Last time I went in one, was the jobbie round the corner from Temple Mead station. It's in the middle of a group of office blocks in central Bristol. It was lunch-time and it was
packed, what with the rail passengers and the office workers plus the odd, compulsory nutter or two. Menu read like a pan-global Top 100 of famous dishes, special offers abounded. Our orders were taken swiftly and delivered to us, at one of
dozens of tables with startling efficiency. The stuff on the plates did indeed resemble what we had ordered and although clearly straight out of one of huge bank of microwaves, was piping hot, completely edible in a cheap, thoroughly factory-made, sort of way, with meat in particular obviously bottom-of-the-range ie chicken pieces of the 'formed-from' variety... All at my table cleared their plates and we returned to the office block, on time & job done, having spent very little. I wouldn't go back there under non-working circumstances, but it did a job, on the day, rather well!! Horses For Courses.
My local independant pub, on the other hand, is either empty or sweatily rammin' depending on when you rock up, has had the same young, cheerful staff for years, who know my name, what I like drinking, will chat happily for hours - and who even look after me by feeding me a mug of hot lemon toddy for free when I went in there last year after a horrid cold (not C19
) - absolutely
zero chance of any of that happening at a Spoons! Pot-luck is taken when there's a pop-up chef in the kitchen - and if there isn't, they'll let you eat a Deliveroo on the premises, although it makes sense to go and get it yourself as Cabot Circus is 5 mins walk away.
The down side is that their "eclectic range of boutique beers" can be, literally, over twice the price of those at the 'Spoons. More horses... Neeeeeiiiigghghgh!!