| rev:text
| - The Bristol is the revamp of The Bristol Yard. Cosmetically, it's an upgrade, but now it's a try-hard and empty imitation of a British pub. After a somewhat less than medicore Friday night experience, I would not go again.
Pros: nice selection of cocktails and beers at reasonable prices and nice decor. Tardis near the washrooms concealing a ATM is a bonus.
Cons: small tables, slightly below average service, poor to mediocre food, and a "hip", but empty ambiance.
Drinks: I liked the cocktail list, since they had lots of gin-based drinks on the menu. The Pimm's punch was fine and the gin sour was OK. Prices for cocktails ranged between $10-$12, which is very reasonable.
Food: Except for the chips, the food is poor to mediocre.
I had the Scooby Snack ($15), a gargantuan sandwich, which is a "everything but the kitchen sink" sandwich with a fried egg, fried black pudding, sausage patty, potato scone, bacon, tomato, and lettuce on a Scottish bap. It sounded a like a heart attack on a plate and I had my cardiologist on stand-by. It's a shock-jock dish, i.e., something put on the menu that's outrageous so you can say you ordered it, but it's not very good. The sandwich was too big to fit into my mouth in one bite. The bacon was tough, the sausage patty could've been used in construction (as could the potato scone), and the sandwich managed to be dry despite the sunny side up egg. My jaw hurt after four bites and I had to disassemble it and eat it piece-meal until my jaw got too tired trying to chew the bacon. I love bacon, but this was bad bacon, which seems like an oxymoron. The sandwich only furthered the stereotype that British food is bland and awful (which I know isn't true having eaten some great British food elsewhere). I didn't finish the dish and left most of it on my plate.
Friends who ordered differently had similar opinions about the bangers and mash (meh) and the tandoori chicken wrap ($12). The prices are reasonable, but the food is comparatively poor to decent pub fare in Toronto.
Service: I didn't think it was great, but we were a table of ten. It was sometimes difficult to grab our server's attention and when we didn't want her attention, she kept on popping up. I felt the stress of serving us and her other tables radiating off of her and there was no warmth which would be par for the course in a pub. However, the server seemed well-intentioned and was nice enough to bring us pitchers of water instead of just glasses. As always, refills of water were very slow in coming. Ultimately, it was a slightly lower than average standard of service for Toronto, i.e., it's bad service, but because Toronto's service standards are so poor, diners' rubrics have to be re-calibrated.
Ambiance: some people would love the atmosphere because it's cool and trendy. To me, just seemed somewhat try-hard. Not my cuppa, but young twentysomethings who want a decent beer list at decent prices (average $7/pint) will like it.
Conclusion: I really wanted to like The Bristol, but all I can muster after a visit last night is regret that The Bristol Yard is no more. The Bristol Yard was a small, humble place with heart and decent food at affordable prices. The Bristol is polished with a far more upscale and trendy feel with lots of TVs, deep brown leather loveseats, and cool decor. It's shiny, new, and pretty, but ultimately, the pretensions towards being a more upscale pub are just that -- pretentious -- because it has little heart and warmth and the overall experience was disappointing in light of what The Bristol Yard was.
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