Restaurants

projectsome

As I've never been to one, other than with work paying for it, can someone give me an idea of costs etc?

Also has anyone been to any of the Jamie Oliver Italian or any of his other restaurants?

homers_double

Seriously?

What sort of place are you thinking and whats the occasion?

Any celeb chef eateries will charge premium prices.

Monkeypump

Need way more information to give advice - price range, location, cuisine... etc.

Jamie's Italian is pretty good value - not the cheapest, but pretty reasonable and very good quality for the money. You can't book though, so you'll have to queue and wait at the bar at busy times.

projectsome

No occasion as such, wanted to take a girl out in Bristol...

I don't really have a price limit as such but let's say £200.

YeehaaMcgee

projectsome wrote:

No occasion as such, wanted to take a girl out in Bristol...

Damn. I remember when there was no "hub", only the CrudCatcher. Oh the fun we had at times like this back then

Chunkers1980

If you can drive for about 30 miles the best Resturant I've been to is The Park at Luckenham Park Hotel about J17 M4. You'd need to drink cheap (for there) wine though on that 'budget'.

YeehaaMcgee

I'll admit I'm not one for fancy restaurants either. Food is just something we have to eat, frankly.
But, I have to ask, do people just equate "more expensive == better"?

Chunkers1980

That's in the Marketing ;-)

A Michelin Star would suggest it's of quality and better. Rosettes are a good guide too.

YeehaaMcgee

I'm just asking because there's a pub just down the road (from here) that does a wicked carvery, and it's dead cheap. Probably the best grub around.

Chunkers1980

Love calvaries.

Fine dining is all about the quality of the ingredients, the flavours and textures and how that all becomes one. It's like a food rollercoaster/journey when done right.

YeehaaMcgee

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Love calvaries.

Fine dining is all about the quality of the ingredients, the flavours and textures and how that all becomes one. It's like a food rollercoaster/journey when done right.

You mean scary as hell, surrounded by people screaming, and most women don't like it?

Sounds like my nocturnal "activities".

DF33

Don't rate the J O chain much myself, You should be able to have a cracking meal for £200 if you keep the wine sensible and to one bottle. Or if you want a nice 'boozy' meal better to go to a good local restaurant etc where a decent bottle can be had for £20 ish so a reasonable amount over for food and a bottle or two.

In my experience you either pay under a tenner for a main course somewhere that's really good value and decent food or pay top dollar for a different experience. Everything in between is usually mediocre and dressed up to a fancy mid price and bad value, apart from one or two exceptions you might be recommended to.

Sorry I don't know your area so can't recommend one.

YeehaaMcgee

Les Gets has some restaurants that sell pizza with fried egg on it, for around £50, if that's what you're after.

projectsome

I looked at the Jamie oliver italian food menu, thought yeah I can do all that easy... so on to the wine list. £15-30 a bottle yeah that's fine but nooo £130? I bet she'd pick that one!!!

Anonymous

Can't stand the Mockney prat myself so would rather never step inside a J O. A girl would probably love it though

Wine, make sure you do the fancy taste a sip to approve of it before it's poured confidently even if you have no idea what you're doing .

ste_t

deadkenny wrote:

Can't stand the Mockney prat myself so would rather never step inside a J O. A girl would probably love it though

Wine, make sure you do the fancy taste a sip to approve of it before it's poured confidently even if you have no idea what you're doing .

Don't do this if it a screwtop/plastic cork as you will look a tool. You aren't tasting to 'approve' its to check the wine isn't 'corked.' It can't be 'corked' if there isn't a proper cork in there.

YeehaaMcgee

You sound like a tool.

ste_t

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

You sound like a tool.

I miss the old you

welshkev

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I'll admit I'm not one for fancy restaurants either. Food is just something we have to eat, frankly.
But, I have to ask, do people just equate "more expensive == better"?

me either, i've beenn lucky enough with work to have eaten in some really 'good' restaurants and some have been crap (IMO)

welshkev

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I'll admit I'm not one for fancy restaurants either. Food is just something we have to eat, frankly.
But, I have to ask, do people just equate "more expensive == better"?

me either, i've beenn lucky enough with work to have eaten in some really 'good' restaurants and some have been crap (IMO)

t0pc4t

I seem to remember there's a few nice places to eat in Bristol down by the river. £200 for 2 of you is loads you should be fine on that.

Gazlar

In response to the OP, I've been to a few of jolivers places, personally I don't like him, but his cooking can't be knocked. Work on 15 notes for a main course, fiver for a pud, a good 3 courses there normally sets me back about 80 sheets for two with wine

welshkev

t0pc4t wrote:

I seem to remember there's a few nice places to eat in Bristol down by the river. £200 for 2 of you is loads you should be fine on that.

should be fine?? bloody hell, that's loads of cash to spunk on food

bails87

£200 is loads!

And Jamie Oliver's Italian is a bit rubbish IMO. It's just bog standard Italian food, but with a couple of quid added onto the price because of the name. It's not offensively bad or anything, just not special. You could go to Bella Italia and get the same for less.

OTOH, a place near(ish) to me that's noticably a step above the run-of-the-mill restaurants is Piccolino. (But I just have to take a chance on it being good, there's not really an obvious way to tell, other than asking other 'locals') Reasonable prices, but it's a lot nicer than the fast food, pretend 'rustic' feel of Jamie's. I'd say JOs was like Wagamama or Pizza Express: fine if you just want something quick, reliable and reasonably priced, but certainly not anywhere to impress sophisticated wimmins.

Edit: Oh yeah, and at JOs we got given a pager type thing and told to wait at the bar until there was a table free, once we were seated it was just really busy, noisy and we were kind of rushed through our food and shipped out ASAP, not a particularly relaxing environment, unlike somewhere a little more expensive and without the celebrity name, to keep the riff raff out

Gazlar

Yeah the pager thing is kind of a biproduct of its own success (a lot based on its name) I've been to a few of the italians recently, Bella, Strada Ask and Jamies, and I found the quality at Jamies just a little bit better than the others, but it is always busy.

dhobiwallah

projectsome wrote:

I looked at the Jamie oliver italian food menu, thought yeah I can do all that easy... so on to the wine list. £15-30 a bottle yeah that's fine but nooo £130? I bet she'd pick that one!!!

That's why she doesn't get to pick!

If you are paying then you are doing the 'old-fashioned' taking control thing. Do a little research on the wines if you don't know anything (What is heavy/light/watery/red/white) and ask her what she is eating/what sort of wine she wants (eg light red) and then you pick it!

And be very wary about choosing the second cheapest option. that's what everyone does so they stick their cheapest plonk with the biggest mark-up there....

YeehaaMcgee

dhobiwallah wrote:

And be very wary about choosing the second cheapest option. that's what everyone does so they stick their cheapest plonk with the biggest mark-up there....

still the second cheapest though, whether it's marked up or not.

bennett_346

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

dhobiwallah wrote:

And be very wary about choosing the second cheapest option. that's what everyone does so they stick their cheapest plonk with the biggest mark-up there....

still the second cheapest though, whether it's marked up or not.

often the worst out of all though

YeehaaMcgee

bennett_346 wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

dhobiwallah wrote:

And be very wary about choosing the second cheapest option. that's what everyone does so they stick their cheapest plonk with the biggest mark-up there....

still the second cheapest though, whether it's marked up or not.

often the worst out of all though

But if you choose the second from cheapest to save money, then youre still spending almost as little money as possible, right?
And besides, expensive wine is just bloody horrible. That's not opinion, that's a god's honest fact, by the way!

bennett_346

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

dhobiwallah wrote:

And be very wary about choosing the second cheapest option. that's what everyone does so they stick their cheapest plonk with the biggest mark-up there....

still the second cheapest though, whether it's marked up or not.

often the worst out of all though

But if you choose the second from cheapest to save money, then youre still spending almost as little money as possible, right?
And besides, expensive wine is just bloody horrible. That's not opinion, that's a god's honest fact, by the way!

I agree, it's bloody awful

But you would be likely getting much more for your money if you chose the third cheapest (restaurant probably also makes less of a profit off it too).

I'm not even a wine person.

YeehaaMcgee

But you're still spending more money!