Bath is renowned for its choice of restaurants and we found one that the whole family enjoyed…
Let’s be honest, there’s a pretty impressive range of places to eat out in Bath. As another shop closes it seems to be taken over by ever more funky eateries and alluring restaurants, ranging from tapas to tortillas, boba teas to vegan menus, and more pizza places than you can shake a bread stick at (which is fine by us as we love pizza!).
Last night we returned to one of our family favourites, BIll’s Restaurant on Cheap Street, which over the years has established itself as one of the best of the chain restaurants, serving reliably excellent food in stylish surroundings with great staff on hand. And I’m glad to say that last night, once again, didn’t disappoint.
Bill’s works for us because it’s very family friendly with an appealing menu, plus – mainly for old dad – the music isn’t pumping so you can actually enjoy a conversation. OK, the wifi is ropey, but that meant there were no distractions from phones and we could actually talk to each other.
We’d booked in for an early 6pm dinner and were suited in one of the booths, which are just ideal for families and provide comfortable seats and plenty of room. Right from our arrival, the staff were friendly, attentive and right on the ball, showing a real knowledge of menu and happy to deal with all of our requirements.
As for menu, there was a good selection of starters and mains, including a decent choice of salads and plant-based meals, plus the usual sides and desserts. A nice touch was the ‘Afternoon Cakes’ offering doughnuts and coffee, and cream teas as an afternoon snack. What’s more, it turns out that Bill’s serves an impressive selection of breakfasts from 8-11.30am, which could be just the thing for a lazy Sunday or a business breakfast meeting.
With our drinks ordered, we were straight in for the starters, with our lot going for two orders of Chicken & Sesame Dumplings with Bill’s Spicy Chutney (£6.75), one Bill’s Sticky Duck Salad (£7.25), a Wedge Salad for my wife (£6.95) and Spiced Crab Cakes with Chilli (£7.50) for me. The duck aside, which just didn’t work, the rest were excellent. The dumplings were fresh and full of flavour, the spiced crab cakes had just a touch of bite to help tantalise those taste bugs, while the Wedge Salad, albeit a little chunky with the lettuce being exactly a big old wedge as described in the name, actually tasted very good indeed.
So a good start, followed by a family game of ‘What’s your favourite…’, going from everywhere from colours and countries, to more important topics like cakes (choux bun), chocolate (dark) and animals (giraffes – I don’t why, they’re just cool…). As is the usual way, we’d ordered our mains with the starters, and were soon looking forward to two Chargrilled 8oz Sirloin Steaks with rosemary fried and a choice of sauces (£19.95), one Bill’s Classic Burger (£12.50), a Buttermilk Chicken Burger (£13.50) and a Goan Sea Bass Curry, served with garlic flatbread, coconut rice, mint yoghurt and spicy cherry tomatoes (£15.50).
Across the board, the mains were excellent – albeit with a caveat… Steaks first, and they were perfectly pink for an order of rare, with the surprisingly huge steak knives – seriously, Crocodile Dundee wouldn’t have objected – cutting through the meat with impressive ease. We went for different sauces – one helping of peppercorn and the other truffle and red wine – and both were superb, while the rosemary fries were a good few cuts above your usual restaurant mini chips.
The burgers were both similarly enjoyed, with my youngest – 11 years old and already a food critic – declaring his chicken burger the “the best meal I’ve ever had” and ” fandabulous,” although, to be fair he was slightly buzzing after two cokes…
As for that caveat, while the Goan curry looked great and tasted pretty good too, the fact that the sauce was served on the plate and the rice in a bowl was kind of illogical – surely you want everything served together…
Of course, if there’s one thing that can let a really good meal down it’s a really disappointing dessert, so how would Bill’s fair in this crucial part of the equation? Actually, really well… There was never any doubt that my youngest would go for the Mini Cinnamon Doughnuts served with cinnamon sugar, chocolate sauce and dulce de leche (£6.50), while my wife went for the Eton Colada – fresh pineapple, ice cream, coconut, meringue, whipped cream and maraschino cherry (£6.75), my daughter bagsied the Triple Chocolate Brownie (£6.57) and I went for Bill’s Flowerpot – strawberry cheesecake with chocolate soil, fresh strawberries and edible flower (£7.50).
You know how everyone wants to taste your pudding? Well, that was the case with Bill’s Flowerpot. Served in an edible flower pot, it looked amazing and tasted really good too – despite a squadron of forks appearing from all angles to have a ‘little try’. This should definitely earn you star baker from Paul Hollywood and is a real show-stopper – tasty, clever and fun too.
Elsewhere, the Eton Colada looks loads of fun too, the doughnuts didn’t take long to disappear and the brownie was warm, moist, tasty and kinda of lush.
All in all, this was a cracking meal out at Bill’s of Bath, a restaurant that continues to produce excellent meals for the whole family, backed up with great service and even a decent cup of coffee at the end. We’ll be back again and whoever orders the Bill’s Flowerpot better had a defence plan in place…
Half term – kids eat free
From Monday 24th – Friday 28th October, diners at Bill’s can feed the family for less with the return of Kids Eat Free. During the week of half term, up to two children can eat a meal for free all day, if one adult orders any main dish (breakfast, lunch or dinner).
Details below, in case you are able to include: