Rocotillos - Bristol Food Review
Posted on: 2017-01-22
Our rating:
American diner Rocotillos has been around for 23 years but its popularity is unwavering. There’s nothing else like it in the city so we had to pop in and have a Sunday morning breakfast. Read on for our review.
Unless you live near Park Street or Clifton you’d be forgiven for not knowing about Rocotillos or never having tried the well-known pancakes and milkshakes. It’s known as the best American diner-style café for miles around.
It didn’t look like much from the outside but there was a queue starting to form when we arrived which of course shows how much people love this little gem, tucked away on Queens Row. It is small and cosy inside so it can get full up easily, but there are stools around the bar as well as several booths that can fit up to 4 people in each, at a squeeze.
The décor is inviting and fun, though it could do with a little spruce up here and there to make it more modern. There are fairy lights dangling across the lamp shades and small mirrors near the ceiling spanning the length of the diner, to give the illusion of space. You can’t help but notice the signs advertising the Oreo milkshake and the Pulled Pork Burger; this made me hungry before I’d even looked at the menu!
There are quite a few pancake variations and they all sound delicious so it was quite hard to choose which ones to have but luckily for me, and I advise you do this aswell, I brought two people to eat with me so that meant we could all share eachother’s pancakes. We ordered banana pancakes with Nutella, chocolate chip pancakes and fruit pancakes with maple syrup (£5.95). If you have an even bigger sweet tooth than we do you could opt for the Ultimate double pancake stack which comes with ice cream, chocolate sauce and maple syrup (£12.50). No matter which pancakes you choose, you can have maple syrup on the side and you can pay a little extra for bacon, eggs, Nutella, chocolate chips and a few other sides. To add Nutella is only 60p so for chocolate lovers it’s a no brainer.
Apart from being great to look at (perfect for an Instagram lover like me), the pancakes were moreish and some of the tastiest I’ve ever had. There are three pancakes in a normal stack, which is plenty, and they were cooked perfectly, golden brown in colour. Rather than being particularly light they were quite squidgy and soft but also slightly sweet which pairs perfectly with all toppings. The fruit ones had strawberries and blueberries on top, and with the 100% A-grade maple syrup, they were divine. I have to say, apart from my Nutella pancakes which were a foodie’s dream, the chocolate chip ones were particularly enticing because the pancakes were absolutely full to burst with chocolate chips. The milk chocolate oozed out once the pancake was cut into. Simply amazing.
However if you’re more into savoury breakfasts that’s not a problem, as Rocotillos has a great range of breakfast sandwiches, wraps, fry-ups and even avocado on toast. We saw lots of people ordering fry-ups so they are clearly a great choice.
I feel sorry that I’ve missed out on this place for so long. Next time I go back I think I’m going to venture into milkshakes and try that famous Oreo concoction, or the Ben & Jerry’s, or Eton Mess… oh who knows, it’s so hard to decide I’ll have to have all of them!
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Food: 5/5
Value: 5/5
Address: 1 Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1EZ. Check out their website here and find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Article by:
Born in Bath, Safia has lived on the outskirts of the city her whole life and is the Editor of 365bath.com. After studying journalism in Bristol she now spends a lot of her time searching for new foodie delights in both cities and finding new things to do. You're most likely to find her sipping a soya latte in a lovely little independent cafe!
