Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Bath
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Bath restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 28 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. Flute
restaurant in Bath
9 Edgar Buildings, George Street - BA1
Flute is a distinctive all-day seafood destination in the heart of Bath offering Cornish seafood, an extensive selection of wines and cocktails with a kick. Flute consistently sources the freshest fish from Devon and Cornwall and...
2. Robun
Japanese restaurant in Bath
4 Princes Building, George Street - BA1
This upscale Japanese three-year-old near the Assembly Rooms draws its name from the 19th-century author Kanagaki Robun, who introduced barbecued food to Japan – and is all about the robata grill. Not everyone is convinced of its authenticity, but the “good-value” and “beautifully presented fish bento box lunch” won raves, with “every element carefully crafted in the best Japanese tradition” (the full menu including sushi and sashimi, tempura, gyoza and a dainty afternoon tea).
3. The Scallop Shell
Fish & seafood restaurant in Bath
22 Monmouth Place - BA1
“Think you know what a fish ’n’ chip restaurant is like? Think again” – this “buzzy and informal” venture (est. 2015) has really raised the bar for the genre; the “incredible” catch (“choose from the regular menu or the extensive specials board”, or profit from the bargain ‘Fisherman’s Lunch’) is “stunningly cooked” and includes “delicious alternatives to the usual cod”. On the first floor, overlooking Bath’s rooftops, is indoor-outdoor dining space The Little Scallop, while the owners also oversee popular takeaway The Oyster Shell, near the Theatre Royal.
4. Green Park Brasserie
Burgers, etc restaurant in Bath
Green Park Station - BA1
“A good, no-nonsense place to eat, with outside heaters” – this local landmark is housed in an old 1870s station on the fringe of the city centre (next to the old Ironbridge railway line) and is celebrating over 30 years in business. Billing itself as a steakhouse and jazz bar – and they also do a good line in pizza – it doesn’t aim for foodie fireworks, but is well-rated across the board.
5. The Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Russell St - BA1
“The only Michelin star restaurant in Bath and it certainly stands out from the rest” – Chris Cleghorn has been at the stoves of this celebrated cellar for over 10 years now and it continues to inspire high praise, with “inventive and delicious” cuisine and tasting menus “much better than the ubiquitous versions that are around today” (although they are a significantly greater investment than the à la carte price shown, at £160 and £190 per person). Opinions differ on the cellar location in a period property: to some tastes it is “only let down by the lack of atmosphere in the basement”, but to others “the setting is relaxing and the service just the right level of attentive”, making it “a romantic venue in the heart of a very romantic city”.
6. Dough
Pizza restaurant in Bath
14-16 The Corridor - BA1
2021 Review: The USP of this “very relaxed” yet “lively” Bath pizzeria is the ability to choose your dough as well as the topping on your pizza; not just regular and gluten-free, they also offer hemp, seaweed, black rice and turmeric bases, plus distinctly adventurous toppings (“who knew pistachios on a pizza could be so amazing?!”). A Bristol branch opened in March 2019.
7. Chez Dominique
French restaurant in Bath
15 Argyle Street - BA2
Launched in 2016 by Chris Tabbitt (ex-of Bibendum and the Old Bridge hotel in Huntingdon) and Sarah Olivier, this “small and beautifully formed” modern European is a “very comfortable, dependable” sort of place indeed. From the “perfectly executed”, “very well-priced” food (e.g., steak-frites, washed down with “even better value” red wine), to the “very personable service”, it offers an “intimate dining experience” that’s “hard to beat”.
8. The Ivy Bath Brasserie
British, Traditional restaurant in Bath
39 Milsom St - BA1
“It’s not London, but it is setting the standard for great food served well in Bath” according to fans of this outpost of the glam national brasserie chain. According to the locals “it has consistent good standards, which is not the case with all the others”.
9. The Pump Room
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Stall Street - BA1
2022 Review: Taking afternoon tea in this “wonderful Georgian setting with a trio playing during the meal” – and the Roman baths next door – is to wallow in English history, with literary visitors from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens as your guides. The nibbles – “beetroot-cured smoked salmon with homemade blini”, perhaps – are a secondary consideration, “but well worth having!”.
10. Clayton's Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
15a George St - BA1
“A great location in the centre of Bath” is backed up by “very competent cooking and good service” at this well-established corner-restaurant, whose level of cuisine and elegant interior are a cut-above. It’s run by chef Rob Clayton – who was formerly head chef at the posh Bath Priory Hotel for seven years – and his family.
11. Colonna & Smalls
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Bath
6 Chapel Row - BA1
“If you like coffee, this is the place to go” – founder Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, three-times UK barista champion, has “unbeatable coffee knowledge” and his “friendly, engaged” staff also “really know their stuff”, which includes some “unusual” beans!
12. Corkage (Chapel Row)
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
5 Chapel Row - BA1
Their original venue on Walcot Street is no more, but this “friendly and casual” sibling on Chapel Row – indie fine wine shop meets bar and small plates venue – is doing a swift trade, not harmed by its gorgeous heated terrace and garden. Alongside “wines outside the usual suspects” (they run a Wednesday wine club and tasting nights), the food is “a cut above” what one might expect from a booze merchant, even for those who are “usually not a fan of small plates and explanations”.
13. The Elder at The Indigo Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
2 South Parade - BA2
Set within the Georgian surrounds of the Indigo Hotel, this indie restaurant from Harwood Arms co-owner Mike Robinson has rejigged its formula, with diners treated to cocktails in a vault-set speakeasy, before heading upstairs to the clubby dining room for a seven-course dinner showcasing the best of British wild food. Reports on the new format were limited but what there were proclaimed the food “truly epic, with plenty of slightly off-the-beaten track choices, e.g. hare” (that seem less surprising given Robinson’s reputation as a game guru). The celebrated chef is joined here by exec chef Liam Goldstone, who also runs the hotel’s more casual Brasserie Beau.
14. Noya's Kitchen
Vietnamese restaurant in Bath
7 Saint James's Parade - BA1
“The word’s got around that the Vietnamese home-style cooking here is seriously delicious”, so this “terrific Dining Club restaurant presided over by the wonderful Noya” (who “also runs supper clubs menus once a week and classes”) is “usually packed” (it is the most commented-on restaurant in Bath in our annual diners’ poll and one of the top-50 most commented-on destinations outside London in the UK). It’s only a “small” and “unpretentious” venue, but “service is always efficient, friendly and welcoming” and “whilst she is only small in stature, her meals are gigantic in terms of flavour and sophistication”; and also very “affordable”. On the downside, one or two visiting Londoners are “disappointed after the local hype” (“good but nothing super-special, but I grew up in south London where we have dozens of not dissimilar places to choose from…”). But when you visit may also be key (“the simplicity of its Pho and Noodle menus – great for pre-theatre – are juxtaposed with Noya’s five-course fixed supper club menus once a week”). Top Menu Tips – “lovely pork belly noodles are very tender and well spiced”; “herby prawn summer rolls and coconut-rich An‘s chicken curry!”.
15. The Beckford Bottle Shop
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
5-8 Saville Row - BA1
“Everything is good and as it should be” at this “delicious small plates” outfit tucked in a wine shop and where, as a result, there’s a “large choice of wine by the glass and you can buy any wine from the shelves and pay an additional £15 corkage, rather than the usual mark-up”. Bonus points for the “really nice atmosphere too” (“in summer it’s an absolute sun trap to sit outside under the awnings” and “in winter it’s cosy and candlelit”). This venue is part of the growing Beckford group, which runs a series of well-regarded venues in South-West England – including, of more recent vintage, Bath’s Beckford Canteen.
16. The Circus
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
34 Brock St - BA1
“Been going so long it’s become an institution in Bath – and all the better for that” – this bistro set in a Georgian house was taken over three years ago from the founding Golden family by head chef Matthew Lisanti. Ratings would be higher were it not for reports of cooking that was “competent but not mind-blowing” – possibly “a problem of too-high expectations”.
17. The White Hart Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Widcombe Hill - BA2
2023 Review: A “quirky and interesting” local with a “good atmosphere” serving a “creative menu, with cooking of a consistent high standard”. It makes a “fantastic pub for Sunday lunch”, with “outstanding roasts”.
18. Marlborough Tavern
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
35 Marlborough Buildings - BA1
With its “nice cosy atmosphere” and “interesting gastropub food”, this Georgian hostelry with a courtyard garden near the Royal Crescent makes “a good mid-price choice in a wonderful city with so many charming places to eat”. It was acquired by St Austell Brewery in 2023, but no major changes are afoot.
19. Menu Gordon Jones
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
2 Wellsway - BA2
2023 Review: The “food and wine are always interesting” and are “still as good as ever” at engaging Anglo-Scottish chef Gordon Jones’s former sandwich shop on the southern edge of town. There’s “a single tasting menu available” (the only choice is whether to have 7 or 9 courses) and it comes as a complete surprise, with each dish introduced as it arrives at your table (and no vegetarian or other options).
20. Hare & Hounds
British, Modern restaurant in Bath
Lansdown Road - BA1
“Outstanding views from the dining area” and “lovely garden” over the surrounding countryside (top walking territory) characterise this well-liked stone gastroboozer; there are plaudits too for its “small menu of good classics” (plus latterly small plates).
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