Root Bristol

A wonderful, utterly unpretentious dinner at Root. We were especially grateful that the team managed to accommodate our last-minute reservation when online booking was already full - it made our evening in Bristol. The crispy cornish potatoes, courgette, tomatoes, cabbage, sardines and trout were all exceptional: beautifully fresh, full of flavour and with some genuinely surprising combinations. Root is a reminder of just how much magic can be created from vegetables and simple ingredients. Service was warm, polished and effortlessly attentive. The only slight disappointment was the cocktails – of the four we tried, only the Venice truly hit the mark; the others could use a little refinement. That said, Root remains one of those places you leave already planning your next visit

Really nice atmosphere and friendly service. You can tell the ingredients are good quality and it’s nice to go to a restaurant that is more vegetable focused. However, for the price, I would say that none of the dishes really stood out. The asparagus was especially underwhelming. Still though, had a nice dining experience, was just hoping for a bit more from the food.

I had dinner at Root last night. I went in with high expectations at first. The price range was a bit expensive, but still acceptable. We had 6 dishes in total. The focaccia was absolutely top notch. Served slightly warm with olive oil, and honestly it was the best focaccia I’ve ever had. It had that little bit of saltiness that I really love, which a lot of restaurants tend to miss. 10/10. The second dish was the grilled carrots, which I’d give a 6/10. The dish arrived hot, so it definitely wasn’t pre-made. It was basically carrots covered in curry sauce with some sour cucumbers underneath. Very average overall, nothing particularly special about the sauce or the curry paste. The carrots were still crunchy rather than soft. The third dish was the hispi cabbage, 4/10. It was basically cabbage covered in burger sauce. I didn’t really understand the Russian dressing combination, and I honestly didn’t enjoy it. It smelled nice, but the taste reminded me of the salad you get at a kebab shop covered in burger sauce. Sorry to the chef, no hard feelings. The fourth dish was the pork schnitzel, 6/10. Nothing too special. The outside was very crispy, which was a good point, and it didn’t have that unpleasant oily taste. However, the sauce tasted a bit like supermarket teriyaki sauce served on the side. The worst dish for me was the asparagus, 2/10. It came in a very small bowl with a little bit of soup at the bottom. The soup was supposed to balance the asparagus flavour, but instead it just tasted like plain MSG soup with mint flavours. Unfortunately, this one really didn’t work for me. The sixth dish was the kohlrabi. It was covered in peanuts and crispy chilli. Personally, I didn’t enjoy it either. It felt like it was covered in Chinese Lao Gan Ma sauce with some apple added in. Again, nothing very special. Overall, I would say the restaurant uses a lot of Asian-inspired flavours across the dishes, and for the portion sizes I found it quite overpriced. On the positive side, the staff were very polite and friendly. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

Really liked our light dinner at Root. We booked ahead and came to the opening time so it felt empty for 5 min but then it filled up - must be really good, we thought! The menu is simple and very interesting at the same time. We played safe, got focaccia, carrots, leeks, potato and celeriac. Only the leeks didn't hit the spot for us, the rest was fantastic and surprisingly filling. However we couldn't resist a dessert - hazelnut cake was scrumptious. Thank you Root and especially Harriet!

Root in Bristol was exceptional. The food was so good that we ended up ordering every dish on the menu just to try the lot, and there honestly wasn’t a weak plate among them. The bread was possibly the best bread experience I’ve ever had - crisp, warm, salty, soft in the middle, and dangerously easy to keep eating. Standouts were the celeriac gravlax with beetroot, horseradish, fennel and dill, which was fresh, sharp, clever and full of flavour, and the pork schnitzel with fennel, caper and lemon brown butter, which was rich, crisp, perfectly balanced and exactly the sort of dish you don’t want to share. Everything felt thoughtful without being fussy. Easily one of the best meals I’ve had in Bristol.