The Restaurant at No.15 Great Pulteney in Bath and North East Somerset

No.15, a boutique Guest House and restaurant and, first stop, cocktails with it’s weird and wonderful bar fashioned in scalloped leather scales to resemble exotic fish. Pretty cool place. I have a penchant for lighting and music which, combined, can either create or kill the perfect ambience in equal measure. The backdrop beats were on point, but the lighting was too severe for my liking. Nonetheless I downed an excellent Negroni before we were escorted downstairs to the small (36 covers) convivial restaurant. Like the bar the restaurant has plenty of attention-grabbing details including the vast array of eclectic portraits lining the walls and other odd arts and objects. The menu is welcomingly short with just half a dozen choices for each course which, in turn, gives the Diner assurance that the chef is confident in their ability to nail each one by applying the less is more mantra. For the most part we were served with memorable and seriously good cookery. Focussing on all that was great, I started with Bath chaps (pigs’ cheek) served with smoked bacon, pear relish and endive and followed with duck breast, swede and duck leg boulangère potato with a peppercorn jus. We shared honey roasted root vegetables. All excellent and surprisingly good portions. She kicked-off with ricotta and sage gnocchi which she declared was magnificent and followed with 30-day aged ribeye steak with a port and stilton sauce, roast mushroom and chips. Finally, we two-spooned a sticky toffee pudding in a Bath ale toffee sauce with honeycomb ice cream. Was this culinary perfection ? Well not quite with just a couple of small niggles. The pre-starter bread may have come from the legendary Bertinet Bakery, but it was, in all honesty, bland and served with butter. A personal thing but I prefer an extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic dip. The chips had an odd spry crisp’n dry after taste. The bill came in at a reasonable £132 (including 10% service).

We went to the bar at Number 15 for afternoon cocktails. All the cocktails we tried were lovely and the bar man was very attentive. Highly recommended if you want to have drinks in quirky surroundings.

It's a nice place with friendly staff. They got me a chair from upstairs when it was clear that, being disabled, the 'designer chair' was a nonsense. Their attention to details leaves a bit to be desired though as my finished plate was left in front of me for a long time. The food is, unfortunately, pretty average, but the prices are not. Crispy squid coating was too heavy. Duck fat chips weren't chips but some sort of potato concoction. Charcuterie board could have been from Waitrose. Etc etc. Puddings were disappointing too. Bottle of Rioja £36, brandy double £16. £150 - hmmmmmm.

Hugely disappointing birthday lunch. In February we enjoyed your lunch set menu, delicious and reasonably priced. Today, the a la carte menu was unrecognisable with sky high prices. We stayed out of embarrassment, ate a hugely expensive and sparce salad and went elsewhere. Check the menu before you book!

I was staying in the area and the lights and design of this establishment caught my design led imagination. I therefore booked lunch so that I could see inside. This was exceptional particularly in light of the three courses for £19 . The ingredients were sublime, the presentation equisite. The service impeccable whilst remaining warm. I then had coffee in the bar which was more my style of design in its creativity. I applaud this place for its bold and large art works which go out on a limb not to simply conform. This is a place I will return to and next time to also include a cocktail.