Grillstock Smokehouse in Bath

I don't consider myself a foodie-type person at all but back at the beginning of July we managed to visit a little place in Bath that had only been open a week or so.

 

 

It goes to show the power of the blogosphere as I first heard about Grillstock last summer. I can't quite remember who posted about it (if it was you, give me a shout) but then Lily went off to their music festival shortly followed by Angela treating her family to a slap up meal.  

Me and Andrew kept meaning to visit their Clifton branch when we were in Bristol Gromiting last year but needless to say, we never got round to it.

So we were quite excited when they announced they'd be opening a branch down in The Vaults, just next to Bath Spa train station. They opened at the end of June and it worked out quite well for us as we were planning to be in town on a couple of different nights to see shows at Komedia.

The first thing we noticed is that you could smell it before you even got to the door (which of course, had to be a good sign as it smelt delicious!)

The restaurant is built into one of the railway arches under the tracks and when we arrived about 5.30pm, it was pretty empty (although it was early). There were a few long tables and several smaller tables and chairs and the helpful waitress let us sit anywhere we liked.

The inside was decorated with posters and advertising from their legendary Grillstock festivals (see Lily's blog for a fab review of the Bristol one) with their tagline 'Music, Meat, Mayhem' all over the place. It does make the place look pretty darn cool.

 

The first time we went I had Two Step Pulled Pork and Andrew had the Smokestack Burger. Andrew's had fries and slaw and mine just had the fries but we shared the slaw anyway so we got to try it all. My Two Step Pulled Pork was the most delicious pulled pork in a bap topped with smoked sausage - such a great taste but not something you can eat gracefully! (Worth it though, so worth it)

On the second visit I had the Hog Dog which came with fries and Andrew had a Pulled Pork Bar-B-Q Plate complete with fries, slaw, pickle and smoked sausage.
The Hog Dog was a smoked pork hot dog topped with pulled pork, pickle and fry sauce. To be honest, I preferred what I'd had the week before, mainly because I wasn't too keen on the fry sauce (a bit too spicy for me, I'm a complete wuss when it comes to anything a bit more than just tangy) but Andrew assured me it was really tasty and if I were you, I'd trust his judgement more than mine!

There's still a few other things on the menu we want to try as well - the Beef Brisket and Pulled Pork Sandwiches are next on my list (although not at the same time and it's a good job they don't do dessert as the meals are really filling!)

The service was speedy too - we're quite often in town about 5.30pm and want somewhere that'll only take an hour before we head off to a show or talk so Grillstock fitted the bill perfectly.
And even more importantly, very reasonable prices. We've usually go next door to Gourmet Burger Kitchen but Grillstock ended up being cheaper.

 

If you haven't already been (which I'm sure you have as I seem to be the last person to the Grillstock party), I'd definitely recommend it, the meals are delicious, the price is good and the service was fast!


What do you think of Grillstock?