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Detail Pages
Impero Lounge, Bristol
Portishead
Postal town: Bristol
BS20 6EH
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Impero Lounge
Opened on an old supermarket site (Budgens, Gateway, Intrernationals…) and yet another sign, if it was needed, that Portishead is now truly an upmarket destination these days. Part of the Bristol-based Loungers chain and it follows the usual format (all day opening, food, a few alcoholic beverages including the usual middling real ale of Toga Man - £3.65pp - plus bottled Orchard Pig cider/Bath Gem, cakes, mums n’ prams etc). The décor in here is in overblown kitsch with a myriad of lampshades, nasty old retro prints from the Tretchikoff “Chinese Girl’ era plus what looks like a job lot of mirrors from a discount shop. The strange mish-mash is summed up by the vibrant blue walls contrasting horribly with the high undressed concrete ceiling and a lack of proper finishing in certain places - sloppy. Positive points: the stained glass on the front glass panels was nice and the outside seating looked like a good spot to watch the world go by. A lot of the tables on my visit were uncleared and there was a general air of ‘so what’. I’m sure this place will go down a storm with the nouveau-riche hoorays from the docks but I doubt I’d bother again unless someone else was buying. The coffee is free in the nearby Waitrose now…
On 24th May 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5107 recommendations about 5090 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Impero Lounge
A recent addition to Portishead’s High Street, this is another outlet in the popular Lounger’s chain and like it’s other branches is open from dawn to dusk and attempts to offer something for all people. That means besides (a limited selection of) beer, it also offers cocktails, coffee, cakes and various different menu options including an all day brunch. No doubt it is popular with “yummy mummy” types during the day, although fortunately they were not in evidence on a recent Saturday afternoon visit.
The venue is a single room, open plan affair with a high concrete ceiling and a strip wood floor. To the front are doors that fold right back, opening out the front of the pub on to a small tiled entrance that has a collection of tables and brightly coloured green and orange chairs. Being a corner site, there are also large windows down the right hand side. The paintwork elsewhere is mostly a rather vibrant shade of blue, and the left hand wall was covered in various old portrait photographs. At the back was a mural depicting the town’s old power station and there were a few newspapers scattered around.
The furniture was mostly tables and chairs, although there were a few old leather armchairs around a central pillar. Other accessories included a number of old mirrors, whilst the lighting was a mixture of old industrial style hanging lights and rather retro tassled shades. The salmon coloured bar counter is at the rear, and as befits it’s cafe/bar pretensions there were various pastries on display. Service was a little slow at first due to only one person serving, but another barmaid joined later and they seemed cheerful and friendly.
The menu is divided in to various sections such as burgers, panini’s, salads and tapas as well as a few regular main meals which were mostly priced around the £9 - £10 mark. Beers on offer were just their own Toga Man and Bath Ales Dark Side Stout. The solitary cider was Stowford Press. This is a tricky one to mark as it’s not a pub in the strictest sense, and is unlikely to be the first port of call for many of the regulars on this site. But it serves it’s target clientele well and is a popular spot.
On 4th May 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1950 recommendations about 1863 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Jonathan Wilde left this review about Impero Lounge
Now open
05/02/13
Just to add this is due to open in March 2013. Conversion of the former Budgens store is ongoing.
On 11th March 2013
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 365 recommendations about 347 pubs]