• Added: 3rd of April 2008
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS8 1JP

Obtuse said
Shame about the actual burger!
Recently opened in a far corner of the "less fashionable" side of the Clifton Triangle is Yo Yo Burger Station. Competition on The Triangle is pretty fierce for restaurants and take-aways and their out-of-the-way location really lets them down in terms of passing traffic. However the lack of a good burger joint in Clifton encouraged a friend and I to visit for a mid-week lunch.

First impressions are that it's bright and clean. A couple of TV displays hang from the roof listing the array of burgers (beef, lamb, chicken or veggie) as well as sides and drinks. The price for a double burger, fries and a drink isn't unreasonable but it's pricier than a trip to Burger King.

You can either take your burger away or eat-in in the basement seating area. The basement is all clever lighting and white walls. A single wedge shaped table is in the centre of the room with fixed stools around it. Seating is limited and not suitable for groups. Quite distracting too are the TVs embedded into the tables showing music TV to accompany the music piped into the restaurant.

The food was a seriously mixed bag. The fries were light, crispy and not over salted. The burger bun and the Portabella mushroom strips were tasty and mouth sized. So it's a real shame that the star of the show, the burger, was such a disappointment. It tasted like a frozen cheap supermarket burger - no real taste and a strange mouth feel that leaves you wondering about the provenance of the meat contained in it. There are dozens of places around Bristol serving far better tasting home made burgers. Hopefully this is something they can quickly rectify because a burger joint serving such mediocre burgers will surely not last that long.

• Added: 14th of October 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS8 1LX
0117 974 1626

Obtuse said
Racks

The interior of Racks comes as a bit of a surprise! The outside is nothing special, under a hotel on St Paul's Road and not in the most fashionable part of Clifton. However inside it's a cavern of small intimate tables in little rooms. It's cozy and warm and a little bit different. On a Friday evening it's really buzzing.

Unfortunately the food here is a bit unreliable. I've had lovely food and I've had mediocre food. Today I ordered the steak and Guinness pie with green beans and chips. The meat was very small and unevenly shaped chunks making me wonder a little about it's origin. I was also expecting a good rich gravy for the meat to swim in, but what I got had no hint of Guinness, was rather thinner, and rather blander than I was expecting. It was served with a small portion of green beans and portion of chips. Unfortunately this was not Racks at it's best, a rather disappointing lunch.

The service was friendly enough and is included in the final bill.

• Added: 7th of October 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS3 1JP
0117 966 6880

Obtuse said
Super breakfast!
Apparently Ceiturica (pronounced more like chetori-ka) is Persian for "How you doing, mate?" Their evening menu is very Persian themed but their breakfasts are decidedly more English inspired. By half ten on Sunday morning they were nearly full of couples and families enjoying a lazy breakfast. On a bright sunny morning, like when we visited, the big windows give the place a lovely light feel.

There's a range of breakfasts: Full English (and one even bigger with chips), a vegetarian breakfast, and other simpler options like pancakes or muesli. They serve a good range of teas, coffees, and juices to wash it all down.

Southville is well served with places for a lazy Sunday breakfast but Ceiturica is definitely one of finest.

• Added: 5th of October 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS8 2NH

Obtuse said
Big Bang Bristol
For our regular Friday lunch I went with a friend to Big Bang on Whiteladies Road. The first thing that struck me on arrival was how empty it was - Friday lunchtime on Whiteladies Road and only two other tables eating. Bit of a surprise considering the current fashion for sausage and mash and it being on a popular student route through town.

An unfortunate start to our visit was simply ordering soft drinks. A pet peeve of mine is serving less than a full glass when someone orders a soft drink without ice, it's pretty mean. Furthermore my friend was told he couldn't order Coke by the pint only by the bottle, but the bottle was never seen and must have been a mixer bottle considering how little of it there was - not great for £1.80.

We only had mains - sausage and mash for both of us. Beef with horseradish mash for my friend and a select of vegie sausages with mustard mash for me. My mushroom and garlic sausage was lovely but the other two (one stilton and walnut, the other Thai curry) were really too salty and one was very dry. The texture of my mash was great but there was a bit too much sharpness from the wholegrain mustard masking most of the taste. My friend had better luck with his choice of sausage and he liked his mash. Both were served with purple cabbage, peas, and not enough gravy!

The service was generally fine but we had to send the bill back to be corrected. £22 for two mains and two (small) drinks is probably not unreasonable in Clifton but can certainly be bettered.

Overall a bit of a disappointment. I'd go back if I had a reason to but generally there are better places for sausage and mash in Bristol than here.

• Added: 11th of April 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS1 4JZ
0117 929 0700

Obtuse said

Really lovely food in a nice decor and with very attentive waiting staff. We had a lovely meal there.

• Added: 6th of April 2007
• Area: Edinburgh
• Category: Restaurants

Edinburgh EH1 1PE
0131 226 2488

Obtuse said

High aspirations and very badly underdelivering. Nasty wilted salads served with bland food. Managed several mistakes with the order too!

• Added: 6th of April 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS2 8HD
0117 944 3060

Obtuse said

This is a cosy little restaurant. The food great but there was only one guy serving three tables and doing the cooking! The meal was very relaxed for everyone except the poor fellow doing all the work. He seemed genuinely inspired by Portugese food though and loved what he was doing.

• Added: 6th of April 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS6 6PE

Obtuse said

This was a really unexpected treat. We went a weekday evening and we were the only people in the restaurant. I have no idea why as the food was interesting and delicious and the staff were attentive. At the end of the meal we had a nice chat with the chef who seemed very interested in feedback. Overall a really lovely evening.

• Added: 6th of April 2007
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Restaurants

Bristol BS6 5QP
0117 907 7932

Obtuse said

Have had two really ace meals here. The owner has been over on both occasions and chatted with us. The feel of the place is friendly and food is great.

• Added: 6th of April 2007
• Area: Edinburgh
• Category: Restaurants

Edinburgh EH1 1HU
0131 624 4545

Obtuse said

I've been to Beluga twice. The first time we had an amazing meal and swore we'd return. Two years later we had a somewhat mediocre meal but the feel of the place had changed a lot, new owners perhaps?