The Metropolitan — Restaurant in Bristol

It was the biggest disappointment I ever experienced. I've chosen The Metropolitan to celebrate with my partner. The reviews looked fantastic, the pictures were stunning and the whole vibe was like the top-level restaurant.

We have ordered (small plates) Barbecued Beetroot, ox, (big plates) Barbecued Hogget Pancakes, and Shio Koji Marinaded West Country Beef Sirloin.

We were waiting a long time for our orders. The small plates came after 35 minutes and the large plates after 50 minutes. The restaurant wasn't busy at the time and most tables were empty.

The barbecued beetroot was just a barbecued beetroot without any additional flavour. It should be with 7 spices but I couldn't taste it.

A small plate with ox came with 3 small edible "baskets" and ox meat was at the bottom of each of them. The first bite revealed the most salty meat which I ever ate in my entire life. I couldn't even finish one basket. My partner tried it and said it was inedible. We thought maybe it was a special meat or a different method of providing food in this fusion restaurant. It will make sense if not the rest dishes will have the same problem.

Beef sirloin came with chicken broth and mushrooms. My partner ate a bit of the beef and asked me if I can try to check and give my honest opinion. When I took a bit, I felt once again salty meat. I tried broth and mushrooms but everything was extremely salty and without any flavour.

Barbecued hogget pancakes were the last dish we ordered and the biggest disappointment from all of them. I was wondering what the pancake will look like but at the end, it was just a Chinese pancake (chun bing) on the side of the plate. Half of the chun bing was properly warmed up and wet and the other half was not warm at all and dry. The lamb was even more salty than the beef which my partner had and I couldn't eat more than 2 bits. I've created one portion with lamb, lettuce, pickles, sauce and of course Chinese pancake but it was just awful. Way too salty and there was no balance.

I've called the staff and asked if chefs are trying their food before serving. She said yes and asked if there is a problem. I've described the problem with too many salty dishes from the larger plates and ox from the small plate. She was fully professional, apologised for it and sent the feedback to the kitchen. When she came back she confirmed chefs tried the ox and "actually it was a bit too salty", so she took off from the bill ox and the hogget. It is understandable to make a mistake and deliver one of the dishes in not the best quality but it's not acceptable to make inedible 3 out of 4 dishes.

I didn't want to make a bigger problem and feel like a person who came to eat something for free so I decided to not remove other dishes from the bill. I was glad the staff did it for my most salty dishes. That was the only positive thing we have experienced in The Metropolitan. The waitress, Emma, was doing her best and we appreciated her help and creating a whole friendly environment. She was fully professional and I can't say a bad word!

The Metropolitan is a higher-profile restaurant which should provide top-level dishes with the best quality but everything which we received was just mediocre. Even if I will remove the taste of salt from my mind and think about the quality of the rest non-salty bits of our orders, non of them was of good quality. Nothing felt worth the price which The Metropolitan put on the menu. It was one of the most disappointing experiences I ever experienced because it should be a big night for us, the menu wasn't cheap and we ended up with empty bellies at 9:30 pm when most of the restaurants...

Brunch was made for Bank Holidays. That delicious moment in life when you are actively encouraged to surrender to inertia. It’s a meal designed for people who have nowhere better to be, no deadlines, no emails pinging, no reason at all to look at the time. It’s a rare invitation to just sit down, shut up, and eat.

Or at least, it was. Then came the horror that is “bottomless brunch”. A marketing invention that should have been shot at birth. In the last few years, the word “bottomless” has crept into the lexicon, curled up like a drunk cat next to “brunch”, and utterly defiled it. Now, “brunch” means 40 women called Jess and Chloe hammering mimosas until they’re slurring Beyoncé lyrics while staggering on sticky tabletops, weeping into the last shreds of their dignity by 5.30pm.

Meanwhile, the places that don’t offer bottomless brunch have had an existential crisis and simply shoved a limp breakfast menu next to a lunch one, like a pub that’s trying to pretend it’s a bistro. No one knows what anything means anymore. Least of all me.

Enter The Metropolitan. Praise be.

Tucked discreetly between the ludicrously expensive sofa shops of Whiteladies Road — the kind of places that charge £16,000 for something that looks like a giant dog bed — The Metropolitan has restored not only my faith in brunch, but also in humanity.

The vibe inside is stylish but grown-up: none of that Shoreditch nonsense where every chair is a different shape and the tables are either too low or too high and the coffee comes in an ironic jam jar. No, here things match. Here things make sense. Here, you can sit without risking lumbar collapse.

The menu is what brunch should be: simple, clever, gently indulgent. Yes, the classics are present and correct — Eggs Benedict, Royal — but then they go and throw in salt cod fritters (yes please), plump little scallops swimming in garlic butter (oh yes), and a Monte Cristo sandwich so filthy it ought to be illegal before midday.

Reader, my fancy was tickled pink.

The service is friendly without being matey, efficient without the “Have you dined with us before?” corporate creepiness. Everything — and I mean everything — was executed with precision.

My only complaint? My tragic human stomach, cursed with its mortal limitations. I couldn’t eat everything on the menu in one sitting. But I’ll be back, with the grim determination of a man who knows he has unfinished business.

Loved it. Loved it all.

If you want brunch, real brunch — grown-up, relaxed, gorgeous — go to The Metropolitan. And leave the “bottomless” brigade to their table-dancing...

Unpleasant experience. Didn't feel welcomed and food was disappointing. Walked in seeing the host at the bar and my partner chatting, i tried to join in the conversation several times while i sat there (25 minutes) and my partner had tried to get me involved in their conversation but the host was chatting away. At one point my partner was trying to speak to me wanting to ask me a question, the host interrupted. Being a chatty person who is always good with all kinds of people, this situation and my time spent at The Metropolitan has managed to make me feel awkward and embarrassed. I felt as though I did not exist. Had been told food was great before the visit. Ordered 5 dishes, a pint and 4 cocktails. Cocktails were alright, the pint wasn't good. The only thing that we enjoyed was the confit potato which was delightful I can't complain. Pan fried hake was not great, clams tasted sour and fish was nothing special. Met bread was cold and greasy, the smoked miso butter was nice though. Barbacued pork belly was not great, it was served with apple sauce and I had expected something more unique. Korean friend chicken was bad. Everything came up to £45 with the discount code, fair price for eating out but service and food could have been better. Interior of the restaurant was...