La Boheme

La Boheme is a French-​inspired café located on the lively and bustling road, minutes away from Bristol University’s arts department.
An eye-​catching purple façade, outdoor tables and wide open windows make for an inviting space. Inside the atmosphere is warm and accommodating, a perfect place for coffee and newspaper or sandwich and chat.
The food is fresh and tasty. It’s not the very best sandwich in town by any means but it’s more than acceptable and a lot better than its rivals. Given the area, of course it all doesn’t come cheap, but you’d be hard pressed to find somewhere as pleasant with lower prices.
The atmosphere is pleasant, the food is good and its an independent business. Ticking all the boxes albeit only just, La Boheme is a fine place to grab a bite.

I just had a lovely lunch here! Literally everything you want from a small continental styled café.
I couldn’t choose my sandwich, so after a mayonnaise based discussion with the staff I was advised to go for the homemade BBQ chicken baguette. It was delicious, literally the definition of homemade food, the marinade was her (not the cat’s mother, the lovely owner/​staff member who took care of me) own recipe. It really is like being welcomed into somebody’s home here.
People may disagree with me, but I think La Boheme is perfectly understated — not over the top — Just plain, classy and simple. You don’t always need to be bombarded with menu boards covered in more text than War and Peace, you just want lovely, honest and welcoming service from an independently owned ‘family’ business.
It does feel very continental, especially when the sun is shining, due to the beautiful outside seating area that catches the sun all day. The coffee reminded me of the type you get in small Spanish towns and I’m pretty sure one of the owners was French (because of a conversation I heard him having, not because I had a baguette for lunch).
The prices are good and although you’re sat by a road it feels like you’re in a lovely small town; you can sit here and watch the people (girls) go by all afternoon.

There is something missing in La Boheme, and i have no idea what it is. Even though this seems to be a fairly widely held opinion, i cant help but notice that there are always a few people sitting outside sipping on their coffees. I have a theory, though, that as this is the only place i have come across that sells Orangina, which explains their popularity despite the odd fell to the place.
The café sells an expanse of baked goods all fresh and tasty. On top of that they have a large seating area outside on the street, which is a great place to sit when the weather is nice.

Ideally placed in the middle of studentville, just along from the main drag of university buildings on Woodland Road, this gorgeous café has fed, caffeinated and sheltered many a weary student before and after lectures. With its lovely, serene, purple and cream décor, pretty little European-​style tables and chairs, and dinky orange cups and saucers, it’s a warm and friendly yet spacious room in which to sip excellent coffee, have a natter or sit quietly and watch the world (well, the student world) strolling by through its broad front windows.
Run and staffed by people who evidently care a great deal about making each and every customer feel welcome and looked after — I was addressed as «Mademoiselle» when I came in to take cover from a sudden rainy spell over Cotham — it is absolutely the opposite of large chain coffee shops. It feels as though you’ve entered the home of a lovely, nutty French family who just want you to taste this coffee they know you’ll love, and have something gorgeous to eat before you carry on with your journey.
Talking of which, the food is understated and affordable yet yummy and well-​cooked, and presented with flair and friendliness: jacket potatoes, panini, cakes, pastries. This is a peaceful little café that draws you back time after time. It’s simply perfect.

I’m not quite sure about this place. On one hand their coffee and cakes are really good, much better than the (slightly) stale ones in Starbucks and Costas. But on the other hand there most definitely is something missing. It’s not really cosy, nor modern. It’s kind of stuck in the middle and the whole place had a bit of an awkward feel to it.
Another thing that slightly bothers me was that it really isn’t ever that busy meaning that I am constantly concerned people can hear my conversations which again put me on edge. But that could have just been on those couple of occasions, I guess you’ll have to try it out for yourselves!

Clifton Village seems to have a knack of picking shops with on-​the-​money names. Except when it comes to La Boheme. This, for me, conjures up the idea of a relaxed, Parisian bistro where you can sip espresso and watch the world go by. Sadly, this café just didn’t push my buttons.
The coffee, tea and cakes, although delicious, were tremendously overpriced for something that wasn’t extraordinary. The atmosphere was a bit lacking too — lots of students and ageing hippies who I think were drawn in by the name.
Probably the best place to go if you want a quiet café, but for somewhere with a bit more life I’d pop across the road to Chickpea.

Newly opened on the corner of Hampton Park and Cotham Hill, La Boheme is a pretty standard coffee shop. It’s quite a nice location and premises, but there just wasn’t anything particularly striking about it. The price of coffee was a bit on the high side and there wasn’t much atmosphere.
To counterbalance, though, there was a good selection of cakes to choose from, and the food was ok too, with a range of sandwiches at about £5. It’s consistently busy — it got pretty crowded when I came here, and everytime a drive by there’s always people sat on the outside tables on the pavement.
For me something just doesn’t quite work — perhaps they’re not using the space properly, or given enough thought to the ambience or the kind of look they’re going for, but I was a bit disappointed.

I decided to go in here for a change. I was just getting a prawn mayonaise baguette to take away. For £3 it was a fair price. However, when I left the shop and took it out the packaging, I noticed it had a full salad of tomato, cucumber and lettuce. Now I can appreciate some people would see this as a good thing, but, surely it is standard practise to ask if I want salad? I personally dislike tomato and cucumber on my baguette, so it somewhat ruined it for me. It wouldn’t have done them any harm to ask me if I want salad, expecially since it didn’t state anywhere that it came with salad.