Spitfire Barbecue

If you are looking to eat the most flavoursome meat dishes in Bristol then you have to come here! Do not come here if you are in a hurry. This restaurant does not pretend to be a fast food place and states that the food is slow cooked on their website menu. We had a 35 min wait for food to arrive, which was fine because we were having a chilled out Friday afternoon. Good things come to those who wait and we were rewarded with meat dishes that would make a T-Rex smile! Next time we come back, it would be nice to have some complimentary savoury snacks (for example peanuts or crisps) to nibble on as we were chatting and waiting for the food to arrive. We were very hungry after driving a couple of hours. During the wait for our food to arrive, we watched the waiters eating at the pass. Some of them were picking up the food off the dish with their hands and some of them were using a fork. We got worried that they were sampling our food and they were going to bring it over half eaten. Luckily, our food was still cooking and their empty plate was taken back into the kitchen. It appears the chef had made a little treat for the staff! I’m glad the staff get well looked after as employees and they clearly enjoyed the food. However, when I used to work in a chip shop, we were only allowed to eat the food in the back room on a break. The best meat dishes that we tried were that amazingly tasty Spitfire sausage and the pulled pork. There was a bottle of the restaurant’s own barbecue sauce on the table and this went perfectly with the pulled pork. The beef brisket was tender and awesomely slow cooked but was served at a colder temperature compared to the other items on the tray. The portion of Cowboy Fries served in a tiny enamel bowl was small for £6.55. We wish the portion was better value for money because they were so wonderfully crispy! Also, the half chicken was very small for £10. I wondered if it was a poussin. The half chickens in Nando’s are much larger. The bones were removed from the portions of salt and pepper chicken thigh (that we ordered separately to the half chicken) which made the thighs very easy to eat. We enjoyed the bonus third thigh because we only ordered two! The thighs went perfectly with the Louisiana bottle of sauce on the table. This sauce is not for the faint hearted as it does have a strong chilli kick to it! A waiter tried to take our tray before I’d eaten all of the yummy gherkin garnish! I’m a slow eater so I’m used to this happening, unfortunately. There were more staff than customers in the restaurant so maybe he was just looking for a job to do. He came back again when I’d actually finished to take the remaining tray and plate. It was nice that he was smiley but he didn’t ask us if we’d like any desserts or the bill. We were sitting at our empty table for 7 minutes before we decided to get up and ask for dessert on the way to the toilet. The toilets were fairly clean. I appreciate that you can’t choose your customers based on their toilet etiquette but there was urine on the seat in the men’s toilet. Based on the staff to customer ratio at the time we were in the restaurant then I think the toilets should have been spotless. The peanut butter stack dessert then came out quickly within 1 minute of us asking. Think crunchy peanut caramel layered in a gooey chocolate cake. I was expecting it to be served warm but I think it was served cold to keep the layers in tact. It was divine! The bill came to £77.60 for the two of us. That included two pint of cider, a selection of bbq mains, half a chicken, two sides and one dessert (which we shared). Pricey but the meat and other ingredients were of a high quality. Overall, the superb food itself is worthy of the 5 stars I gave in this review. We really enjoyed eating and drinking everything that we ordered.

I popped in for a quick after work meal and was pleasantly surprised, super polite staff, delicious food, decent portions and fairly priced for the amount was served, they had a fantastic menu and frankly I’d have liked to have tried it all! Will definitely recommend and look forward to returning one day soon 👍🏻

I haven't been here for about 3 years but it was just as good as I remember. The food is excellent and cooked to perfection. Service is attentive but not intrusive and the atmosphere fab. I took some work colleagues who were visiting and the steins made it a novel experience, everyone loved it. Will be back next month.