anything but coming to sort things out with us. I would have been expecting at least the mains to be removed from the bill but wasn't really happy to pay for any food after the terrible service, attitude and food not worth the over 2 hour wait.

After he continued to ignore us, I'd had enough so I got up and made my way to the exit. He watched us pass him and didn't even say a word.

The restaurant had my phone number and email address from my online booking but I am still yet to receive any communication regarding my experience or the fact I had to walk out without paying (or sit there all night being ignored!). If they had contacted me, I would have paid for the drinks.

I don't expect perfect service every time; issues are unavoidable. What I do expect, is for them to be handled appropriately and efficiently and this was far from it. Such shame as the setting, location and...

This, for my wife and i was an aniversary lunch and I have not been to riverstation for some time but had heard its reputation put it up there amongst the best. Overall the meal was generally lovely. Cooked to perfection and presented in a simple but delicious way. The staff were attentive and whilst at times the service between courses was slow, we were in no real hurry so it worked for us. We had some food for the table. Starters mains and puddings and so pushed the boat out on this occasion.

In terms of any feedback i would offer. My wife thought the chicken dish she had was grossly overpriiced for its content which basically consisted of a battered, over fried chicken leg smothered in sauce to disguise its inadiquate proportion. It was mostly drumstick with very little meat and quite dry despite all the sauce. We made these points to our waiter who was quick to fix the issue. In my opinion this dish would be better as a chicken breast, boneless as this would be better value overall.

My steak at £45 was at the edge of acceptable for that huge price tag. But it was a special occasion so there you go. However the sides were underwhelming. A beautifully stacked, Jenga style, of literally 6 or 7 chips, triple fried and some small bitter green peppers that were crunchy and no more than barely cooked. We left most of those. I opted for the red wine Jus reduction as a sauce which was inedibly salty due to to the level of reduction and quite thin in its volume. The Marmite mash was a winner though. Really tasty. Finally i have to say the puddings were something to nothing. A small slice of lemon pie with burnt merangue and a couple of rogue raspberry halves trying to make the huge amount of sauceless empty space on the place Look less obvious.

Overall a lot of money for an average meal. It was a bit like buying an expensive car only to discover that it had brown velour seats and a 1970 cassette player.

I would go back but be more critical at the time and certainly not as a special event meal such as it was for my wife and I.

6/10.. could do better. Oh and before I forget, a glass of Malbec at almost £13...