Before last week, I’d not been to Revolution on Saint Nicholas Street for a while. The Bristol branch of the chain bar is somewhere we’ve ended up in the past on boozy nights out, drawn in by happy hour cocktail deals and cheap shots. It tends to attract plenty of hen and stag parties, and – I’ve got to be honest – it’s not somewhere I’ve considered visiting for lunch before…but that’s exactly what we did last Saturday.
During the day, the atmosphere is completely at odds with the nighttime feel. Don’t get me wrong – the disco balls and fairy lights are still there, along with the signs advertising 30 different flavoured vodkas that hint at the evening crowd, but it’s seriously chilled in daylight hours. Gentle music plays throughout the expansive venue, which has an interesting industrial meets kitsch meets retro feel: you’ll find exposed pipes on the ceiling, chintzy flowery sofa booths and a mixture of wooden and metal chairs at tables festooned with potted flowers. The black and white tiled bar certainly stands out, and there’s also a large outdoor area for those willing to brave the elements.
Drinks-wise, there’s a big focus on cocktails, as well as on entire bottles of spirits to share at the table – which cements the bar’s reputation as a party venue. However, I was also surprised to see that there was a decent craft and world beer selection, including the likes of Pistonhead, Vedett, Brooklyn Brewery, Quilmes and more. Sadly, the cider menu did nothing for me: with Kopparberg, Magners and Rekorderlig in bottles and Magners and Aspall on draught, it always surprises (and disappoints!) me to see Bristol bars whose cider options are severely lacking.
On the food front, Revolution has gone down the American diner route, serving a menu that features burgers, pizzas, sandwiches and mains such as mac ‘n’ cheese. The menu has recently undergone some changes, with new dishes including sharing crates featuring sliders and more; burritos; small plates such as dough dogs and spicy pork n’duja balls; and a range of new sandwiches and wraps.
Keen to try something off the new menu, we asked our waitress Ellie for advice on what to choose…and we may have over-estimated our appetites…
At £12.50, you can tell from both the price and the name that the Triple Overload Burger is not one for the faint-hearted…and we were both defeated before we got to the end. Three halves of brioche bun each supported a different topping – a smoked Cheddar-topped beef patty at the bottom, a generous fillet of buttermilk fried chicken in the middle and a mound of pulled pork at the top – and the burger was so hefty that it was served skewered on a steak knife to keep it standing.
One side was drenched with a tangy garlic sauce, the other with a very hot yet very fruity chilli-based “Armageddon sauce”, and the wooden board was also dotted with BBQ crackling puffs, which really weren’t to my taste.
The pulled pork was cooked well, still nice and juicy and with plenty of flavour, and the chicken was probably my favourite part of the burger: lovely and succulent and with a flavourful crispy coating. While the smoked Cheddar was a great twist on the standard Cheddar cheese normally served with beef burgers, the burger itself wasn’t that great – the flavour just didn’t really work for us.
We loved the viper fries that the burger was served with – lovely and crispy and coated with a fiery spice blend (the heat was nothing compared with the Armageddon sauce, though…!)
We’re both slightly addicted to deep fried pickles, and with Revolution’s offering served with the added temptation of a blue cheese dip, they would have been hard to resist. For just £2.50 per portion, you’ll be presented with a dish of six thick pickle slices, each coated in a perfectly crispy batter and with a generous quantity of the thick and tangy dip…we happily mopped up the rest with our fries.
Ellie, our waitress, was fantastic – she couldn’t do enough to help, and she was friendly and polite throughout. As for the food…well, it was undeniably great for the most part – we were actually pretty surprised. It’s a shame that the beef patty let the burger down , but we enjoyed our meal on the whole – and are seriously tempted by their Monday deal of 50% off food all day. Worth a visit if an all-American style menu appeals.
Please note: our meal was received free of charge, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the venue did not see this review before it was put up on the site.