Five of the best dog-friendly places to eat in Bristol

At Old Market Assembly, rabbit braised in red wine with chorizo gives us a reason to sit down well before the music starts. The dog gives us a reason to leave before it does. Bristol's appetite for combining dinner with something else can make for an unusually good evening, provided we understand which part of the evening suits the animal under the table.

Our choices range from a harbourside pub in a former timber merchant's office to a North Street local whose kitchen buys sheep's-milk cheese from the Chew Valley. We want food with something to recommend it beyond proximity to a walk, and a place for the dog that works in practice. That might be a roomy pub interior, a carefully timed restaurant booking or, at the Gallimaufry, a weekday pizza on the street terrace. All five offer us a worthwhile meal, provided the booking gives the dog a suitable space and time.

1. The Cottage Inn

Baltic Wharf, Cumberland Road, Bristol, BS1 6XG.

We reach the Cottage Inn from the harbourside path and stop at the water-facing tables. The view across towards Clifton is a considerable inducement to sit down, but the building beside us deserves a look too. Its low slate roof and stone walls belonged to the offices of May and Hassell, timber merchants at Baltic Wharf, built around 1868. The name “Cottage” suggests a domestic retreat; this was part of a business concerned with moving wood through a working port. We are occupying a particularly agreeable place to do the paperwork.

Our business here is Sunday lunch. We keep the dog beside us and choose between the outdoor tables and the wooden-floored interior. Dogs are welcome throughout the pub as well as in the waterside garden, so a change in the weather need not end the meal. Water bowls and treats are available. There is plenty to look at along the harbour, which is an advantage for us and a possible distraction for a dog unable to ignore passing feet. We would book indoors if settling is likely to take time, then go back to the water afterwards.

The fish dishes attract us before the roasts. We order the Brixham Market fish stew, £21.80, with West Country mussels, prawns, saffron potatoes, herb aioli and garlic toast. We use the toast to gather some of the stew, keeping a little aioli for another mouthful. A lighter order is the £13.30 fish-finger bun: Butcombe Gold-battered haddock with tartare, watercress and pickled fennel. The fennel gives a sharper counterpoint to the batter and makes the sandwich sound more considered than its nursery name implies.

Butcombe is both pub owner and brewer here. We choose one of its ales, looking first for Gold, the beer used in the batter, and keep the local cider options in mind for another visit. On Sunday, for four people sharing, the whole Somerset chicken with trimmings is £60, which works out at £15 each before drinks. That is a useful option for a family willing to agree on lunch.

With more appetite left after the harbour walk, our finish would be the £8 coconut rice pudding, which comes with roasted pineapple, pistachio and Butcombe spiced-rum caramel. For this visit, we are content to take our time over the fish and the beer. The Cottage is a busy waterfront pub, with the broad menu that implies; we choose it for a substantial meal after walking, rather than an intimate evening in a quiet room. Its particular advantage with a dog is that the welcome continues indoors. The harbour view can remain a pleasure instead of becoming a condition of admission.

2. The Spotted Cow

139 North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1EZ.

Above the Spotted Cow, old George's Brewery lettering has emerged from concealment during refurbishment. We look up before going in, then follow the dog into the low-lit room. There is enough breadth for the dog to settle without obliging every passing customer to negotiate the lead. We have booked a table indoors. The large walled garden is an attractive possibility, but its tables cannot be reserved; the sensible plan is to secure an indoor seat and move outside if there is space.

Head chef Iain Webb's kitchen gives us more to consider than a burger. Vegetables come from Hugo's on North Street, bread from Guild of Dough, and meat from suppliers including Ruby & White and Origin Butchers. Between the bread, vegetables and meat, the kitchen has connections with several of Bristol’s independent food businesses. There is seafood from Devon and Cornwall too. We look particularly for the monkfish cheeks, breaded and served with pea purée and chilli tartare, then take a longer look at the cheese dishes. Menus change with the produce available, so these are choices to seek rather than an order to decide weeks ahead.

Homewood's feta-style cheese comes baked with new potatoes, olives, cucumber and tomatoes. The producer is based in Ubley in the Chew Valley, where its cheeses are made by hand from the milk of two Somerset sheep flocks. It means that one of the most recognisably southern European combinations on the menu has a substantial connection to the countryside outside Bristol. We take some cheese with the potatoes and olives, leaving the cucumber and tomato to provide the fresher part of the meal. The halloumi on the lunch menu comes from Homewood too, fried and paired with heritage tomatoes and basil.

For a colder evening, we would move towards cider-braised pork belly with butterbeans and chorizo, or smoked tofu and wild mushrooms in a noodle broth with maple cashews. They promise quite different kinds of richness, with beans making the pork a full supper and mushrooms giving the meat-free bowl more depth. The cheese and salad make a lighter decision if the pork sounds excessive. What persuades us to eat here is the range of complete dishes for different appetites. A mixed table need not organise its evening around the person ordering meat.

The five changing cask beers give us another local choice. Bristol Beer Factory, Hop Union and Twisted Oak are among the breweries that feature, so we read the pump clips before deciding rather than arrive attached to a particular pint. Dogs are welcome indoors and in the garden, and the latter acquires a heated canopy in winter. The pub takes cards only. There is a step at the main entrance, with a separate ramped way into the garden and an accessible loo; discuss the route with the pub if step-free access matters.

For a dog that likes a quieter room, an ordinary weekday meal makes more sense, avoiding the Tuesday quiz and the busiest Sunday sittings. Monday lunch is not an option: the kitchen opens in the evening. Sunday bookings require card details, with a £5-per-person charge for a no-show, although cancellation before arrival is allowed. We would allow time for the local cheese and whatever seafood has reached the kitchen that day. This is a pub at which the first pint need not be the main event.

3. No.1 Harbourside

1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5UH.

The harbour walk brings us to No.1, where the dog comes inside. There is outdoor seating too, but the important promise is that well-behaved dogs of all sizes can join us for a meal. Water is available on request and there are treats. We choose a table, settle the dog and send one of us to the bar to order. That last step is worth knowing in advance: this is an informal restaurant, and sitting patiently with a closed menu is not necessarily going to produce lunch.

The seafood page draws our attention away from the burgers. There is a hake chowder to consider, but the rope-grown Teign mussels with sourdough, £14, persuade us to make room for the shells. They give us something to do between looking out at the harbour and reaching for the bread. The farming method behind the dish is worth understanding. Rope-grown mussels develop suspended in the water; River Teign's shellfish growers distinguish them from their ground-grown mussels by their thinner shells and higher proportion of meat. It is a useful detail to find on a menu, identifying a way of growing shellfish as well as a place.

The small plates let us put together a different lunch. Smoked mackerel pâté with cornichons, capers and sourdough is £9.50. We would choose it for the smoke and sharp accompaniments, then add the £7 braised leeks with romesco, a pepper sauce with Spanish origins. Those two dishes come to £16.50 before drinks. The £18 hake with chips, minted peas and tartare is the straightforward main-course option. The vegan equivalent uses tempeh, a firm fermented soya product, with the same accompaniments for £14. It gives a mixed group a way to order a recognisably similar supper without making the plant-based diner settle for sides.

A Margarita or espresso Martini is £10.50; with the mussels, a glass of white wine appeals more. No.1 is part of the same Bristol group as the Canteen and Old Market Assembly, and music belongs to its identity as much as food. That requires a distinction for dog owners: dogs are not admitted during live music. Check the programme when arranging an evening table, and leave enough time to eat before any event begins. A lunchtime visit is the easier choice. Monday is different, with the venue opening at 4pm, so do not build a Monday morning walk around brunch here.

Our recommendation is strongest for the seafood lunch. The room's informality suits a harbour walk, and the £14 mussels make this a relatively affordable place to stop for shellfish. We keep the first order to a main each or a couple of small plates, then decide whether we want more. There is enough choice to make a second order interesting.

4. Old Market Assembly

25 West Street, Old Market, Bristol, BS2 0DF.

Arriving early at Old Market Assembly gives us time for dinner with the dog before the evening's entertainment. The former bank has an octagonal dome and a mezzanine: architecture with ambitions beyond the safekeeping of our savings. Now the building accommodates a restaurant, music and the Wardrobe Theatre, an independent theatre whose name appears on one of the pizzas. We take our seats downstairs. From here, the room's scale makes sense, a public interior with several purposes rather than a restaurant waiting for the next sitting.

The welcome is specifically for well-behaved, calm dogs. That qualification deserves attention in a venue with a stage. Dogs cannot stay during live music, so we check the event programme before booking and allow time to finish dinner. A request for a quieter table cannot guarantee us a quiet evening. Nor does restaurant admission grant the dog a ticket to the theatre. For someone planning a meal after a walk, the early sitting works. For someone hoping to keep a dog beside them through a gig, this is the wrong arrangement.

Spanish head chef Moi gives us an incentive to arrive hungry. The seasonal menu changes; these are choices to look for when booking. Dinner begins with the hunter's rabbit, £15, braised in red wine with chorizo and smoked pancetta. Rabbit is relatively lean; the pork brings fat and smoke to a dish built around slow cooking. We lift some meat from the sauce and consider what else the table needs. This is listed under small plates, so £15 should not be mistaken for the price of a complete dinner. We add the £12 aubergine, whose accompaniments include muhammara, a red-pepper-and-walnut preparation from the eastern Mediterranean, and £5.50 patatas bravas. That order comes to £32.50 before drinks, or £35.75 with the discretionary 10 per cent service charge. The vegetables give us something different to eat between mouthfuls of rabbit.

Red wine accompanies our rabbit. A simpler order would be the £14.50 Wardrobe pizza, with mushrooms, hazelnuts and truffle oil on a white base. Each one sends £1 to the theatre. We like that small financial connection between what happens at the table and what happens beyond the auditorium door. There is a choice to make here between sharing several dishes, with the bill that entails, and ordering a pizza apiece before the walk home.

There is step-free entry via the left-hand door, using the bell, and the ground-floor restaurant has an accessible loo. The upper floor has no lift. Those distinctions make booking the right table worthwhile, especially when the dog, a wheelchair or both are part of the party. We would tell the restaurant what we need rather than leave the route to chance.

The rabbit gives us a reason to eat here even without a theatre booking. The shared building makes an early dinner feel part of a larger evening, although ours will end sooner. With a dog, we accept a shorter visit. We can finish a proper meal, settle the bill and step back into West Street before the volume changes.

5. The Gallimaufry

26–28 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8AL.

At the Gallimaufry we take a terrace table and let Gloucester Road provide the passing company. This is a street-side visit, with the dog close to our chairs and the pavement beyond. It suits an animal accustomed to people going by; a dog that needs a secluded corner may have a less agreeable lunch. We also want weather in which we are happy to sit outside. The terrace is the established dog-friendly option, and we would not arrive relying on an indoor seat without securing specific confirmation first.

From Monday to Thursday, the food comes from Pizzucci, the neighbouring pizza business. That is what has brought us here. One independent business brings its pizzas to another’s bar, allowing us to eat Pizzucci’s food with the Galli’s beer selection. It is also a reason to check the day before planning dinner. Friday and Saturday have a different kitchen, and Sunday has its own roast service. A remembered description of the Gallimaufry's previous cooking will not tell us what we can order now.

Our weekday menu gives us a choice of 11-inch and 16-inch pizzas. We opt for two smaller ones, the £13 anchovy and the £12.50 hot honey, then exchange slices. Anchovies, black olives and fresh garlic give the first a forceful savoury direction. The second has mozzarella, tomato, red onion, fresh chilli and hot honey. There is no pepperoni hiding behind the name: sweetness and chilli do the work without meat. We can trade an anchovy-heavy slice for a sweeter one without committing the whole table to either. The larger anchovy pizza is £28, an option if everyone agrees and wants to share.

The vodka-sauce pizza is another possibility, with ricotta and basil, but we would stop short of adding every extra that catches our eye. There is already plenty happening on the two we have chosen. We put the slices between us, keep the dog's space clear and turn back to our drinks. The bar carries Bristol Beer Factory's Gravity Pilsner at £6 and Wiper and True's Kaleidoscope pale ale at £6.80. A 175ml glass of Amoranza Verdejo is £6.90. We choose the pilsner for this lunch; the appeal is an uncomplicated beer-and-pizza order, enjoyed at a table where the dog can stay.

Food ordering uses the menu's QR code, and payment is by card. Pizzucci's weekday service runs from noon to 9pm, although with a dog our preference is the earlier part of that stretch. The Galli is a music venue as well as a bar, and the terrace gives no guarantee of tranquillity. We choose it for a casual lunch on a busy independent shopping street, with a particular pizza in mind. For indoor shelter and a longer meal, the Spotted Cow is the more dependable choice. Here, on a suitable weekday, two pizzas and time to watch Gloucester Road go by are enough.