Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Bath
Hardens guides have spent 15 years compiling reviews of the best Bath restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 67 restaurants in Bath and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Bath restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Bath Restaurants
1. The Bath Priory
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Weston Rd - BA1
“Wonderful food (and the garden provides a lot of it)” is part of the tradition at this upscale country-house hotel, whose ratings have improved this year under new executive chef Michael Nizzero (whose impressive CV includes a stint at the Waterside Inn Bray). Top Tip: “the excellent cheese trolley includes some delicious local examples”.
2. Menu Gordon Jones
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
2 Wellsway - BA2
“Fun and full of surprises” – Gordon Jones’s “quirky” operation on the edge of town provides a “top experience – up with the best”. “You have no idea what’s coming” as there’s no menu or choice; instead, Jones decides what to cook each day, conjuring up “amazing food and drink with interesting conversation”. “The absolute highlight was snails and test tubes – they serve snails along with test tubes filled with different sauces to go with them...”.
3. Scallop Shell
Fish & seafood restaurant in Bath
22 Monmouth Place - BA1
This “no-nonsense seafood restaurant” – a tasteful modern café, complete with nautical decor – has a “handy location” in the town centre, and has earned a good reputation since opening three years ago for its “always super-fresh food (wonderful scallops, great battered fish)”. The centrepiece is an old Victorian bath filled with ice, with fresh fish lying on top. Top tip: “try to eat downstairs – far more atmosphere than the upper deck”.
4. The Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Russell St - BA1
“Truly outstanding” cooking from chef Chris Cleghorn continues to impress diners at this well-known venue, which won a Michelin star in October 2018 (becoming the only restaurant in town to hold one). The basement dining room doesn’t please all reporters though (“a bit quiet and lacking character”) and the experience is “not cheap”.
5. Colonna & Smalls
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Bath
6 Chapel Row - BA1
Thrice crowned UK Barista Champion (and up there at several World Finals) Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood runs this “very fashionable” Queen Square coffee shop. Unsurprisingly, it’s hailed as “the best place for coffee” in town and the “carrot cake is also pretty damn good!”
6. The Circus
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
34 Brock St - BA1
This “utterly reliable” family-run bistro near the Royal Crescent is popular for its “delightful service, delicious food, and interesting and varied menu with great fish dishes”. “Professional and doesn’t break the bank – what’s not to like?”.
7. Henry's Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
4 Saville Row - BA1
“Henry is well on his way to a Michelin star – or two,” say fans of the “young, hardworking” chef’s “ambitious, totally delicious” spot, in a bare-boards Georgian townhouse (that was once Casanis, RIP). “Lovely staff” and “well-priced” set lunches round out its charms.
8. Hare & Hounds
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Lansdown Road - BA1
“A busy and useful gastropub near the Lansdowne Park and Ride”, and bolstered by chic interiors as well as ten-mile views over the countryside (walks start right from the door); “great staff” and “amazing” locally sourced food courtesy of a new chef continue to cement its appeal.
9. Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen
Vegetarian restaurant in Bath
2 North Parade Passage - BA1
This “fancy, upmarket” restaurant (well, by the standards of grungy veggies, anyway) in a small lane in the city-centre remains one of the UK’s most distinguished non-meat destinations for its “tasty, interesting” food and “good choice of organic wines and beers”.
10. Clayton's Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
15a George St - BA1
“Consistently fabulous” modern European cooking draws a steady stream of locals as well as tourists to this smart Georgian townhouse in the city centre – and it’s “very good value considering the quality”. Rob Clayton trained under the legendary Nico Ladenis before heading up the Bath Priory kitchen, among others.
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