Spitfire Barbecue, Harbourside: Review

Living in a flat on the opposite side of the river to Spitfire Barbecue, as I do, it may be surprising to learn that I hadn’t eaten at the restaurant until last weekend. The reason? Well, there are two: the first being that we’d previously visited for a drink and had been staggered by the prices, and the second that reports of shockingly bad service from a number of people had put me off. With ten of us booked in for a friend’s birthday on Saturday night, though, it was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

From a review point of view, visiting as part of such a large group may not have been the best way to judge the service for myself – especially as a comment from Spitfire’s owner on an old TripAdvisor review mentions the limiting of party sizes because of issues with service in the past…nevertheless, with claims that service problems had been resolved, we were interested to see how our evening panned out…

There’s no denying that the restaurant is beautifully designed: a large outside seating area features fire pits for that authentic BBQ smell, while inside, the bar and open plan kitchen are very much focal points. The smells wafting from the kitchen hit you as soon as you walk in – as, unfortunately, does the smoke, which left several of our party with red and watery eyes…

We were sat at a circular booth by the door, giving us a great view of the action in the kitchen, at the bar and throughout the restaurant. While browsing the menu, we ordered some drinks – a pint of lemonade for me (£2.95) and a pint of Welsh ale Cwtch (£5) for Chris. The beers and ciders on offer (including Budweiser, Bo’Ho and Fubar, plus Rocksteady cider on draught, and bottles which include Orchard Pig and Thatchers ciders, plus beers from the likes of Beerd, Flying Dog, Bath Ales and Meantime) are pretty expensive – it’s £4.20 for a pint of Bud, with prices also high for the others. Wine is more reasonable, though, starting at £4.25 for a 175ml glass, while the extensive list of cocktails (which are two for one Monday to Thursday 5-7pm) ranges from £5.45 to £6.80.

After time spent deliberating over the extensive menu, our orders were placed with our friendly and jokey server and we waited for our food to arrive. And waited. And waited. In the end, it took an hour for our food to reach the table after ordering – we were, as I said, in a group of ten, but this still seemed to be far too long. While we were waiting, though, our server visited our table a few times to ask if drinks needed topping up – can’t fault the service there.

The two members of our party who had ordered steaks sent their meals back as they were both overdone, while the friend who ordered half a chicken (£12.25) was perfectly happy with the way in which her meal was cooked. One end of the table ordered a variety of dishes to share between them, and informed us that the Spitfire wings (£13.55) and Jamaican drummers (£11.50) were the highlight. The steaks received the thumbs up when they’d been recooked to our friends’ original requirements, but the side of halloumi that one friend ordered seemed expensive, priced at just under £4, was overcooked and lost much of its halloumi flavour thanks to a large quantity of balsamic glaze.

Two of us ordered the Pitboss Burger (£13.95): a 70z beef patty topped with smoked Applewood cheese, slices of Bockwurst and rib tips and house smoked pulled pork, all finished off with BBQ sauce. While he opted to pick his up and bite straight in, I went for the knife and fork approach… the burger bun was nice and dense and didn’t disintegrate, while the pulled pork was full of flavour, but sadly a little cold. The rib tips were juicy and tender but included large lumps of gristle which I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t gone for the cutlery option, and neither of us was particularly impressed with the texture of the burger, although it was seasoned well. The chips were perfectly palatable, though, and we used them to mop up piles of house-made hot sauce which had plenty of bite.

Based on the weekend’s experience, I sadly don’t think I’d rush back to Spitfire – while the atmosphere in there’s great, the menu is vast and the drinks options are plentiful – plus the fact that the open plan kitchen gives you plenty to watch – the food was, for me, overpriced for what you get and didn’t particularly wow me. The wait for food was a little excessive too, and while I like the concept of the place, there were just too many negatives on the night for me to consider visiting again soon.