Volunteer Tavern Reviews Summary

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "We went on a Thursday night a group of friends and I to catch up and we were surprised with a very fun bingo-songs night!"
• "Cool little pub with craft beers and nice atmosphere."
• "Absolutely lovely atmosphere here, the staff also put out spare roast potatoes from their roasts on Sundays for patrons to snack on."
• "Really friendly and lively atmosphere, can get busy on a Sunday so I recommend booking."
• "It's a pretty cool place to chill outside."
• "Interesting people and a lovely little courtyard garden."
• "Wonderful vibe, cheap drinks, friendly staff, regular quiz nights and board games aplenty."

Cons:

• "This place had an atmosphere before covid and now... it's really not the same vibe."
• "Rude staff wouldn't even look in our direction much less serve us."
• "During our visit I also noticed the staff give a lot more energy and enthusiasm to what I can only assume were 'regulars'."
• "We left the Volunteer Tavern feeling underwhelmed by the food and disappointed by the attitude of the staff."
• "The pub itself inside was extremely dingy."
• "Inside space quite lacking, so during winter can get cramped when it's not nice enough to go outside."
• "I'm disgusted with the lack of customer care & heartily recommend a crash course in customer service for all staff."

Food

Pros:

• "Delicious food and really welcoming, relaxed, friendly staff."
• "The food by La Cocina is absolutely fantastic."
• "The home cooked roast was amazing and atmosphere was really nice."
• "Chicken, rice and chips were all hot and delicious."
• "Amazing place, so friendly & great vibe here. Staff very knowledgeable and the Sunday vegan roast is the best my partner & I have ever eaten."
• "One of the best off the cuff pub meals I've had for a while."
• "The food was fine, good value for price but more than 1 hour wait for a sunday roast, it's unacceptable!"

Cons:

• "Tried booking, was told there are no reservations. Got there, ordered drinks and said we are going to be ordering food only to be told later that they didn't have enough roasts because they have reservations they need to fulfill."
• "The food is ok, but it is not acceptable wait 1 hour and 45 minutes for a Sunday Roast."
• "The roasts have never been that great."
• "Really disappointing experience this time... the food was pretty poor quality, with everything very very cold."
• "Sunday lunch was poor. Couldn't cut the beef it was so tough and potatoes soggy. Not enough vegetables."
• "The quality of food here has gone dramatically downhill since they changed menus."
• "Had some good meals in here in the past from various previous pop-ups, but very poor roast today."

Service

Pros:

• "Great pub with a good selection of real ales located not too far from Cabot Circus."
• "The staff are lovely, so it's a worthy stop on your tour, and you can even get some food too."
• "The staff are so friendly."
• "Staff were great too."
• "All the staff are really friendly but Anna who served us was particularly friendly and accommodating."
• "young energetic staff obviously enjoying the working day serving good food and superb drinks with a smile."
• "Staff were great, friendly and helpful."

Cons:

• "About three tables who came in after us were served ahead of us."
• "Didn't risk the toilets."
• "When I called, they told me that the CCTV had an issue and that they were unable to have the video."
• "Vegan food was delicious, had a great time! Would usually be 5 stars, but the younger ginger table barman tonight really needs to chill out, didn't know his problem was, super rude... the other staff were all lovely! Xx"
• "Went to the pub. Realised the bad service from the beginning. Took them ages to take an order."
• "Nobody checked how the food was at any point either, and wasn't that busy to justify that kind of service."
• "However the service wasn’t great, we weren’t asked if we wanted any condiments until our food came out."

Value

Pros:

• "It's a bit more pricy then I was expecting but the quality damn sure makes up for it."
• "Booze also good and cheap.. 2 rounds and and dinner... bargain."
• "I thought it was very reasonably priced as well, with my order including a pint coming to £23 roughly."
• "We went on Monday night which happened to be curry night, great value - £5 for vegan curry, £6 for meat!"
• "What a brilliant roast dinner! Most pubs think vegetarians but sniff a mushroom, lick a spud and they're done, not so."
• "A wonderful community pub with a nice selection of beers, and excellent Sunday roast."
• "The roast in particular is brilliant - an absurd amount of delicious food for a small price tag."

Cons:

• "The ale selection is good but the lager is disappointing and at £4.50 for the cheapest pint I hoped it would taste a little nicer."
• "The prices have gone a bit high."
• "One thing that could be done better is their Fries… if you are going to serve an only vegan menu please serve some proper nice and fresh fries…"
• "We ordered beef roasts and are a bit disappointed with the volume of the plates."
• "SHOULD NOT BE ON BRISTOL TOP 10."
• "Someone stole my purse at this bar."
• "Terrible food. I ordered 2 different kind of dirty fries, chicken and fries, and hot fries and chicken. Well, both were the same, just one different thing, the hot fries had jalapenos. The chicken had a very bad taste, like vinegar."