Reviews

Lodekka on Bath Road in Bristol

Posted on: 2014-05-26

Lodekka hasn't got ideas above its station. You're not getting an la carte menu or dining at the Dorchester. Bottom line is it's an unpretentious local pub restaurant that offers patrons solid, substantial sustenance at a very affordable price.

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Those of us who live in the Hengrove/Whitchurch/Brislington region of the city will know the general paucity of good, affordable food emporiums. Besides a Brewers Fayre on the Hengrove Lesiure Complex (sat alongside a McDonalds, KFC and now rather jaded, sloppy all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet), the locale hasn't been awash with restaurants.

The Lodekka goes some way to redressing the balance.  

It's part of the Hungry Horse chain – other venues are the Merchants Arms at the bottom of the M32 and the Lord Nelson in Cleeve – and sits proudly on Bath Road where, appropriately enough, the city's Lodekka buses were built 60 years ago. 

Competition is tougher than ever and many pubs and restaurants are struggling to survive in these cash-conscious times. The days of the genuine old boozer serving a pickled egg alongside the real ale are (much to my personal chagrin) dying out, and it's an inescapable fact that if you're going to compete you really need do something special to stand out from the crowd.

Lodekka doesn't do anything special to stand out from the crowd – after all, it's a chain pub, and chain pubs follows the exact same identi-kit format for customer familiarity and to facilitate a conveyor belt of quick and easy profit – but what it DOES do is offer decent food at an affordable price.  And this is why it's always packed to the gills no matter what time of day you pop in for some tucker.

As well as proving an economic boost to the area by creating 40 jobs, it's also firmly establishing itself as a community pub, running weekly quiz and poker nights.

The Lodekka maps out its history on a wall near the bar which explains over 5,000 green and cream low-height double deckers were built on the site between 1949 and 1968, still active until they were withdrawn in 1983. Sometimes you can even catch old re-runs of that bus-themed retro comedy classic series, On the Buses, projecting on the wall.  

The menu is absolutely elephantine, catering for all tastes and budgets and boasting a mouth-watering myriad of dishes, including mixed grills, steaks, burgers, fajitas, curries, jackets, hot dogs and burritos, as well as those old favourites the mixed grill and the Sunday roast. 

Being a Hungry Horse, there's also a hearty selection of their famous Big Plate dishes – more than ample and satisfying filling fare the extra-hungry or just those with a good appetite.  

On my few visits I've opted for the regular sized burger and chips and the Big Plate Chicken New Yorker (tender chicken topped with BBQ sauce, bacon and melted cheese), which was accompanied by chips, peas and three hefty onion rings. On both occasions the food was top notch, well cooked, tasty, fresh and filling.  

The staff are friendly and prompt, servicing your table with enthusiastic alacrity, and children - unsurprisingly a common fixture of this family-oriented pub – are well catered for, with television screens showing CBeebies and a sizeable playground and grass area outside.  On sunny days, you can also wine and dine on one of its many outside tables.

Like Wetherspoons, the Hungry Horse Lodekka hasn't got ideas above its station or strive to be anything it isn't. You're not getting an la carte menu or dining at the Dorchester. Bottom line is it's an unpretentious local pub restaurant that offers its patrons solid, substantial sustenance at a very affordable price.  And even Blakey wouldn't have argued with that.    

2.5 / 5

Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol

The Lodekka can be found just off Bath Road - Tramway Road, Bristol, BS4 3DS

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