425 Gloucester Rd
Horfield BS78TZ
We didn’t start well, though i blame myself.
When i asked my sister if she knew the junction of Ashley Down Rd with Gloucester Rd and she said ‘Yes’ I should have questioned her further.
Which is how i found myself stood on the side of the road in ‘Arctic’ conditions looking for her car.
When my phone rang she told me she’d had trouble finding a parking space but was now stood outside the Petrol Station on Gloucester Rd, which was strange as i was too.
We agreed we couldn’t see each other so started looking for other land mark’s, at which point I could hear a siren her end but as there was no Ambulance my end, I concluded we were outside different garages on Gloucester Rd. A Sherlock moment.
Once this was established, we realised she was at the bottom of the Gloucester Road whilst the Cafe, our venue and I were at the top of the road and to add insult to injury, she had been walking in the wrong direction for the last 10 minutes.
Eventually we were reunited and made our way into the warmth of the cafe.
It was reasonably busy and there were only a few tables available so we took a small table close to the counter and grabbed a few menus. There was a pleasant sound of chatter and it was warm and comfortable, even on the small table that we had.
The large blackboard on the wall showed the full menu but im not sure it completely matched the ones on the table?
Once we’d chosen, i made the short journey to the Counter where there were several staff taking orders.
At this point it became a bit complicated.
There were two queues for the till, one either side of a pillar, which meant people had been queuing on both sides unaware of the line on the other side, so there was some rivalry between each line.
It got even more confusing when the staff offered to take drinks order’s from my queue but wouldn’t take food orders, for that i had to join the back of the other queue!
So i ordered a large Soya Latte (£2.50) and a Breakfast Tea (£1.40).
The Tea came in a cup the size of a washing up bowl and was nice and strong though the Milk was on the counter and i had to squeeze through the food queue to get at it which cause more disruption and not a little moaning about ‘pushing in’.
When i offered to pay i was asked if there was anything else and i said i wanted to order food?
At this point i was invited to give the complete order including food, thus avoiding another wait.
Back at the table i was surprised that a server removed the salt & pepper pots from our table to deliver to another table. Was this the only condiment set in the building?
We drank our drink’s happily whilst waiting for the food to arrive, enjoying getting warm after our trek up the A38.
I ordered the Full English (£6.50) which came with 2 Sausages, 2 Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, 2 Hash Browns some Baked Beans, half a Tomato and some Mushrooms. Plus a round of Toast.
There was no choice of egg offered so i accepted the Scrambled though im not sure if they used powdered egg as it tasted very, well, powdery.
However, when i tasted the sausage( it had almost no taste) it had the same unpleasant powdery taste?
The bacon was a commercial cut and was far too well done for me.
The Toast was some sort of Granary, placed on the side of the plate, which had it been hot (which it wasn’t, it was stone cold) could have melted the small pack of Butter.
The Mushroom’s seemed fresh enough and the Tomato was well cooked but it was a very poor imitation of a Full English.
My sister, being very Cosmopolitan, ordered a stack of Pancakes with Maple Syrup and Bacon. (£4.25).
This looked good with the Streaky Bacon cooked nicely though it soon got cold and it took all her strength to cut one of the Pancakes which had gone hard and rubbery.
When we’d finished our server came and removed the plates and we asked if we could have more drinks?
We were told we would have to go back to the counter and order and as there was still a queue we decided not to bother.
In summary, this was a very ordinary breakfast but reasonably priced. The venue is fine though the system could do with some reorganisation.
NB. Im reliably informed that the Pizza on offer with free Garlic Bread and salad during the week is good value, so ill give that a try but i don’t think ill be coming back for a fat Boys any time soon.
In search of a great Breakfast 