Detailed review by tartlette
tartlette
Cardiff, United Kingdom90%
Mr Tart and I were recently looking for somewhere to have a nice meal out in Bath. Being the sensible (or should that be tight!) people we are we don’t tend to go out for dinner unless it’s accompanied with a Martin (Moneysavingexpert) voucher. We’ve done the rounds on most of the places they have on offer so Mr Tart suggested we try Brasserie Gerard with a buy one get one free on mains offer I was happy to see what it was like.
LOCATION AND OPENING
The branch of Brasserie Gerard that we tried was the Bath one. It is located on the Empire Grand Parade, near Pultney Bridge, so it is pretty much in the centre of the city. The restaurant is open from 9am until 11pm Monday to Saturday and until 10.30pm on Sundays. Most of the branches of the restaurant are in the south east of the country, with only one in Scotland and two in the North.
EXPERIENCE
We booked a table for 7.30 on a Wednesday evening. The restaurant was not very full so I’m not sure booking was entirely necessary but better to be safe than sorry. We had booked online which made it really easy. Inside the restaurant didn’t look very French, in fact I think it looked pretty much like some of the other chains like Pizza Express and Prezzo. The walls were plain cream and the tables and chairs were dark wood.
We were shown to a table near the back of the restaurant. One thing I really liked was how light the restaurant was as there are huge windows all along one side, which also give a great view. We were given menus and then the waitress came over and took our drinks order. As a non-drinker and trying always to keep the price down, I asked for some tap water and Mr Tart had a large glass of red.
For our starters I ordered the Champingon Farci, which was a large mushroom, with spinach and an egg on top, with a cheese sauce spread over it. This was really, really good. It was all perfectly cooked and was very tasty. Mr Tart had the Crevettes a l’ail, which were tiger prawns, which had been cooked in garlic butter and came in the butter, with parsley, tomatoes and bread on the side. He really enjoyed this and I tried one of the prawns and they were really delicious and I would probably order them if I was going back to the restaurant.
For the main course I ordered the onglet. This is described as a ‘traditional French cut of steak which is best served rare’. As I didn’t really know how it was going to be I ordered it medium rare, but when it came I saw why it was best rare as it was very thin. I think it was closer to rare anyway. It was a really tasty piece of steak, and was served with thin chips which I always love! My only bugbear about this meal was that there were black peppercorns over the steak and I really don’t like pepper. I don’t mind it for a bit of seasoning but there was quite a lot over it and I think it would have been better if they’d offered pepper at the table. Mr Tart ordered the beef bourguinon. He said that the food was really tasty but it was spoilt slightly because the beef that they had used was quite fatty and had a lot of gristle in it. Whether this was because they had used poor meat or because they hadn’t cooked the dish for long enough to melt the fat into it we weren’t sure. It does spoil a meal when you’re going through every mouthful worried that you’ll come across something horrible to chew! I don’t think he would have this again, but it could have just been an unlucky plate and the taste itself was great. The dish was served with mashed potato which went really well with it. We decided that we couldn’t fit in a desert as the starters and mains were quite filling enough!
The service was good and friendly all evening. The only slight issue was that the starters took a while to come out but to be honest I think this was only highlighted because Mr Tart gets antsy if he’s hungry!!
There are lots of other things on the menu at Brasserie Gerard. They offer a breakfast, lunch and fixed price menu. We ordered from the main menu. Other starters included snails and French onion soup. There was a selection of salads and fish, including sea bass, filled with spinach and tomato. Other mains included coq-au-vin and crispy duck breast. There isn’t a lot on the menu for vegetarians (only really the goats cheese salad) so I wouldn’t recommend it for veggies!
We paid £33.60 for our meal. My mushroom starter was £5.95 and Mr Tart’s prawns were £6.95. The beef bourguinon was £13.95 and the onglet steak was £13.50. We got the onglet for free as it was buy one get one free on the mains. Mr Tart’s glass of merlot was £6.75 for a large glass (which seems ridiculous to be but this may be because I don’t drink! I think that the restaurant is pretty expensive for what is basically a chain. I didn’t worry too much about the amount we paid with the voucher but I wouldn’t be happy to go there and pay full price as I think it’s way too expensive. I can understand the cost of the steak but £13.95 for the beef bourguinon seemed over the top to me.
CONCLUSION
I liked our meal out. The food for the most part was really delicious, especially the prawns and my steak. However, Mr Tart’s main was disappointing. The layout and style of the restaurant were good. My main issue with Brasserie Gerard is the prices and while I would recommend the restaurant I would say it’s not worth the prices they charge so make sure you pay a visit to Martin on his website before visiting the restaurant!!
Brasserie Gérard7
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Accessibility
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Budget Friendliness
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Food
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