Evoque @ Clifton, Clifton, Bristol

Recently re-opened on the site of the former Be At One cocktail bar, this now describes itself as a Cocktail and Wine Bar, so they are expanding the lineup slightly and have even added a very small number of draught options. That said though, it still has very much the feel off a cocktail bar rather than your traditional pub, and the wine side of things seemed to be somewhat lacking with the drinks menu only containing cocktails and the bottles of spirits behind the bar vastly outnumbering any bottles of wine. In terms of atmosphere it might perhaps be described as gloomy, and from what I could make out in the low light levels, the décor consisted of wood strip on the floors, embossed silver wallpaper on the walls and black painted ceiling covered in LED strips that changed colour in time with the music. Further recessed LED lights were around the bar counter and under the banquette seating. It was I suppose quite pleasant, although clearly not a traditional pub ambience. Tables were all small circular and quite high with stools rather than chairs, so not the comfiest place to sit. Even the ones next to the padded bench seating around the permitter seemed too high. The place was completely deserted for the whole time that we were there on a recent Thursday evening, so how long it will remain open remains to be seen. Predictably enough there were no real ales on tap and the solitary keg offering was Neck Oil. Ciders fared no better with Inch’s Medium Apple being the only option. The two young barmaid’s were friendly enough, and one of them obligingly nipped over the road to Sainsbury’s to get some orange juice for my cocktail as they apparently didn’t have any. Like everyone else though, I can really see little reason to visit here with far better pubs, cocktail bars and wine bars close by.

Official site of Evoque @ Clifton - www.evoqueatclifton.com

Official site of Evoque @ Clifton - www.evoqueatclifton.com

This is very much more a cocktail bar than your traditional pub, with nothing at all available on tap and so with hindsight it should probably not have been added to this site. It’s quite dark and gloomy inside, and it was consequently quite difficult to note much about the décor, never mind read the cocktail list. But then, perhaps I am not their target demographic. Oddly, one of the bartenders was wearing sun glasses which must have made it impossible to see much of anything, I would have thought. The ceiling was black with caged light fittings, whilst the walls were predominantly dark blue with some grey glazed tiling on the lower part. The flooring was wood strip, and a number of mirrors were on the walls, many of them arranged to look as though they were windows. There were also a few colourful pieces of artwork at the back. A singer with a guitar was playing on our recent Thursday evening visit, although the volume was a little too loud for easy conversation. Seating was a mixture of blue padded bench seating in much of the pub, along with high stools around the bar counter and in the window at the front. As previously mentioned, there was nothing at all available on tap that I could see, and I’m not even sure if there were any bottled beers. Certainly the only drinks list out on the counter was an extensive cocktail list running to several pages. This was divided in to numerous sections and I went for a “Crunch Time” with Mozart dark chocolate liqueur, a chocolate Crunchie bar, honeycomb syrup and vanilla ice cream. This was really very good indeed, although perhaps more like a desert than a drink. I couldn’t really work out how I was supposed to get the Crunchie bar out of the glass with only a plastic straw, and ended up having to fish it out with my fingers. At £9.20 it was perhaps a little on the expensive side for a mainstream cocktail bar though. Overall, I thought this was decent enough if it’s a cocktail you’re after rather than a beer.