Ragu Restaurant Bristol

What is there to say really, 5 stars. Be back again. Lovely service, welcomed and had the menu explained to us. They recommend a dish from each category which goes from starters to mains. One plate to share between two. We did that and also had a drink each, again the staff were very good in explaining the drinks and meals. We had such excellent food and a time. Definitely all the plates are good to share in terms of size. We spent just over £100 on two people for 5 courses and two drinks and although that's more than we'd usually spend it was such a great experience and food we'd definitely go back. For us that's forgoing a few takeaways and having much more enjoyment. I'd say the only minor shame is how squished some of the seats are together and people squeezing by but I suppose not much to be done about that.

Extremely good. My first time but if you love Marmo you will love this too. If you can make polenta one of the best things of a consistently excellent dinner then you have some serious chops. Delicious!

Following the warmest of welcomes, we were taken to our table - right by the window overlooking the fish shop below - and the pair of seagulls, who were waiting to be fed with scraps of fish! A bottle of chilly water was brought, along with the menus. We opted for the no-brainer lunch, which at £30 seemed like a pretty good deal. We both chose the same, the artichokes and the venison. Plus a cocktail (moi) and a glass of Spanish red (him). I'd been looking forward to my cheeky lunchtime martini, with its promise of both locally produced vodka and local Aperitivo! Co dry vermouth - so I was a bit disappointed to have been given the much less interesting bog-standard Martini brand. OK so I'm unlikely to have tasted the difference, but I felt a bit cheated all the same. That aside, everything else was perfect, from the crispiness of the artichokes' (there were two each) batter, with the mountain of aioli for dipping, via the tenderest of venison with its interesting mix of melted bone marrow, charred radicchio and gorgonzola with balsamic to cut through at least some of the richness (some bread might have helped too); all the way through to the wobbliest and creamiest of panna cottas (pannas cotta?), palest green and strewn with crushed pistachios. The coffee that we finished with was teeny in the best Italian manner (and kept me awake half the night!) One other slight niggle - about which nothing can be done - is that the cooking smells in the tiny, busy space, while delicious at the time, cling to both hair and clothes; we did wonder why so many people opted to sit outside in their coats!

Despite the heatwave, we really enjoyed our meal. The food was really good, made with high-quality Italian ingredients, and the service was attentive and efficient. Highly recommend!