Aqua - you have to try it (Aqua Restaurant (Bristol))

Member Name: Benjiboo

Product:	Aqua Restaurant (Bristol)
Date:	09/08/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality food

Disadvantages: Quite pricey

This is an upmarket restaurant located in Bristol City Centre. I've only been to this restaurant once but felt it definitely worth reviewing.

Starters range in price from soup of the day at £3.95 to scallops at £7.95 (most are about £6/£7).

Main meals start at £7.75 for a margherita pizza and the two most expensive items at £19.95 are, unsurprisingly, 8oz fillet steak and also a dish of six jumbo prawns cooked with white wine, cherry tomatoes and basil, served on a lime risotto.

Desserts range from £4.95 for ice creams and sorbets to £6.00 for caramelised pear tarte tatin.

A large glass of house wine will set you back £4.85, or, if you really want to push the boat out (more like launch it with a rocket) there is a £185.00 bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée Brut, NV champagne available. Beers and spirits are an alright price but cocktails are £6.50/£7.50 (depending on whether it is short or long).

It's also worth mentioning that they do a "cheap" menu where you can get 2 courses for £11.99 of 3 courses for £14.50 (Sunday 14.99/£16.50). This is only available until 8pm Sunday to Friday and 6pm on Saturday. As you would expect the choice on this menu is much more limited and only includes the cheaper items from the main menu - but I think this is still a pretty good deal for the quality of food you will be getting.

The atmosphere was good and the table we sat at was probably one of the best in the house: it was a round table that sat 6 of us, the chairs were more like arm chairs than dining chairs and to top it off it was in its own little nook so that you did not have people constantly walking past you. The service was fine other than the fact the waiter barely spoke English so understanding what he was saying was rather difficult. There was some polite nodding going on - which could be dangerous in a restaurant - as we didn't know what he was asking us.

When I went there I was a bit skint so I went for cheap options but this turned out to be a good decision. The soup of the day I had was ham & pea I can honestly say this is the best soup I've had - for once ham & pea soup tasted more of ham than pea and it had proper big strips of ham in - delicious. For main I had the Italian gnocchi for £8.95: creamy potato dumplings with gorgonzola and spinach. This tasted good and the cheese sauce was very rich. This dish also has the benefit of being very filling especially compared to some of the other mains which looked a bit sparse. The dessert I had was hot fudge sundae - which although nice - was nothing special and something that could have been done at a cheaper price in any restaurant.

As well as what I ordered I also tried some of my dining companions' food: the pork, some mashed potato and a slice of vegetarian pizza (mozzarella, tomato, grilled aubergine, courgettes, peppers and rocket leaves). The pork was not to my tastes at all but the mashed potato was creamy and full of flavour. The thing that really sold me on Aqua was the pizza, despite it costing £9.50. The pizza was the best I've ever eaten (and believe me I've eaten a lot of pizza). The combination of vegetables gave a great flavour. The pizza base itself was absolutely divine - not too thin, not too thick and cooked to perfection. All in all the pizza was the best thing I tried and it just had a certain je ne sais quoi, a joie de vivre a Va Va Voom about it and I will definitely be going back again.

Summary: A wonderful restaurant - probably not if you're skint - so save it for special occasions.