Tobacco Factory Cafe Bar — Restaurant in Bristol

If you want a happy evening I'd strongly advise you NOT to eat here before a show. It was my friends birthday, we had over an hour before the show started, we ordered food and were told it would be half an hour. We explained we were going to the show, would it definitely be ready in time? "Yes" we were assured it would. After 45 minutes we were worried and went to the bar to check and were told "Your food will be another 15 minutes" which would make a total of an hours wait. It was supposed to be a 60th birthday celebration and our evening was spoiled by them. Food is what they do. Every day. Time scales can be worked out. The inability to quantify wait times on food by a restaurant is highly incompetent. We were most clear about the show start time. They knew. There's a lot of difference between 30 minutes and 60 minutes. If they'd said it would be over an hour we would have gone elsewhere. Instead, they ruined our evening.

We had ordered food that came with a drink and, as we had drunk the drink we were only refunded the food money. The manageress repeatedly refused to waive the cost of the two drinks as a token of apology for spoiling our evening. I didn't get a proper explanation of why this long delay had happened. Nor did the staff member who knew we were waiting for food before the show think about letting us know that we weren't going to get it on time. An apology is acceptable if it was an unforseen circumstance or an unusual occurance but I was fobbed off and believe this was a regular occurance for them on busy show nights and it is just what they do to people. If there was a new chef, or a new staff member, a reason, any reason given, I'd have listened, or some assurance that this wouldn't happen again and that they might learn from it but no, no reason given. No future assurances. They ruined a special night. We had to run up the road and get a bag of crisps from a shop because we were really hungry and the show was about to start. We met two other groups of people at the show who had had the same experience. All people want is an honest wait time. That's not a big ask. Staff should be aware of food order numbers and current wait times, this awareness is standard practice in the food industry, I dont know why they got it so badly wrong.

They'd have lost the drink sales if we knew it was going to be over an hour, I hope that wasn't the reason they took our money.

I won't go back, which is sad, I had liked the place up to the point of it...

With such a nice space, the tobacco factory doesn't have to offer much to give a comfortable and enjoyable experience. The super high ceilings, that come with the old factory architecture, make it very breathable environment and the garden (although there is no grass) is well seated and has plenty of cover for rain. There's always something going on, whether it's live music in the bar or stalls selling amazing street food. The snug brings an other level of comfort and quiet, if your looking for a piece of solitude or to do some work with a coffee. Drinks are not the cheapest and there's not much of a cider selection (which is a shame for a Bristol pub) but it's nothing out of the ordinary for such an establishment. Overall this is definitely a place to go for a multitude of situations, like casual drinks with mates or doing some solo work, however it's not the place to get hammered if your looking to do it...

Enjoyed the tobacco factories breafast bun and vegetarian breakfast in the outside terrace :)! Felt very safe and the pricing was quite affordable with the bun being about £5! I love that the products are almost all locally sourced and loved that they make their own ketchup and mayoneise as well :) The staff members were lovely and they catered well on my friend who was vegan. Having some vegan breakfast menus will be further better but it was lovely that they were able to make it. The outside space was lovely and felt very covid safe. Food arrived quick and coffee was nice as well. Further having some information on the coffees could be even better.

The farm shop downstairs was really versatile with so many eco friendly and locally sources items :)! Especially loved the plants selections and the vegetable aisles as well. Recommend...