El Puerto, Bristol

Official site of El Puerto - www.el-puerto.co.uk

This is not really a pub at all, but a Spanish restaurant. I’m not sure why it’s listed here, although it may, perhaps, be possible to go in and buy a drink without ordering food, I’m not sure that anyone was. There were a few punters sat at the bar, but I think even they were nibbling on plates of tapas. Certainly everyone at the tables was eating on a recent Saturday evening visit. I seem to recall years ago that it was a bar called The Porterhouse, so perhaps it’s entry is a remnant from those days. It’s quite atmospheric internally with whitewashed stone walls, tiled flooring, black beams on the ceiling and red painted iron supporting pillars. The tables are quite squashed in with some planning required to navigate your way around. Along with everyone else, we were eating and went for the set menu at £17.50. This provided a decent enough selection of dishes, including bread with a very garlicky aioli to start and a chocolate fondue and coffee to finish. Ultimately though, it was all fairly average. You’ll find far better tapas in Bravas or Pata Negra, for example. Unfortunately there were no beers on tap, real or otherwise. In fact there was nothing at all on tap, everything was bottled. If you want some cheap and cheerful tapas with a buzzy atmosphere, give it a go. Otherwise I’d suggest there are far better options nearby, either for tapas or for beer.

Official site of El Puerto - www.el-puerto.co.uk